The Scent of Jasmine Read online

  Cay didn’t want to hear more praise of her artist skills; they seemed superfluous when someone’s life was in danger. “If no one is there to meet him, what will this man do?”

  “Get caught, returned to jail, and hanged tomorrow morning,” T.C. said.

  Cay looked at Hope for confirmation, but she refused to make a comment. “So you want me to take a horse to him?”

  “Yes!” T.C. said before Hope could speak. “That’s all. Pay the men who are to break him out of jail, give the horse to Alex, then leave.”

  “And where will he go if I do this?”

  “To Mr. Grady. I’ve drawn a map of where Alex is to meet the expedition.” He gave Cay a look of speculation. “I guess that now Mr. Grady will have to get someone else to do the recording as I can’t go. Too bad . . .”

  Cay smiled, knowing what he meant. “Even if I were male, that’s not something I’d like to do. I’m quite happy living near my family in Virginia, and I want to stay there. I leave the adventuring to my brothers.”

  “As is right and proper,” Hope said. “Women aren’t supposed to run all over the country doing what men do. And they are most certainly not supposed to straddle a horse and ride out to meet a murderer.”

  T.C. was looking at Cay with serious eyes. “I’ve known you all your life and you know I’d never ask you to do anything dangerous. You can cover your dress with Hope’s big hooded cloak, and I know you can ride. I’ve seen you jump fences that scare most men.”

  “If I didn’t, my brothers would laugh at me,” Cay said. “They’d . . .” As she thought of them, she asked herself what they would do if faced with this situation. Tally would already be saddled, Nate would ask a hundred questions before he left, Ethan would be packing because he’d take T.C.’s place on the expedition, and Adam would . . .

  “They would what?” T.C. asked.

  “They’d help any friend of our father’s,” Cay said as she stood up.

  “You cannot do this.” Hope was looking at Cay from across the bed.

  “Didn’t I hear you say that you would go if you could?” Cay asked.

  “Yes,” Hope said, “but that’s different. You’re so young and . . . and . . .”

  “Childish? Spoiled? Rich?” Cay asked, her eyes narrowing with every word she spoke. Ever since she’d met Hope she’d felt as though Hope dismissed Cay as too young, too frivolous, too pampered, to ever be able to actually accomplish anything. While it was true that Cay hadn’t had the misfortunes that Hope had had in her life, of an accident that had left her with a limp, the death of her mother, and a lifetime of caring for a ceaselessly complaining old father, Cay’d had some setbacks in her life. In her opinion, being the only girl with four older brothers was enough to qualify her for battle pay.

  “I’ll do it,” Cay said as she gave Hope the look she used to stop Tally from putting a second frog down her collar.

  “Thank you,” T.C. said, and there were tears in his eyes. He grabbed her small hand and kissed the back of it. “Thank you, thank you. And you’ll be fine. Alex is a very pleasant young man and—”

  “I doubt if his wife’s family would agree with that,” Hope said.

  When T.C. gave her a look, she sat down on her chair. She knew when she’d been defeated.

  “Perhaps I should change,” Cay said.

  “No, no, I want you like that. Go from the meeting place directly to the ball.”

  “That will give you an alibi,” Hope said, some of the anger in her voice gone.

  “Yes, it will. Not that you’ll be asked where you were, but . . .” T.C. trailed off.

  Hope let out a sigh of defeat. “And keep your face covered. Don’t let anyone see you. Not even that man.”

  “Will people be chasing him?” Cay asked as she began to understand what she was volunteering to do.

  “I’ve been planning this for the many weeks he’s been in jail,” T.C. said, “and I think I have every possibility covered. There will be three sets of men escaping, and only you will know where to meet the correct one.”

  “This must have cost you a lot,” Hope said.

  T.C. waved his hand in dismissal. This rescue had cost him everything he owned, but he wasn’t going to tell them that.

  “When should I leave?” Cay asked, swallowing as she thought of the coming night.

  “About twenty minutes ago.”

  “He doesn’t want to give you time to think about this,” Hope said.

  “My maid—”

  “I’ll keep her busy,” Hope said. “She’ll not even notice that you’ve escaped her.”

  “I . . . I, uh . . .” Cay stuttered.

  “Go!” T.C. said. “Don’t think any more, just go! Keep covered, let no one see your face, not even Alex, then ride to the ball. Leave your horse at the back of the ballroom, so there’ll be no talk about how you arrived. Hope will take care of that.”

  Cay looked at Hope, who gave her a curt nod. “All right, then, I guess I’ll leave. I don’t know how I’m going to ride in this dress, but—”

  “The cloak will cover every inch of you,” T.C. said, his eyes pleading with her to take no more time in discussion. “Tomorrow we’ll have chocolate for breakfast and laugh about all this.”

  “Promise?” Cay said, smiling.

  “I swear it.”

  After hesitating long enough to give him another smile, she grabbed her skirt and ran down the stairs. Her heart was racing, but she knew this was something that needed to be done. Tonight she was going to save a man’s life. That he may or may not be a murderer was not something she wanted to worry about. No, it was better to just do the job, and think about what she’d done later.

  Two

  Cay sat on her horse in the dark and wished she were in Virginia with her family. It was autumn, so it would be cooler there. Would they have a fire blazing in the parlor? Would her brothers be home or would they be out doing . . . whatever it was that boys did all the time? Ethan had been seeing one of the Woodlock girls, but Cay didn’t think much would come of it. The girl wasn’t pretty enough or smart enough for Ethan.

  When her mare began to prance about, Cay shifted in her saddle and calmed it down. Hidden in the trees behind her was the heavily laden horse that Alexander McDowell was to take with him when he finally arrived with the men who’d broken him out of jail.

  She looked around but could see little in the night sky. It had been difficult finding the place where her uncle told her she was to meet Mac’s son, which was the only way Cay could think of him. He was the son of the man who’d helped her father, and that was her reason for being there. If she didn’t concentrate on that, she knew she’d start looking about the dark countryside and thinking about how she was to meet a man who had probably committed murder.

  Hope had gone downstairs with Cay, helped her cover her gown with the big wool cloak, and given her the map T.C. had drawn that showed where Cay was to go.

  “It’s not too late to say no,” Hope said as she fastened the hood around Cay’s head.

  Cay put on the bravest face she could manage. “I’m sure I’ll be all right. Besides, I doubt if this man is actually a murderer.”

  Hope lowered her voice. “You didn’t read the newspaper accounts. The doctor and the judge found her locked inside the room with him, and he was sound asleep. He had no conscience about what he’d done. He is pure evil.”

  Cay swallowed. “What did he have to say about it all?”

  “That he’d had a glass of wine then fallen asleep.”

  “Maybe he was telling the truth.”

  “You are so very young,” Hope said in a patronizing way. “No man falls asleep on his wedding night.”

  “But maybe—” Cay tried to say, but Hope interrupted her.

  “The sooner you go, the quicker you can get back. I’ll be waiting for you at the ball. I won’t be dressed as richly as you are, but I’ll have on my rose-colored silk, so look for me at the back.” Hope put her hands on Cay’s shoulde