Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [86]
“Or should someone decide I should be made to look guilty,” Dominick responded.
Tabitha nodded, then pushed back her chair. “I need to get home. I haven’t had more than two hours of sleep since six o’clock yesterday morning.”
Dominick rose. “I’ll walk you home, if Miss Letty says I can.”
“It might look like dusk out there, but it’s not, so go ahead. I’d feel better if she weren’t alone in this fog.”
Tabitha thanked Letty for the refreshments, then exited the house. Carrying her bag, Dominick strode beside her through the garden and into the alley. By silent consent, they took the back way around the graveyard and out into the square beside the church.
“Shall we avoid the beach today?”
“I think we should. It’ll be full of flotsam after the storm.” She took his arm. “Raleigh regrets what he intended to do, you know.”
“I thought he might. But it doesn’t change the fact he tried, and with whom?”
“He won’t say. And you’re saying too little.”
“I have every intention of being honest with you, Tabitha . . . tomorrow. Not today. Voices carry in the fog.”
And so they did. When she stopped listening to Dominick, she caught snatches of conversation from pedestrians she couldn’t even see. She heard the footfalls before the form loomed up before them, blocking their path.
“You keep low company, Miss Eckles,” Harlan Wilkins said. “Haven’t you learned your lesson about associating with the bondsman?”
“A man’s worth is in what he does, not the station in life he holds,” Tabitha said through stiff lips. “Mr. Cherrett has proved himself worthy of my regard through his actions.”
“You’re just another foolish female then.” Wilkins snorted.
“Like Sally Belote?” Tabitha shot back.
The muscles under her hand went rigid. Wilkins emitted a sound like steam hissing from beneath the lid of a teakettle. It erupted in an epithet.
Tabitha felt her face flame despite the cold mist. She kept her mouth shut. She’d said too much already.
“I’m watching you, Cherrett,” Wilkins growled. “I won’t have an English bondsman wandering about at will in my town.”
Then he was gone, disappearing into the fog.
“That was probably not a wise remark, my dear.” Dominick began walking again, his footfalls swift and light beside hers. “You have thrown down the gauntlet.”
“No, I think I’ve taken it up. He threw it down when he campaigned to have me blackballed with the council.” Tabitha ground her teeth. “But I shouldn’t have spoken in front of you.”
“Perhaps you should let Mayor Kendall know what Wilkins did to that girl.”
“I’ve already broken my vow of confidentiality to my patient with you, which was wrong of me. Of course, it’s not wrong if I’m called into court by one of the interested parties.” They rounded a corner. She caught a whiff of sea air, which promised the fog would blow away by morning, and took a deep breath. “Wilkins knows that.”
“But you’re protecting a blaggard of the worst sort.” Dominick sounded frustrated.
“But now no one will believe me. They’ll think I’ll be lying out of revenge.”
“Perhaps he’ll be happy with that and let the matter drop.”
“Maybe.” Tabitha suppressed a yawn. “So have you read any of the Shakespeare?”
“I’ve read it twice. Prospero’s speech at the end, when he gives up his magic, speaks to the heart.”
“Do Englishmen have hearts?” She meant the question to tease.
He paused on the path and his expression held no humor. “I used to, but I do believe you have it now.”
“Dominick.” She tried to laugh. It was more of a gasp. “You don’t mean anything of the kind.”
“I do.” He drew her to him. With his lips against hers, he murmured, “I love you.”
22
______
Dominick bounded down the steps and into the kitchen. “No uniform. No powder,” he crowed. He felt as free as he would until he completed his mission.
Letty frowned at him from the table, where she kneaded bread. “I don’t like this, Dominick. Tabitha Eckles deserves better than what you can give her right now.”
“He kissed her in the garden,” Deborah called from the