The Raider Read online

  He gave her a long look, then turned away and sighed. “I haven’t tried being with a woman since my fever, but I think I could do all right if I were propped up and she gave me a great deal of help.” He turned back and gave her a weak smile.

  “Oh,” she said, gulping the last of the brandy. “Perhaps we’d better not tell anyone that or we’ll never get you a bride. I can’t imagine a woman—” She stopped before she hurt Alex’s feelings again, but she thought of the Raider, smiling broadly at the idea of his needing any help.

  She recovered herself. “You work on a man for Abigail and I’ll do my best to find you a bride.”

  “It seems that I have the easier job. Here,” he said, tossing her an orange, “eat this and then we’ll both set to work.”

  * * *

  Ethan Ledbetter stood in the box before the judges. All the women in the courtroom were leaning forward, eager to hear anything this beautiful young man said.

  The judge, in his full, long wig, asked Ethan to repeat himself.

  “Mistress Abigail didn’t want anyone to know we were lovers, so she said she was with the Raider. She barely made it back before the soldiers came searching. If she’d been a few minutes later, she’d have been caught.”

  “That’s a lie!” Abigail shouted. “I don’t even know this man. I told the truth: I made the whole thing up and I singed my hair in the fireplace. I’ve never—”

  “Bailiff, if you don’t quiet this woman, I’ll have her removed. Now, Mr. Ledbetter, what about the hair?”

  “We rolled too close to the campfire,” he said, with some pride in his voice.

  For a moment, the courtroom was too shocked to reply, but then they let out a sound half between laughter and a roar of outrage.

  The bailiff restored order while the judges conferred.

  “We have reached a decision,” one judge said. “The defendant, Abigail Wentworth, and the witness, Ethan Ledbetter, are to be taken from here and—” The audience waited. “And married before sundown.”

  Abigail fainted and Ethan looked as if he were about to.

  “I lied,” Ethan cried. “I only wanted to help the Raider. I lied.”

  The judges, looking utterly disgusted with the whole case, waved their hands in dismissal.

  Alex took Jessica’s elbow and escorted her from the courtroom, but Jess pulled away from him and waited until the prisoners were brought out. Abigail was crying, as was her mother, but Ethan had his handsome jaw set, his head high. He looked proud in spite of the people gaping at him. When he passed Alex, he stopped, looked at Alex with hatred, then spit in his face.

  Very calmly, Alex took his handkerchief and wiped away the spittle as Ethan was shoved forward.

  “Shall we go, Jess?” Alex asked.

  Jessica went with him but she didn’t allow him to touch her. Nor did she speak to him until they were away from the crowd.

  “Of all the hideous things to do to a person,” she gasped, so angry she could barely speak. “You knew the court would force them to marry, didn’t you?”

  “I had an idea it might happen.”

  “How did you get Ethan to agree to say he’d been with Abigail?”

  “I don’t see why you’re so angry. I merely appealed to Ethan’s patriotism. I told him he’d be helping his country and, especially, his town.”

  “And he believed you.” Her hands were fists at her sides. “Just because you have the Montgomery name, people believe they can trust you. Oh, you’ve done a terrible thing, Alexander Montgomery. You’ve betrayed your name.” She turned on her heel and stormed away.

  “Wait just a minute, young lady,” he said, grabbing her arms and pulling her off the road a few feet into the forest. “I told you what I was planning to do and you had no objections. What’s made you so angry? The fact that I chose Ethan Ledbetter to dupe? Or the fact that your handsome young man fell for it so easily?”

  “He’s not mine and release me!”

  Alex still held her upper arms tightly. “Why are you so angry at me? I got Abigail free, not that she deserved it with all her lies, and Ethan, a mere blacksmith, is marrying into one of the richest families in Warbrooke. I don’t see anything so bad about what I’ve done.”

  “Except that Ethan now has to spend the rest of his life with an idiot like Abigail.”

  He released her arms. “Just days ago you were suggesting Abigail to me as a bride but now she isn’t good enough for your precious Ethan.”

  “Don’t you understand?” she said softly. “Ethan might be the Raider.”

  “I see,” he said in a cold, flat voice. “And you wanted the Raider for yourself, is that it? You were planning to ensnare Ethan yourself.”

  “No!” She put her hands over her ears. “You’re confusing me. I just hated seeing anyone so unhappy, that’s all. You should have told Ethan he might have to marry her.”

  “If he wasn’t smart enough to figure out that if he got up in front of the entire town and admitted he’d slept with Abigail then he would have to marry her, then he deserved what he got. He’s lucky he got off so easily. If the town wasn’t in such an uproar over the Raider, he’d not have gotten off so lightly. And Abigail! It’s a wonder she’s not being stoned.”

  “You risked both their lives! You couldn’t be sure the judge wouldn’t sentence them both to death.”

  “The judge owes the Montgomerys too much money. I had a nice talk with him before the trial. Of course I didn’t know how the townspeople would react. I was afraid Abigail might come in for some abuse.”

  “Too many mothers are glad to get her married so their daughters will have a chance.”

  Alex smiled at her. “There, that’s better. Jess, do you really care about this Raider that much?”

  She turned away from him. “I don’t know what I feel. I just worry that he’s injured. All that blood last time made me—”

  “Yes, I know, you worry if he’s dead or not. Maybe he has sense enough to know he’s not very good at being a Raider and he’s given it up.”

  She gave him a hard look. “I hope Nelba Mason does marry you. Her character is as pleasant as her face. Now, would you mind staying away from my family and me and giving us a little peace?” With that, she turned and left him.

  “Damn, damn, damn,” Alex said after she left. He thought he was being so clever when he’d persuaded Ethan to say he’d slept with Abigail. “The Raider’s not nearly as intelligent as you think he is,” he said aloud before turning toward home. As far as he could see, the Raider had done far more damage than good.

  Chapter Ten

  THE arrival of the English admiral in Warbrooke nearly brought the town to a halt.

  Admiral Westmoreland was a big man, and in his brilliantly colored uniform, with his stiff back, his voice that could be heard over a tempest at sea, and his entourage of lesser officers that surrounded him at all times, he was formidable. He was piped onto land and the gathering crowd parted to let the parade of men, led by the admiral, a head taller than the others, pass.

  The admiral started up the hill, going straight toward the Montgomery house as if he knew exactly where it was.

  John Pitman, adjusting the wig he was wearing for this formal occasion, met him a hundred yards in front of the Montgomery house. Behind him, strolling languidly, was Alexander, yawning with the boredom of it all.

  “Sir,” Pitman said, almost bowing before Westmoreland.

  The admiral looked Pitman up and down, glanced at Alex, then strode ahead toward the house. “I assume you are Pitman. Are these your quarters?” he boomed out while one of his men opened the door for him. He walked into the common room and effectively halted everyone there. The children stopped their chores, while Eleanor stopped with her spoon above the stew pot.

  The admiral didn’t bother to ask any questions but waited with obvious impatience while Pitman hurried forward. “This way, sir,” he said, leading the big man to the Montgomery office.

  Alexander, following t