“Mrs. Wentworth had to give him her pier glass so he could see himself in his uniform,” Eleanor said.
“Yes, I thought so,” Sophy said. “I wish we had someone else to play the Raider. If more raids were made while Alex was in prison…” She looked at Nicholas.
“He’s taller than Alex. People would see at a glance he wasn’t the Raider,” Jess said.
“That didn’t matter when I was the Raider,” Eleanor snapped.
Everyone turned to her until she fidgeted in her chair. “I found the message Jess had taken from the admiral. It had fallen to the floor and been blown under a cabinet. So I knew the English were planning to search the Poinciana when most of the crew was gone. Alex and Jess were gone, so I borrowed Alex’s Raider clothes and led the soldiers away from the ship.”
“And almost got yourself killed,” Jess yelled. “If I hadn’t seen you from the top of the hill, you’d have been trapped. Alex saved your neck.”
“Yes, but if you—”
Sophy stepped between the two quarreling sisters. “I think I have a plan. First of all, we need to find out what’s going on. Jess, do you think your Wentworth ladies would help Alex?”
Jess was solemn. “This town would die to save him. He has done much to help them.”
“I think I have an idea.”
* * *
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“I knew I would catch him,” the admiral was saying while sitting at the Wentworth dining table. “He never fooled me with that fat belly and that wig. I suspected him all along.”
Mrs. Wentworth slammed her glass down and her husband kicked her ankle under the table.
“Good work,” Mrs. Wentworth mumbled.
Abigail was still too stunned by the news to speak. Jessica Taggert had won after all. She’d won the man with the money, as well as the most desirable man in this decade. While she, Abigail, had to make do with weekly visits to where Ethan was hiding in the forest. He wasn’t in the English army; now he was a fugitive.
“Yes, and I’ll hang him for what he’s done. Just as soon as the other officers get here, I’ll hang him,” the admiral said.
“Here, Admiral,” Mrs. Wentworth said, “have another muffin. I made them especially for you. Do you have any idea when the officers will be here?”
“End of the week. Come Saturday morning I’ll hang that traitor.”
Abigail blinked back a few tears, then hid her face so the admiral wouldn’t see. She wondered what Jessica was doing right now. Her head came up and she looked at her mother. Jessica was making plans. She knew that as well as she knew the curls in her own hair.
“We must console the Montgomerys,” Abigail murmured. “They must be devastated.”
“I’ll hang anybody that interferes in this,” the admiral bragged. “I hear old man Sayer Montgomery used to rule this town. Well, Warbrooke has a new master now.”
Mrs. Wentworth looked down at her plate.
* * *
Eleanor met Jessica and Nicholas at the wharf at one in the morning when Nick’s ship returned. “Well?” she said as loudly as she dared when Nick came down the gangplank. “Did you get it?”
“No kiss?” he teased.
Eleanor gave a pointed look to a tired Jessica following him. “You had no problem with the ship’s master?”
“They treated Nick as if he were the master,” Jess said.
“All Russians treat each other with great respect.”
“It’s just us you treat like rubbish, is it?” Eleanor asked.