Jacqueline laughed as she started helping Judith out of her gown. “I didn’t know I was supposed to work at it!”
“You know what I mean. If you’d just put that nasty kidnapping behind you, the anger will go away, then your heart might open to new possibilities.”
With Judith’s back to her, Jack rolled her eyes. She understood that Judith was happy and wanted everyone to be as happy as she was. It even made Judith forget that Jack would be happiest if shedidn’tfind love this year.
But rather than remind her of that, Jacqueline said, “I’m still worried about my father, now that he’s sailing this week to take care of Bastard and his boss.” In fact, she was sure a Malory family meeting to plan the attack would be taking place soon, maybe even there in Haverston tonight, since both Warren and Boyd were here for the wedding. But, of course, she wouldn’t be included!
“So he knows who is responsible now?”
“I don’t know!” Jack complained angrily. “They won’t tell me anything!”
Judith turned around, frowning. “But you were sure Uncle James would know exactly who the culprit was as soon as you gave him—oh, Jack, tell me you’re not still keeping it a secret! You have to tell him about the original, more goading ransom note you found on the pirate ship.”
“Since he’s sailing to the Caribbean anyway, there was no point in keeping it from him. I gave him the copy I made of the note the same day he got Drew’s letter.”
When she’d discovered that note in Bastard’s cabin, she’d thought that he hadn’t left a ransom note in Bridgeport and her family would have no clue where to look for her. She’d been livid about that. She’d tried to kill Bastard that day—well, and many other times—and with her usual lack of success. The bloody sod had been far too strong for any of her attacks to do anything other than make him laugh. But he’d actually assured her that he’d penned a more polite version of his boss’s note that would be delivered to her father. As if that would matter in the scheme of things.
“I even explained to my father that I didn’t mention the original note to him sooner because I was sure he’d be walking into a trap if he sailed back to the Caribbean right away. He read it and just smiled without saying another word! It made me so angry!”
Judith tsked as she stepped out of her gown and turned back around. “Jack, enough time has passed that there won’t be any trap. So let your father do what he does best, while you enjoy the rest of your Season.”
Jacqueline sighed. “I know. I’ll try to.”
Judy rolled her eyes. “You don’t try, you do or die. Isn’t that your motto?”
Jacqueline laughed. “Something like that. Very well, I will get back to having fun in London.”
“Promise?”
“For you, yes.”
Nathan chose that moment to step into the room, making Jacqueline realize why Judy’s maid hadn’t been waiting for her there to help her change into her traveling clothes. Because her new husband must have wanted to assist. And he took one look at his bride wearing only her chemise and petticoats and crossed the room to gather her close for a passionate kiss.
Jack was quite sure he hadn’t even noticed her in the room! She smiled as she slipped out and quietly closed the door behind her.
Chapter Three
JACQUELINE MUCH PREFERRED EAVESDROPPINGat doors—except at Haverston. The doors in that old mansion were much too thick, some even reinforced with metal, so it would be hard to hear through them unless there was shouting on the other side, which there wasn’t. She did check first, but only for a second. And since members of her family could traverse the halls at any moment, she couldn’t have stood there in plain sight with her ear to the study door anyway.
She hurried outside instead, leaving unnoticed through the back door of the house, and ran around to the study windows. She expected them to be open on that warm summer night and they were. She even peeked inside to confirm who was in there with her father—her uncles Warren and Boyd.
Anthony arrived just as she ducked below the window ledge. He wasn’t sailing with James, so what input he might have Jack couldn’t guess. Or he might just be there to provide moral support. No matter how angry Tony might be with James, he would still stand firmly with his brother against the Yanks, as her father and Tony called the Anderson side of her family. But there wasn’t going to be any sort of confrontation with Boyd and Warren tonight, verbal or otherwise, not when James had accepted their help on this mission.
Jacqueline was waiting so tensely to hear something from inside the room that she was startled when her brother Jeremy squatted down beside her, whispering, “I should have known I’d find you here first.”
She just put her finger to her lips as she scowled at him for finding her hiding spot. But he still asked, “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing yet,” she hissed, though she glanced quickly beyond her brother to make sure Percival Alden hadn’t tagged along with him. Percy was a long-standing friend of the family who could be depended on to do one thing—blunder. And in this case, that would be alerting her father to their eavesdropping outside the window.
“You heard from Drew?” Warren said inside the study.
“It’s not encouraging,” James answered. “Read it for yourself.”
Warren must have picked up Drew’s letter because he quickly pointed out, “Says here it’s not the pirate you and Drew suspected, that Pierre Lacross is still in prison on Anguilla.”
“Read the next part,” James prompted.
Boyd proved he was standing next to his brother and reading the letter at the same time when he said, “So the warden of that prison seemed a little nervous to Drew at the mention of Lacross? That’s actually understandable for a man living behind stone walls with hundreds of convicted criminals, don’t you think?”
