“I can catch a hackney, cousin,” Ash said, deliberately making the connection.
“Very well, but have a care.”
“I am armed,” Gus said.
“As am I.”
“I will just tell my wife what I am about. When will saying that get old, do you think?” Gus asked the married men in the room.
“Never” was the unanimous reply.
They left the house not long after. Walking to the end of the street, he felt good having his brother at his side again, and yet inside there was still the dread among the warmth of what he now had.
Family.Family that Radcliff could harm.
“All will go well.”
“I pray you are right,” Ash replied.
They travelled to theFreedom, and Ash felt his tension climb as they stepped from the hackney. Looking around him, he found the bustle of the port. It looked the same as when he’d left, and yet he was not the same. In the few hours he’d been gone, he’d changed.
“Why did you and Warwick smile when Devon said I was silver?” he asked to take his mind from his fears.
Gus started walking toward his ship, so he followed, eyes going left and right.
“Be alert.”
“I am. And the reason we smiled is because Dev insists that to marry a Sinclair you must have the same color as them.”
“And?”
“And Dorrie is silver. Has she saved your life at all, brother?”
He tripped on something and stumbled several steps forward, luckily saving himself from ending flat on his face.
“What?” Ash tried to act like he hadn’t just nearly humiliated himself.
“Did Dorrie save you?” Gus asked slowly.
“Get up there.” Ash pointed to the gangway that led to theFreedom.
“I will keep asking.”
“Why do you think she saved me?” Ash followed his brother. If he went last and Radcliff took a shot, it would hit him and not Gus.
“A feeling.” Gus shrugged. “Plus, you tripped when I asked, and you are the least clumsy person I know.”
“You know that makes no sense.”
“Just tell me, Ash.”
They reached the top and onto the deck. He always felt a swell of pride when he stood here. This was his.
“When I was shot, Dorrie was there. She yelled at the shooter, and he fired at her but missed, thank God. She then bullied me into her hackney. I told her to drop me here. I didn’t think I’d see her again.”
“But you wanted to because you’d never reacted to a woman the way you did to her?”
He nodded.
