“Jesse, he knew who I was and where I was!”
“I know.”
“But what—”
“Get back into the house.” He strode away, picking up his hat where it lay in the dirt.
“What if he comes again? There were two of them.”
He strode back to her, pulling a Colt six-shooter from the holster that hung on his hip. “You know how to use this?”
She nodded. He grinned at her and touched her cheek. “He’s probably long gone by now. Get back into the house, Kiernan, and stay there until I get back. All right?”
She nodded slowly. A quivery warmth spread through her limbs. She stretched out her fingers and clenched them tightly again.
Jesse Cameron was back in her life. He’d ridden in just when she needed him most. He could have captured the man, except that he had thrown himself upon her to save her from a deadly fall.
In his dark clothing, he blended into the foliage, even as the sun unerringly began to rise. She heard rustling and knew that he had found his way back up the cliff. But she was certain, as he had been, that the man was long gone. The cliff rose all the way to Jefferson’s Rock, where Thomas Jefferson had surveyed the area, and on to the cemetery; it was hard, rugged ground. But there were numerous other ways down, and even a stranger to the area would have found them by now.
She felt her cheeks grow warm, and she pressed her hands to them tightly. Jesse. He shouldn’t have been there, but he was. He lacked Anthony’s manners, perhaps, but manners weren’t necessary to save her life.
She turned and quickly hurried back toward the house. Lacey was waiting for her by the back door. “Kiernan! Oh, thank heaven! What happened? Who was that man in the yard? Why, I almost came out with the rolling pin, except that you were on top of him and you seemed to know him. Really, Kiernan, that wasn’t at all proper behavior if you did know him—or if you didn’t,” Lacey mused worriedly. “But then, what difference does it make? You’re back here, and you’re safe—and you do know him, don’t you, dear?”
“Yes. Oh, Lacey, something very big is going on. You know him too. It was Jesse—Jesse Cameron, one of our neighbors back home.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“An alarm went on via the night train. He didn’t explain everything. Some general sent faim here. There will be troops soon.”
“But why?” Lacey began. “Oh dear, yes! He’s a doctor, isn’t he? Still serving in the military. Oh, my goodness!” She stared at the Colt in Kiernan’s hand. “Can’t we put that thing away somewhere?”
“I think I’d like to have it close.”
“Those men aren’t coming back,” Lacey said with confidence.
“How can you be sure?”
“Come with me.” Lacey led Kiernan through the house to the front, where the shattered glass still lay before the door. “Look,” Lacey said, pointing through the door.
Kiernan looked down the street. A crowd had gathered outside the arsenal buildings now. Armed men were milling in the streets. Someone was in charge, and shouting was going on.
“It’s all out in the open now,” Lacey murmured.
Kiernan heard footsteps on the wooden sidewalk to their right and swung around quickly. One of Lacey’s neighbors, Mr. Tomlin, was hurrying along. He carried a rifle and was speaking to his sixteen-year-old, Eban, who followed behind him. “Give me some more o’ them nails, boy.” He stopped in front of Lacey and Kiernan. “Don’t that beat all, ladies? We produce guns here, and just when you want it, there ain’t no ammunition to be bought. But heck, that’s all right. We’ll nail ’em just the same, eh?” He winked at Kiernan, and she saw that he was loading his rifle with nails.
“Mr. Tomlin,” she murmured, “what are you doing?”
“There’s a rebellion in the streets, Miss Mackay, ain’t you seen?” He stared at her for the first time and saw her torn and ragged gown and the tufts of grass that stuck to her hair. “Bejesu, Miss Mackay, are you all right?”
Kiernan nodded as Lacey answered for her.
“She’s fine now! But she wasn’t so terribly fine an hour ago!”
“They tried to take you! They tried to take you too!” Eban Tomlin said, staring at Kiernan with awe.
“Who else did they try to take?” Kiernan demanded tensely.
“Try? Why, they got all kinds of people. They got the mayor! And the master armorer. And they even rode five miles out and got Colonel Lewis Washington, George Washington’s kin! They say as how Colonel Lewis had things belonging to George, and John Brown wanted those things,” Eban said excitedly. “’Course, Brown come in here calling himself ‘Isaac Smith,’ but it didn’t take no time for someone to guess who it really was!”
“Oh, my Lord!” Lacey breathed.
“And they got more. Reckon they got at least twenty people hostage, maybe more.”
“Lacey heard shots,” Kiernan said.
“Hell, yes!” Eban said. His father’s look of warning brought a flush to his face. “Sorry, ladies. Yes, there’s been shooting. And it just beats all, it sure does. Old John Brown, he wants to free the world. Well, ladies, he comes into Harpers Ferry and shoots down poor Hayward Shepherd, the free black man at the railroad station. Guess they didn’t want no alarm going out. But then the train came through, and he let that train go on by, and it seems they know what’s going on down here as far as Washington and beyond. You’d best get back inside now, ladies. There’s all manner o’ ruckus going on in the streets now. Some o’ those people out there get a little scared and get a gun and shoot up everything in sight.”
Kiernan glanced at his nail-filled rifle. “Yes, I know,” she murmured.
He tipped his hat to them. “Come on, boy,” he told Eban.
Kiernan headed back into the house, and Lacey followed after her. “We’ll sit tight, Kiernan. News will come to us. I’m so glad you want to stay in the house!”
“Lacey, I’m not staying in the house. I’m going to get dressed as quickly as possible!”
She tore into the kitchen and pumped up water to bring to her room. She started up the stairs, smiling as she passed Lacey.
“Oh dear, oh dear!” Lacey wailed.
“I’ll be all right. I’ve got a Colt with real bullets, and I know how to use a gun.”
Lacey stood at the foot of the stairs calling up to her. “Kiernan, dear, please! Heaven only knows what’s really going on!”
Kiernan dumped the water into her wash bowl. She whisked off her torn nightgown and slipped quickly into a chemise and pantalets and a petticoat. She hesitated, then decided that in the midst of a revolution, she could dispense with a corset. Clad in her undergarments, she turned back to the water and scrubbed herself quickly.
“Kiernan—are you listening to me? Oh!” Lacey murmured suddenly.
Rinsing her mouth out, Kiernan wondered what had brought that quick exclamation to Lacey’s lips. She looked up, then froze.
Jesse was back. He stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame, a lazy smile curving his lip as he watched her.
Color flooded through her, rising from her toes to her hairline. What did he think he was doing? No gentleman in the world would come upon a lady in a state of undress and stare at her so.
But Jesse would. Despite her rising fury, she also felt a sweet, exciting sensation ripple through her. Damn him! He was still one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, with his coal-black hair and wicked blue eyes and lazy, sensual smile.
“Jesse—”
“Well now, darlin’,” he drawled softly, and those eyes of his raked over her thoroughly with laughter, humor, and something else. Then his eyes landed upon her own. “You’ve grown up while I’ve been away.”
She should have blushed to kingdom come. She probably had a right to throw a screeching fit or hysterics. But the sense of danger and excitement rippling through her demanded that she stare him down. If he wanted an innocent feminine reaction from her, she decided, he wasn’t going to get
it.
“Captain Cameron, if you don’t mind”—she faced him, her hands set disapprovingly upon her hips—“I’d appreciate it if you’d wait below until I’m decent to recieve company.”
He laughed. “Kiernan, you must be the most decent thing I’ve seen in a month of Sundays. Isn’t it just like a woman? The town is in the grip of history, and you’re worried about being seen in your knickers.”
“I don’t wear knickers, Captain Cameron.”
“All right, then, petticoats.”
“Jesse—”
“Come on down as soon as you consider yourself decent. I can’t stay long. In fact, I may not be able to stay long enough to—”
“Don’t move!” Kiernan commanded him. She strode across the room to the wardrobe and quickly found a white cotton day dress with flounces and a sophisticated black pattern. She pulled it over her head just as Lacey reached the doorway to chastise Jesse.
“Captain Cameron, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Ah, Mrs. Donahue, I’ve known Kiernan since she was squalling around in diapers.”
“But Captain Cameron, I’m responsible for her welfare, and she isn’t in diapers any longer.”
The dress fell over her head. Kiernan’s eyes met Jesse’s, and she felt the sizzle in them just as he replied softly to Lacey, “No, ma’am. She isn’t in diapers any longer at all.”
She couldn’t speak for a moment, and his eyes remained on hers. He, too, was silent. Kiernan felt electricity sweep through the air between them like invisible lightning. Not even Lacey spoke to break the tension between them.
Then Kiernan discovered that she could move. She walked toward Jesse, facing him as she turned her back to Lacey. “Would you be a dear and get the buttons, please?”
Lacey quickly began to button up the long row of tiny pearls that served as buttons for the dress while Kiernan continued to stare at Jesse.
“I take it, Jesse, that you did not find the man.”
“No, I’m afraid he’s joined his companions.”
“Companions?”
“The people in the street say John Brown has a force of about twenty men with him.”
“What about the other man?”
“I didn’t see him, Kiernan. I wish I could have kept my hands on the one. But …” his voice trailed away. He was worried, she thought. “I could have kept my hands on him, or you. I chose you,” he said lightly.
“Oh!” Lacey breathed. Of course it had been true. If he hadn’t thrown himself upon her, she would have pitched down the rock instead of rolling down the trail. But the way he made it sound …
“Lacey, he had to break my fall,” Kiernan said with what dignity she could muster.
“Oh,” Lacey repeated, this time understanding.
But Jesse wasn’t going to let her understand anything. His eyes raked over Kiernan like blue flames, taunting her, and his smile was overtly sensual. “You’ve definitely grown up,” he told her. “You’re sophisticated and elegant.” Then he ruined the handsome compliment by reaching over to remove a twig from her hair. “And almost domesticated.”
She snatched the twig out of his hand, then smiled, fighting for control. The excitement stirring in her was exhilarating. She wanted it to take her somewhere, even if she wasn’t sure where.
Even if the world was in revolt all around her.
“I’ll never be domesticated, Captain. Barnyard animals are domesticated.”
“So they are. Let me see, Kiernan. What is a lady such as yourself—untamable?”
“I’m not a wild horse, Jesse.”
“Horses need to be broken to the saddle, Kiernan. Women upon occasion also need to be tamed.”
“And have you tamed many women?” she demanded.
“A few,” he admitted, lazily slouching against the doorframe.
“Well, Captain Cameron, I cannot be broken or tamed!”
“Kiernan, Captain—!” Lacey began, distressed.
Jesse didn’t seem to realize that Lacey, still buttoning Kiernan’s dress, was even there—or else he didn’t mind. He laughed lightly. “I don’t remember making such an offer,” he drawled.
Lacey inhaled sharply. “Captain, this isn’t at all proper.”
“Jesse, you never do make offers or say anything concrete,” Kiernan said, inadvertently as mindless of Lacey as Jesse was. He had that effect upon her. No, he had it on everyone. He could make people laugh, he could make them furious, he could make them relax.
And he could create an excitement, a tension that demanded awareness of itself.
“It’s all insinuation,” she told him, keeping her brittle smile intact. She wanted to hit him!
“Captain, Kiernan, please!” Lacey implored. “I must protest! This just isn’t proper.”
“That’s because nothing at all is proper about Jesse,” Kiernan said sweetly.
“Now I protest!” Jesse said. “I can be extremely proper, Mrs. Donahue, when the occasion warrants. But Kiernan and I are very old friends. Actually, Mrs. Donahue,” he whispered conspiratorially, moving very close to her and offering her his most charming smile, “I even saw Kiernan buck naked when she was a little thing.”
“Oh dear, oh dear!” Lacey breathed as she buttoned Kiernan furiously.
“Never!” Kiernan snapped.
“Oh, yes,” Jesse assured Lacey charmingly. “As a child, she used to love to strip off every blessed bit of clothing and jump into the lake.”
“You’re absolutely despicable to remember such things, Jesse,” Kiernan told him sweetly, “and to bring them up!”
“Ah, but you speak of my fond memories!” he protested, as if he were wounded.
The last of her tiny buttons was done up. “Really?” She challenged him with a superior air. “Lacey, I’m quite certain he hasn’t thought a thing about me for the last year or so until the moment he came after me.”
“Came to your rescue,” he reminded her.
“Humility is his greatest asset,” she murmured with dripping sarcasm.
Jesse grinned. “Her kind and gentle ways are surely Kiernan’s greatest attributes!” he countered.
“Oh dear, what is going on here, Captain?” Lacey interjected. “This just is not proper, not with Kiernan practically engaged.”
“Engaged?” His brows lifted with surprise. A flurry swept Kiernan’s heart at his obvious interest. “Who’s the lucky man? Ah, never mind, I know. It’s young Anthony Miller, the arms heir, I do imagine. Well, there’s a nice mannered pup for you, Kiernan.”
“Anthony is the very soul of propriety,” she assured him angrily.
“Indeed. I imagine you maneuver him about with the twitch of your little finger,” Jesse agreed. He was laughing at her, she thought, and once again she wanted to hit him. But there also seemed to be a bit of an edge in his voice. Could he possibly be jealous?
“He is completely charming,” she said sweetly.
“Then you are engaged? My congratulations.”
“No,” Kiernan admitted. “We’re not engaged yet.”
“He’s madly in love with her!” Lacey said.
“And well the lad should be!” Jesse stated, still laughing. “Beauty, grace—and a mind like a whip!”
Kiernan kept her smile intact. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to size up the situation in town myself.”
She swirled around, but he caught her arm. “Kiernan, stay in. Come downstairs, and I’ll tell you both what I know.”
He didn’t wait for an answer but went downstairs ahead of her. Kiernan shrugged to Lacey, who was concerned that she had completely failed to chaperone a young and innocent woman.
Kiernan wished she could have told Lacey that anyone would have failed with Jesse around. And she was furious with herself because he always had the ability to lead her along, then step back. The older, wiser, very masculine—male!
Times have changed, she wanted to shout at him. I’m very much grown up now, and I can hold my own in any battl
e!
But she wondered if she really could hold out in a battle with him.
She gritted her teeth. She could—and she would!
Jesse found his way into the parlor with Lacey and Kiernan following behind. The teasing was gone from his eyes and his manner as he politely waited for both women to perch upon the loveseat. He pulled up a chair before them and straddled it backward to face them very seriously.
“What I’ve managed to get so far is that John Brown has been planning this raid for months. He was over in Sandy Hook, Maryland, laying out his strategy. He must have hoped that many more people would rise to fight against slaveholders with him. I imagine that he wanted a revolution to start here, with slaves rising against their masters and slaying them in the streets. He really believes that only a bloodbath can cleanse the land.”
“My God!” Lacey gasped.
Kiernan watched Jesse, shaking, imagining the scene that Jesse had so bluntly painted. “Are you sure it won’t come to that?” she demanded.
“No,” he said flatly, “it’s not going to come to that. John Brown is already holed up.”
“There’s been bloodshed,” Kiernan whispered.
He arched a brow. “You heard?”
“A neighbor came by. Loading up his shotgun with nails,” Kiernan said. “Oh!” she exclaimed passionately. “What right has this man to come to Virginia? How dare he think to command our lives!”
“He dares,” Jesse murmured. He quit looking at her for a moment. He seemed to look beyond her, to the future that stretched before them all.
He seemed worried by what he saw there.
“It seems that the townfolk had their own way of dealing with the events that happened,” he said. “A man was killed right away.”
“Hayward Shepherd, at the station,” Lacey said, her eyes round. “He was a good soul, a gentle man.”
“Gentle men get caught up in the deeds of others,” Jesse mused.
“There’s more?” Kiernan asked.
He returned her gaze steadily. “Yes. One of the hostages has been shot.”
“No!” Lacey murmured.
“I’m afraid so. A local farmer named Turner has been killed.”
They were all still for a moment. Then Lacey burst out, “Oh, my dear God, Kiernan! What if—”