“Oh? How?” she asked.
“Have donation drives. You know a lot of wealthy people, I’m sure. Have a raffle of a delicious meal and a date with the lord or lady of the winner’s choice. Or tell your friends that you’re collecting donations for the poor. See what happens.”
“First, what is a raffle? And what is a date? Second, they will laugh me out of their lives.”
They left the house with Charlotte learning about what a raffle was. She thought it was a splendid idea and promised to see it done. She knew plenty of young, pretty ladies and handsome lords who might be willing to go on a friendly date with someone who would spend the most on their food. Perhaps she could do it, and she didn’t really care if people stopped speaking to her. She’d never cared about what the stately thought. That’s why she robbed them.
“Will you come to my raffle dinner?”
“I have nothing to give,” he told her. “I haven’t been paid yet.”
“Offer yourself, silly. For adate.”
“Will you try to win me?” He laughed softly. Charlotte liked the sound of it. She wished he did it more frequently.
“It depends on the food that is being offered,” she teased.
She led him to the stable where they saddled two horses and sent a stable hand (who wasn’t Roldan Simeon) to bring Colin, Liam, William and Gerald to them.
The men were already waiting for instructions, so it didn’t take long before they were riding toward the town of Croydon. Michael wanted a jail. She would give him one. There was an old keep on the outskirts of the town. It was big enough to house many men, and perhaps a woman. There were cellars and rooms with bars for doors and shackles on the walls. No one used it anymore. She thought Michael would like it.
He didn’t.
“It’s a bit barbaric,” he complained, holding the back of his neck in his hand.
“What are jails like where you come from?” she asked.
“Clean. Prisoners are treated humanely.”
She laughed. “Where—oh!” She leaned up and in and said quietly close to his ear, “You mean in the future?” Before he answered, she looked around and held her index finger to her lips. “Well, this place can be cleaned. The prisoners could clean their cells. It could be part of their punishment.” She almost giggled thinking about what Sebastian would do if he had to clean his cell.
“Yeah, and I could run the operations going on upstairs.”
She looked heavenward then shook her head. She had no idea what he meant, but she didn’t argue.
“What else do you need?” she asked, looking around.
“We need weapons,” Colin proposed.
“And more men,” William offered.
“And nooses,” said Liam.
While the men made lists of what they needed to clean up Croydon, Charlotte felt ill. She wanted to be excited, but these were her friends they were talking about catching and hanging. She eyed Gerald a time or two. He was one of Preston’s men. Perhaps she should tell him to go to Preston and let him know what was happening. But no, she needed to be the one to tell him. She needed to know if he was going to try to have Michael killed. What if he was? Michael shot him. His revenge could happen at any time.
Had Sebastian been sent to kill him? Should she tell Michael?
She smiled with them when the conversation called for it. But her mind was on saving them.
How could she save them both?
Chapter Sixteen
They made whatMichael calledhome basein one of the cavernous halls upstairs. It would be a good place to meet once he hired more men. Was he possibly going to build his own police force back here in seventeen twenty-four? Was he going to be in charge of everything? Was he out of his mind? He hated being a cop. It had nearly killed him, but he couldn’t stop. Now that he could start over, he didn’t want to.
He spread his gaze over the abandoned keep with its cobwebs and splashes of sunlight coming in from the high, narrow windows. Its giant, alcoved hearths and enormous wooden table in two of the halls or rooms or whatever they were, were uselessly big. He wondered who had once lived here.
He couldn’t get over the way houses and castle keeps were just abandoned back then…now, he corrected his thoughts. “Is it unsafe?”
