“I have one,” Hannah answered.
Joseph’s stomach curled into stone.
“You do?” Willis pulled his shoulders back. “In truth?”
She nodded, expression earnest yet calm. “Stockton has invited me to attend with him.”
A light breath left Willis’s parted mouth. “This is surely a blessing from heaven. With you there to keep Stockton and the others blissfully entertained, we may with more security do what must be done.” He reached out and took one of Hannah’s hands in both of his. “Your offering will n
ot be forgotten.”
Dear Lord, no. No. Joseph’s muscles were hot and pulsing with dissent. He could not allow it. How could he submit to her acting in such a perilous capacity?
Hannah exhaled a petite breath when Willis released his hold. “I am most pleased to be of service to a cause so vital.”
Willis’s smile didn’t leave her. “And you will surely be protected, my dear. For God cannot but shelter one with so pure a heart.”
She bowed her head, cheeks pink. Tipping her face toward Joseph, the look she handed him slashed his heart as the courage he’d seen on her face in the tent that first time showered over her once again. She knew it, as well as he. She must go to the ball—her work now more vital than it ever was before.
Devil’s spit. How was he to endure the knowledge she would be there with that beast? Nay. ’Twas too dangerous. He would not allow it. But the objection he tossed to her from his expression was hurled away by the subtle drop of her chin.
Joseph’s core tightened, and he looked down, studying the frayed edge of the rug beneath them. He would speak of this with her on the ride back. After a heavy breath that did nothing to relieve his angst, he raised his head. “Has anyone else seen what is below our feet?”
Willis shook his head. “I’ve several muskets hidden in hollow hay bales in the barn that I use to prove my work to the British. The Patriots know of this, but the Redcoats do not—and I pray to keep it that way.” He rose and motioned to the door. “You should not stay overlong, lest prying eyes become suspicious.”
Joseph followed Willis’s lead and moved to the exit, Hannah behind. He shook the man’s hand. “We thank you, sir.”
“And I you.” The lines around his eyes deepened as a smile lifted across his worn face. “I have never seen a more aptly paired team. Husband and wife in the secret service of Washington? Excellent indeed.”
Husband and wife? Though he knew he should rectify the blunder instantly, the misunderstanding nurtured a long-forgotten yearning, and Joseph was reluctant to correct him. He could feel the heat rising in Hannah’s cheeks though he didn’t look her way, and he cleared his throat.
“Mr. Plains, we are not related—though we do pose as cousins.”
“Aw, I see. Donaldson didn’t say anything about that, so I assumed…” He raised his head and lowered it, as if amused, and cleared his throat. “Forgive me.”
He bowed to Hannah, and she inclined toward him, a half smile revealing her endearing dimple. Joseph offered his hand to their new friend. “I look forward to our next meeting.”
Willis’s hearty grip infused a sort of brotherly kindness in Joseph that warmed through his spirit.
“Be safe. Be cautious.” Willis released his hold and looked to Hannah. “And you, dear lady. God be with you.”
That dimple sank deeper into her cheek as she smiled her good-bye before starting for the wagon. Joseph followed, already teetering on a precarious ledge. He helped Hannah into the wagon, touching her as minimally as possible, and climbed up himself, but his mind was elsewhere.
A strange brew of frustration and imprisonment bubbled, and he coughed to release the discomfort, but it refused to abate. Not two hours ago he’d decided on finding her a way to safety. Now, instead of Hannah being farther from danger, she was as close as she would ever be.
“It seems you cannot be rid of me so easily.”
Immediately scowling, he turned his head to face her. “Rid of you?”
She looked up to him, then back to the road. “Until the raid is over at least.”
“What do you mean?”
One of her shoulder’s bobbed up and down. “Oh, ’tis nothing.”
’Twas something and he knew it. Whether he would attempt to have her expose what she wished to hide was another matter.
He pressed a heavy sigh from his nose. “I don’t like it.”