Eve drew slightly away from Geoffrey and gazed up at him with what she hoped was a good imitation of adoration. Since the ball at Winthrop’s, she had been weighing her options between continuing with Geoffrey or pursuing Noah. After much deep thought, she had concluded it would be much wiser, for the time being, to stay with Geoffrey. She had made the decision, not because she desired Noah any less physically, but because his refusal to accept Geoffrey’s challenge had lowered him in her estimation. That, coupled with the doubts she now had about his involvement with the dissidents, left her slightly leery of getting any more deeply entangled with him.
Eve wanted a man who was rich, handsome, and would marry her and take her back to England. In the beginning she had thought that Noah fit that bill, but now she was wondering. She had resolved that the best thing to do would be to bide her time. Certainly if Geoffrey’s accusations were true, it would come out eventually. If they weren’t, Noah would be vindicated, and she could continue her pursuit of him without the fear that she might be endangering her own status.
Now, smiling up at Geoffrey beguilingly, she asked, “What was it you were so eager to tell me, Geoffrey?”
Geoffrey’s smile was confident. “I have some marvelous news, my darling.”
“Oh?” Eve was growing more intrigued by the moment. “Tell me…do. Don’t keep me in such suspense. I’ve been dying of curiosity ever since I received your note earlier today.” She traced a single finger down the buttons of his waistcoat as she tried to coax the information from him.
“The news is that my brother James is dead.”
Eve blinked in surprise as she stared up at him, trying to interpret his mood. “Geoffrey, I’m so sorry…” she began, thinking consolation was in order.
“Spare me the sorrow, Eve. I’m not in the least regretful of his passing.”
“You’re not? I don’t understand…” She frowned as she regarded him.
“James was my older brother, sweet, and I’ve hated him for as long as I can remember,” he explained casually. “Now that he’s dead, I’m the next in line. The title and all the family’s holdings will come to me upon my father’s demise.”
“Geoffrey…how wonderful for you!” Eve began, and then knew a moment of consternation. Now that he was to inherit everything, would that mean he was going to have to return to England? “But, Geoffrey…” she pouted prettily, “does this mean you have to leave me?”
“My father has requested that I return to England as quickly as possible,” he told her, making no effort to hide the smirk of satisfaction he was feeling over being asked to return home. He had never thought he would live to see the day when his father would welcome him back with open arms, but he knew it was about to happen. Not only that, but he would be returning with the good news that he had seen to it that Lord Noah Kincade had paid for the murder of James with his own life. How proud his father would be!
“Oh, Geoffrey…” Eve was devastated at the news. He would be leaving her! Now what was she going to do?
“But don’t worry, Eve. I couldn’t leave you behind. You shall come with me, and as the mistress of the future Earl of Radcliffe, you will want for nothing.” Geoffrey thought he’d figured everything out. He wanted Eve for his own, but now that he was to be the earl, he knew she wouldn’t make a suitable wife.
Eve was shocked into silence by his arrogant statement. He expected her to uproot herself and travel back to Britain with him as his mistress? Outrage consumed her. His mistress! But before she could shriek her displeasure, the sound of a commotion in the hallway interrupted them.
“Lord Kincade! You can’t just burst into Lord Radcliffe’s home!” Bartley’s loud protest warned Geoffrey of the imminent confrontation.
Geoffrey paled as he realized that the men Bartley had hired must have failed in their attempt, and he glanced around nervously. “Quick, Eve, go into the library and close the door. Wait there until I come for you.”
“What is it, Geoffrey? Is something wrong? Why must I leave?” she asked anxiously as he steered her almost forcefully toward the connecting door to the library. “It’s only Noah Kincade, isn’t it?”
“No, nothing’s wrong, but this is private business-something between Kincade and me. Just stay out of sight and be quiet.” He closed the door behind Eve and rushed back to his desk. Searching desperately through his top drawer, he found the dueling pistol he kept there, primed and ready for possible danger. As Noah came crashing through the door, Geoffrey gripped the gun and held it down low so the other man wouldn’t know of its existence, at least not yet.
Noah had noticed Bartley’s quick, anxious glance toward the closed door at the back of the house when he’d first come charging into the hall. He had allowed himself to be detained by the servant for only an instant before pushing his way past as he’d headed for the room. Without pausing to knock, Noah had slammed through the door to find Geoffrey standing, almost casually, behind his desk.
“Lord Kincade, how nice of you to stop in.” Geoffrey mocked, giving him a tight smile.
The cold deadliness of Noah’s anger was apparent in his voice. “I turned down your challenge last night, but I am not refusing you now. I will take much satisfaction in meeting you face-to-face, as men should.” The last was meant as a taunt, for he felt Radcliffe was lower than the lowest spineless creature for his hiring of the thugs to murder him.
“As you met my brother?” Geoffrey sneered.
“Yes, as I met your brother,” Noah answered rigidly. “But I will take much more pleasure in seeing you dead. Your brother at least was a man. You are a cowardly fool!”
“Bartley,” he directed sharply to the servant standing fearfully at the doorway, “send for the authorities. Lord Kincade has broken into my home and threatened my life.”
“Yes, m’lord.” Bartley rushed from the house.
“It was my life that was threatened, Radcliffe! Mine and my brother’s! I had thought that we could settle this privately between us, but I shall be more than happy to tell the authorities about your hiring the assassins to kill me.”
Geoffrey raised the gun and pointed it directly at Noah’s chest as he smiled ferally. “You aren’t going to be alive when they get here, so I have no worry on that account. You see, Kincade, what I shall tell the authorities is this… You broke into my home, forced your way into my study, and then attacked me. I have Bartley for a witness, and upstanding citizen that I am, no one will doubt me.” He stepped around the desk.
“Why, you…!” Noah’s eyes narrowed as he sensed the danger, and his body went taut.
“You see,” Geoffrey went on brazenly, “there were no aspersions cast upon my character the other night, whereas you…Well, your motivation would be quite clear. I had revealed to all your unsavory connections, and you wanted to silence me before any more damage could be done to your reputation.” He cocked the pistol as he studied Noah mockingly. “Yes, that sounds most plausible…”
“You’re not serious?” Noah glanced from the gun to Geoffrey, trying to judge his intent.
“I have nothing to lose, and everything to gain,” he sneered. “By killing you, I’ll earn my parents’ respect. They’ll welcome me back with open arms. Decadent though I may have been in the past, no one would ever expect me of anything so unseemly as murder. And once I’ve assumed the title of the Earl of Radcliffe…” His smile was satanic as he moved closer to Noah, wanting to make sure that he didn’t miss.
Noah read the crazed look in his eyes and knew that his moments were numbered. Desperate to save his own life, he launched himself at Geoffrey. Geoffrey had not expected Noah to attack, and he hesitated in surprise. It was that moment of hesitation that cost him his advantage. Knocked to the floor by the force of Noah’s tackle, he barely managed to keep his hold on the gun, and they began to grapple savagely as each tried to gain control of the firearm.
Eve had been standing with her ear pressed to the connecting door, listening eagerly to their conversation. Geoffrey’s declaration that he was going to kill Noah frightened her, and when she heard the sound of their struggle, she opened the door a crack to watch. There, in the middle of the study floor, she saw Noah and Geoffrey brutally fighting over the weapon. Horrified, she watched as they rolled violently about the room, each trying to get the advantage of the other.
Geoffrey, never one for physical violence, felt his strength fading as he continued to battle Noah. In a last grim effort, he tried to push him away with all his might and bring the gun to bear upon his chest, but Noah read his move and made a desperate grab for his wrist. Muscles straining, they fought on.
Eve found the sight of two grown men engaged in battle oddly exciting, and she watched, mesmerized. It was only at the sound of the shot being fired that the deadly reality of the situation intruded. She gasped in stark terror as both men went rigid and then lay still upon the floor.
The gun still clutched in his hand, Noah was shaking as he drew back to stare down at Geoffrey’s lifeless features. He didn’t know how it had happened, but he didn’t question his good fortune at being the one left alive. Wearily, he got to his feet.
It was in that position that Bartley and the law officer who’d accompanied him discovered Noah.
“He’s in here…” Bartley was saying as they rushed down the hall and into the room. The servant stopped dead in his tracks to stare at the scene before him in outrage. “He’s murdered him! He’s shot Lord Radcliffe!”
The constable hurried to take the gun from Noah as the servant bent over his dead master.
“It’s like I was telling you! Lord Kincade forced his way into the house and threatened Lord Radcliffe! That was when Lord Radcliffe sent me to get you… But it was no use! I was too late!”
Noah blanched at the servant’s accusation and he turned to the law officer, wanting to give his side of what had happened. “I can explain everything. Radcliffe drew the gun on me, we fought for it, and it went off. It was self-defense.”
“Not if what Mr. Bartley says here is the truth,” the constable charged coldly. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Lord Geoffrey Radcliffe.”
“But I was defending myself!” Noah protested. “If you’ll check, you’ll find that the weapon belonged to Lord Radcliffe. I came here unarmed.”
“Let’s go.” The constable gave Noah a forceful push toward the door. “You can tell your side of it when you’re arraigned. All I know is that we heard a shot, and I found you standing over the victim with the murder weapon in your hand.”
“But-”
“Shut up.” He turned to Bartley. “Shall I have help sent to you?”
“Yes,” the servant requested, still stunned by all that had happened. “What are you going to do with him? He’s guilty! He killed Lord Radcliffe!”
“I’ll see that he’s incarcerated, and he’ll go to trial. Will you be willing to testify?”
“Of course! The man is a murderer, and I want to see him pay for what he’s done!”
The realization that Noah had shot Geoffrey during the struggle had frightened Eve. Silently closing the connecting door, she’d given thanks that her presence hadn’t been discovered. Upon hearing Bartley’s charge that Noah had murdered Geoffrey, she’d grown fearful that she might be implicated in some way. As quietly as she could, she grabbed up her cloak in the hall and escaped from the house while Bartley and the constable were still in the study with Noah. Traveling on foot, she made her way as quickly as possible back to the safety of her own home.
“Miss Eve?” Peggy greeted her, a bit surprised to find her mistress returned so early and on foot. “I hadn’t expected you to return until much later.”
“Yes, well, Lord Radcliffe had some unexpected business come up, so I came home,” she answered nervously.
Peggy took her cloak. “Can I get you anything this evening?”
“Yes. Have a hot bath brought up and a bottle of sherry,” she told her, feeling definitely in need of a potent drink to steady her nerves.
“Right away, ma’am.”
A short time later, glass of liquor in hand, Eve eased herself into the hot, scented water. Her thoughts were turbulent as she went over in her mind all that had happened. Geoffrey was dead. A few hours before, the news would have devastated her, but now she found she couldn’t care less. Geoffrey had been an ass. The man had thought she would be pleased with the news that he wanted to make her his mistress! She’d found his declaration highly insulting and thought he well deserved the end he’d met. Certainly, had they been able to continue their conversation without Noah’s interruption, she might have shot him herself in her outraged indignation. Noah had merely saved her the trouble.
Noah…She smiled at the thought of him. He had been arrested for Geoffrey’s murder. He had been accused by Bartley’s testimony and convicted by his own stance when the law officer had entered the room. Only she could save him from a certain death sentence. Eve smiled even more widely as she imagined how grateful Noah would be for her timely rescue. Tomorrow she would go to the jail to see Noah. Perhaps, if she played this whole thing right, she might end up as Lady Kincade yet.
Draining the last of the sherry from her crystal glass, she refilled it again. Leaning back against the edge of the tub, Eve relaxed as the heat of the water and the potency of the liquor began to relieve her tensions. True, she had seen a man killed tonight, but she knew that it would all turn out to her advantage. Closing her eyes, she imagined herself married to Noah and returning to England as Lady Kincade. The dream appealed, and she grew determined to make it a reality.
Faith had been eagerly awaiting Matthew’s return and she greeted him at the door when he finally made it back to the house. Her joy at seeing him was short-lived, however, when she noticed the rumpled condition of his clothing and the bruise already forming along his jaw.
“My darling, what’s happened to you?” Faith ushered him quickly into the parlor, where her mother and Ben awaited him.
“Nothing important; I’m fine.” Matt dismissed her worry easily as he hurried forth to speak with Ben.
“How can you say it’s not important when you look like you’ve been involved in a street brawl?” Faith followed him into the room.
“I have been involved in a street brawl, but that’s not what matters right now. That’s all been settled. What’s important is”-he paused to draw her close to his side as his gaze met Ben’s squarely-“that Noah has agreed to sell us the entire shipment for the amount already paid.” His tone was triumphant as he happily revealed Noah’s change of heart, and all thoughts of his unsavory encounter were wiped from the others’ minds at the news.
“Noah agreed to that?” Faith was stunned but pleased, and Ben and Ruth exchanged puzzled looks.
“Yes.” Matt nodded down at her. “We talked for quite some time. It was his decision…his offer.”
“You told him of the arrangement Graves had suggested, didn’t you?” Ben was totally dumbfounded by this change in Noah Kincade.
“Yes, I approached him with that offer,” he explained, “but after we’d talked for a while, he told me to tell Graves that he would agree to deliver for the amount already paid.”
“Matt, that’s wonderful!” Ben was truly excited. “I’d better get back to Ryan right away with the news.”
“I’ll go with you. Noah explained to me how he wants the transfer to take place, and I think you’ll be pleased with the plan he’s devised.”
“Let’s go, then.” Ben stood, glad to be the bearer of good news for a change.
“Wait up for me,” Matt told Faith as they paused near the front door on their way out. “We’re going to meet Noah later for dinner so no one suspects us.”
“All right. You’ll be safe now?” she asked, knowing that danger was always possible.
“Yes. I’m not going to participate in the actual moving of the goods. I’m just going along to help set everything up.”
They shared a parting kiss.
“Be careful.” Faith and Ruth both echoed the same sentiments as they watched the men they loved disappear into the darkness of the night.
“Ryan?” Ben’s tone was hushed as he knocked on the door to the room in the Green Dragon’s stable.
“Yes?”
“It’s me, Ben Hardwick. Matthew Kincade is with me… We have news.”
“Just a minute…”
Ben and Matt could hear the murmur of voices and then footsteps approaching the door before the lock turned. When the door finally swung open, they moved inside immediately. Matt was surprised to find that several members of the group were still there, and that CC was one of them.
Ryan Graves regarded both men solemnly as he closed and locked the door behind them. He was filled with despair at his own failure to get the money for the war materials, and he was worried about how long their cause could exist without the necessary arms to defend themselves.
“Yes. What is it?” he asked dejectedly, expecting only bad news from these two men.
“Ryan, Noah Kincade has agreed to sell us the arms at the price already paid,” Ben supplied quickly, anxious that everyone share in the good news.
Ryan stared at him in confusion. “He what?”
“I spoke with Noah just a short time ago, and he has agreed to sell you the shipment at no further cost,” Matt told them.
“I don’t understand. Why did he have this sudden change of heart?” Ryan couldn’t help but be suspicious of the man who had been so coldly indifferent to his own plea just a short time before. “Is he setting us up? Has he planned something with the agents of the Crown in hopes of having us arrested when we take delivery?”
Matt was quick to defend his brother. “No! Absolutely not!”
Ryan eyed Matt skeptically. “I find it hard to believe that your brother’s done a complete turnaround in his loyalties.”
“Rest assured, Ryan, that Noah is a man of his word,” Matt said in earnest. “He’s also devised a plan that should work perfectly. I’ve already gone over it with him and am prepared to explain it to you now.”
“And just what is this plan?” the leader asked.
Matt went on to outline in detail what Noah had arranged.
Ryan checked his pocket watch and then remarked, “We’ll have to move, and move quickly; it’s after eight already.” Ryan had been convinced by Matt’s firm testimony in his brother’s defense, and he was now ready and willing to follow through on the nobleman’s plan. Instructing the others in attendance to go out and notify those who could help, he ordered that they meet back there at the stables at eleven o’clock.
“What shall I do?” CC asked in annoyance when Ryan had failed to give her an assignment.
“I want you to wait here.”
“Ryan-” she began, but he cut her off.
“I have no time to argue with you. Your disguise is an effective one, but we can’t take the risk of possible discovery tonight. You may participate in the ‘raid,’ but the streets are too busy at this time of the evening for you to be running errands.”
“You allowed me to take the initial payment to Kincade,” she argued.
“That was a matter of necessity. This is not.” He turned away, refusing to allow her any more discourse in the matter. “We’ll meet back here at eleven. Any questions?” When none were forthcoming, he turned to Matthew. “I take it that it will be better for you not to help us tonight.”
“That’s right. Noah had insisted that we be as visible as possible to residents of town all evening.”
Ryan nodded in accord with his thinking. “Wise decision.” He extended his hand to Matthew. “I thank you for all you’ve done for us, and if we can ever help you, you only have to say the word.”
Matthew shook his hand in a firm, binding handshake. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Let’s be off. Ben, you come with me. CC, are you going to wait here until we return?” Ryan asked as the others quickly dispersed to be about their business.
“Yes. I’ll stay.” CC was almost sullen in her agreement.
“Fine. We’ll be back. Again, Matthew, our thanks.”
The door closed behind them as they started off to help round up the other supporters they needed, and suddenly Matthew and CC were left alone in the privacy of the small room.
Matt knew a great sense of relief as he watched them leave, for he felt that everything was finally going to work out. All along he had hoped that Noah would come around to his way of thinking, and at last it had happened.
His mellow mood was interrupted, however, when CC turned on him and asked pointedly, “Did your brother really agree to those terms, or did you bribe him with your share of the profit?” CC’s question was sharply put. After her disastrous encounter with Noah the other night, she thought it completely out of character for him to reverse himself and suspected that there had to be a more driving reason for him to alter his stance…a reason that probably had to do with money.
Matt’s smile was easy as he replied, “Noah set those terms himself.”
At his answer, CC’s brows arched in surprise. “He did?”
Matt nodded, his pleasure evident in his calm expression. “Yes.”
“I don’t know what you said to him to make him change his mind, but I’m glad it worked. We needed those arms desperately. I know I tried everything I could think of…” Her tone was resigned and more than a little sad.
Matt was baffled by her statement and wondered exactly what had gone on between his brother and CC. He knew for a fact that Noah cared deeply for her, and yet Noah had declared that there was no future for the two of them. Now he found that CC seemed as miserable in her own way as Noah was, and he wondered if talking to CC honestly would help.
“Noah’s had a lot of things to work through lately, but I think he’s finally getting everything back into the proper perspective,” he offered, hoping to initiate a deeper conversation between them.
“It doesn’t matter,” she hastened to reply, not wanting to reveal too much of her own feelings. It didn’t matter that she loved Noah. She knew that he did not love her and that he never would. “All that’s important is that Ryan gets the materials he needs.”
“The cause is all you care about?” he questioned probingly.
“Yes,” she answered firmly, but her gaze shifted away from his.
“I’m sorry, CC, but I don’t believe you. I’ve seen you and Noah together,” Matt prodded, wanting to get to the bottom of the trouble between Noah and CC so he could help them, “and since I doubt seriously that you’re the type who would try to influence Noah’s decisions through less than honorable means…”-Matt was referring to the night she’d delivered the payment to Noah at the inn, and he’d walked into the room to find them heatedly embracing-“I think there might be more to your relationship with Noah than just business.”
CC, however, had immediately thought of her most recent visit to his room, and she flushed guiltily. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told him coolly.
“I’m talking about the embrace I witnessed between the two of you at the inn the night you brought him the first payment from Graves,” he charged. “I’m talking about the fact that you two care for each other.”
Glaring up at him defensively, she said, “You’re wrong. I don’t care about him. Not at all. He has no soul, no feelings. He’s cold and hard. All he really cares about is money.”
Matthew was sure that she’d answered far too quickly and far too angrily. “CC, this change in Noah is real.”
She snorted her disbelief.
“CC, there is a lot that you don’t know about Noah…about the both of us.”
“I know everything I need to know about him,” she bit out.
“Do you know the reason for our coming to Boston in the first place?” Matt’s gaze met hers, and she could read there pure honesty and openness.
“No, Matthew, and I don’t want to. I’ve had enough dealings with Noah, and I think I understand him quite well. He is selfish, greedy, and amoral. He has no interest in our bid for independence. He just wants to make a fast profit off our grief and misery and then go back to England.”
“I don’t argue with your assessment of Noah. I’m sure from your point of view, that’s the way he appears, but there’s a reason for it.”
“Please, spare me…” she began frostily, but Matt refused to let it drop.
“Noah and I came to Boston because we had lost everything we owned in England,” he started, and CC glanced up at him questioningly.
“You’re rich… Everyone knows that,” she scoffed. “You own Kincade Shipping and-”
“We were rich,” Matt emphasized. “You see, we discovered when our father died that he had been a gambler. His debts were so extensive that by the time the estate was straightened out, all Noah and I had left were the two ships, the Lorelei and the Sea Pride. Everything else was gone. Our money was gone. Our country estate and our London town house had to be sold to pay Father’s outstanding debts. Our social position was forfeited. Noah was made a social pariah. Where once he’d been celebrated as a glorious member of the bon ton, he was suddenly an outcast. His pride suffered immeasurably, and he vowed that somehow, someway, he was going to reclaim it all. He became hardened to everything except his need to recoup our losses. He became a man possessed.” Matt shrugged. “I didn’t realize how much he had changed until the duel…”
“Duel? What duel?”
Matt continued, “An insult was publicly issued by James Radcliffe, Geoffrey’s older brother, and Noah challenged him to a duel. The whole ordeal was so painful that it’s something we will never speak of again.”
“What happened?” CC was caught up in his story.
“Noah killed Radcliffe.”
CC gasped. Was this the reason why Noah had refused Geoffrey’s challenge at the Winthrops’? And did Geoffrey know of the fateful duel?
Matthew went on, “It was a fair fight; there were witnesses to attest to it. But, CC, I’d never seen anything so brutal in my life, and I hope I never do again. It was then that I realized how deeply Noah had been affected by all that had happened. He was a changed man.”
“I had no idea…”
“I know. We’ve spoken of it to no one, yet I’m sure the news will be out soon. I’m positive that Radcliffe has now found out about Noah’s connection to his brother’s death.”
“How do you know?”
“There was an attempt to murder Noah tonight.” Matt’s purpose in telling her was to gauge the depth of her feelings for Noah.
“What?” CC paled and went still at the news.
“And Radcliffe was the one who hired the two men. They were given explicit instructions to see Noah dead.”
CC’s eyes widened in fear for the man she loved, and her hand was trembling as she reached out to clutch at Matt’s sleeve. “Is Noah all right?”
Inwardly, Matt was pleased to see the truth of her emotions reflected so openly in her expression. “He’s fine. We managed to fight them off together.”
“How do you know it was Geoffrey?”
“With a little applied persuasion, the men confessed as to who’d hired them,” he explained.
“Where’s Noah now? Is he safe?”
“After we turned the thugs over to the authorities, he told me to take care of working out the rest of the arms deal while he went on to Radcliffe’s.”
“He went to see Geoffrey? But why? Why didn’t you just tell the authorities everything you knew and let them take care of it?”
“Noah wanted to handle it himself. He was going to face Geoffrey down with his knowledge of the planned attack, and then tell him that, rather than turn him in, he was going to accept the challenge he’d issued at the Winthrops’.” Matt’s tone was icy with hatred for the cowardly aristocrat.
CC had heard of Radcliffe’s reputation with a sword. “Radcliffe is known for his expertise with a sword…” Her emerald eyes darkened as she worried about Noah fighting him.
“Do I detect a note of concern in your voice, CC?” he asked, feeling most pleased with himself for having evoked such a response from her.
“Matthew! Don’t toy with me!”
“You love Noah, don’t you, CC? Why don’t you tell him how you feel?”
“I have told him, and that’s precisely why I know there’s no future for us. Now tell me,” she went on anxiously, “is Noah good enough with a sword to best Radcliffe?”
“Noah won’t have any trouble handling Geoffrey,” Matthew told her confidently, wanting to reassure her.
CC felt little relief at Matt’s trust in Noah’s ability. Instead she could only worry that something terrible might happen to Noah. All it took was just one mistake…one error in judgment…and he could be killed.
“You must let me know when the duel is to take place…I have to be there for him, even if he doesn’t care…” CC insisted.
“Believe me, CC. He cares,” Matt confided.
His declaration surprised her, and she glanced at him, puzzled. “How can you be so sure of Noah’s feelings for me?”
“Because he told me.” Matt read her shock at his revelation.
“Noah told you that he loves me?” Her heart was pounding, and she knew a moment of sublime joy.
Matt nodded. “He also told me that there could be no future for the two of you. Do you know why that was?”
CC looked away, embarrassed.
“CC?”
“I have to see him, Matthew… I have to talk to him.”
“He may be back at the Red Lion by now, but I don’t think it would be wise for you to venture there dressed as you are.”
“No. I’d better wait until tomorrow, when all of this is over. Matthew?”
“What?”
“Thank you for telling me.” His confirmation of her longed-for dream filled her with joy, and tears stung her eyes as she gazed up at him.
“You’re welcome,” he grinned, feeling inordinately pleased with himself, and he touched her cheek with a gentle hand. “My brother is a very lucky man, whether he knows it or not.” CC gave him a bright smile. “Now, I’d better get out of here. It’s important that I let myself be seen about town tonight, so I won’t be arrested for consorting with the rebels tomorrow when the theft of the arms shipment is discovered.”
“Be careful, Matthew.”
“I will,” he answered as he started toward the door.
“You’ll let me know about the duel?” she asked, stopping his progress from the room.
“Yes. I’ll send you word as soon as I find out,” he promised, and then he was gone, leaving CC alone with her thoughts of Noah.