“No, you won’t.”
“You say she’ll be here within the hour?”
“Yes.”
Bennet stared at Cloud, hating him for his self-assurance, his concise, arrogant responses, and for knowing all along what the bitch had been about. Bennet smiled tightly, dropping his eyelids slightly, regarding Cloud through a hooded gaze. The tables would be turned. When she returned the captain would find he had done his work too well.
“How can you be so sure?” asked Howe.
“I know my men.” Cloud waited to be asked for more proof than this but the senator appeared satisfied. “While she is gone I would suggest you rethink your position concerning Captain Danty. Because of your treatment of her this evening she will be harder to convince than before. It would be wise to end any notion you have about Lafitte.”
The four men said nothing. They sat in stony silence, furtively glancing at one another, committing themselves to their original plan without one word passing between them.
Cloud walked to the window and stared out at the garden.Don’t let them catch you!He turned suddenly to see if the others heard him; then he realized he had not said the words aloud.
When Alexis was several blocks away from Davidson’s she paused for a moment to catch her breath and decide on the direction of the wharf. Then she moved swiftly, barely glancing at the shadowed faces of the people she passed. She listened for evidence of Cloud pursuing her, but he did not come. She was sure he had known what she was planning to do, possibly before the idea had settled firmly in her own mind.
The evening had been worse than she’d expected. She looked down at her slippered feet and flowing gown as she ran. A soft shroud of blue. Was that all it took to hide the truth? How could they ever doubt Cloud? What was it about those men that made them suspicious of others?
Outrage spurred her on. She saw the harbor in the distance. She knew she would not take a Quinton vessel. She would wheedle, lie, beg, cajole to secure passage on any ship but one of her own. She would allow none of her merchants to take the risk of having her aboard.
She slowed her steps, forcing herself to be calm when she reached the waterfront. Then she stopped, held back by a force she could only identify as a tightening around her neck. Her hand went to the silver thread at her throat. She saw him and then realized it was not actually Cloud she saw. She saw his men. It was the presence of his command that she sensed.
So this was why he hadn’t followed. She mocked herself with a slim smile. Four crewmen from theConcordwere approaching her slowly. Not as predators. Merely as four men who knew a lady and wanted to act as her escort.
She turned and ran. She heard their hurried footsteps mingle with her own lighter ones. She heard them plead with her to stop, to not make them run her down, but she was heedless of their entreaties. She ran harder, ignoring the searing pain in her legs and side, compelling herself to continue, to take one more step. The necklace seemed to cut off her breath and she wanted to tear it away. Instead she struggled harder to fill her lungs with air.
A heavy hand grasped her wrist and she started to fall. The hand shifted, catching her waist, preventing her downward motion.
“I’m sorry, Cap’n Danty,” Tom drawled breathlessly.
Alexis looked up at his grim face. The pale moonlight gave it a grayish cast and his eyes were narrowed, his sadness evident in his tight, bitter smile. He dropped his arm from her waist.
“How did you know I would come here?” she asked when she caught her own breath. The other men surrounded her but not closely. They were not happy to have found her.
“I didn’t know. None of us did. Some are down by theConcord;others are stationed at different piers. You just happened to come down to ours.”
It was obvious he wished she hadn’t.
“Is Mr. Landis here?” She remembered the Arthurian legend and suddenly it was important that he did not see her now.
“He is somewhere around. He wanted to stay at the house but the captain said it would be the last place you would go.”
“Well, Captain Cloud was wrong. That is precisely where I want to go. Right now. Before you take me to him.”
“We can’t, Captain Danty,” one of the others objected. “We have orders to take you back to Davidson’s immediately.”
She persisted. “I want you to take me to his house—then I’ll go with you.”
Tom shrugged. “What do you say, mates? It couldn’t hurt. What do you want at the house, Captain?”
“You’ll see,” Alexis said quietly. “You’ll all see.”
Alexis broke through the circle of men and walked boldly toward Cloud’s home. They followed her. They knew she would go with them when she had taken care of whatever was drawing her toward the house. Her features revealed the anger she couldn’t quite swallow. They could not know it was directed solely at the men arguing at that moment with Cloud.
Breathless, Alexis reached the front door. She twisted the knob and found it locked. “Find an open window,” she told them. “I’m not leaving until I’ve been inside.”
Two of the men stayed with her while Tom and another walked around the building. They returned in a few minutes.
