If You Give a Smuggler a Secret & If You Give a Rake a Reason

4. Chapter Four

Hurry!

HurrySlaney’s warning echoed in her head. Keelan took a shortcut through the garden. With the exception of her cousin Doreen, the entire household was probably awake. No time to dawdle, as Ruth would say.

She ducked beneath an arbor laden with lazy, purple wisteria blossoms. Aunt Sarah’s garden created a buffet for the senses. Eight neatly trimmed squares of fragrant lavender, rosemary, and thyme hedges barely accommodated the bright bursts of colorful flowers flaming up toward the blue South Carolina sky. The neat checkerboard of raised beds flowed down over several tiers and stopped near the glassy surface of a small pond.

The sound of Daniel’s voice jolted her into motion as it filtered through the hedges. “Twin Pines is a 300-acre plantation. The main house sits at the end of the long lane you started down earlier. We’ve only been here a few months. The commodore’s younger brother, Mr. Grey, has extensive knowledge of milling lumber and is an extremely effective overseer. He splits his time between his business in Charleston and the mill here.”

“So, Mr. Grey owns warehouses at the docks and also works here? That seems a heavy burden,” Captain O’Brien’s Irish lilt drifted through the hedge.

“Are you discussing the mill or the warehouses?” Daniel asked. “If it’s the mill, Mr. Grey might wish to take you on a tour later. I should let the grooms know, so they have his gelding ready.”

O’Brien fished out a handkerchief and wiped his brow. “Actually, we are more interested in speaking with his brother about my Uncle Fynn’s request. Seems Fynn was eager to meet with him about something. We found several letters from Commodore Grey among his things, one confirming an appointment today.”

Keelan sucked in a breath. A meeting with her father? Perhaps regarding the scandal.

Their lives changed on that stormy day when her father gave a tragic order to sink a ship he had been convinced was a French privateer trying to pass as an American merchant vessel. Her father attacked it.

Unfortunately, it had not been the privateer. All souls were lost, her father court-martialed, and their family disgraced. Thieves pilfered Mother’s shop.

Thankfully, Papa’s closest friend had been influential enough to keep her father from prison. The speculation that now someone was killing off the rest of the Greys in England amplified the scandal.

Papa had an older brother in Chatham and a younger one, Jared, in America. After his eldest brother’s son was found dead in a stable and his wife and Keelan’s mother were killed in separate but equally suspicious carriage accidents, it became obvious someone was eliminating members of the family one by one.

The murders prompted their long-time friend to smuggle Keelan and her father out of the country to protect them. He’d also financed the purchase of the plantation and bribed a ship’s captain to whisk her and Papa out of Great Britain, to the southern colonies. Her breath froze.

Had the assassin finally tracked them here?

Was it one of the two captains?

Daniel would be on guard with the same suspicions, of that she was certain. Too much had already slipped by them, putting the entire family on edge. Daniel would be extra vigilant.

She crawled behind an iron bench. Daniel, Captain Hart, and Captain O’Brien walked along the outside of the hedge. Curious, she crept closer to peek through the bushes. Would Daniel ask the men to remain quiet about the scene they had witnessed in the meadow? If he did, it would prevent her from having to plead her case to Captain Hart, a task she dreaded doing on her own. Had they already talked of it? This area was very private; a secluded place to speak in confidence.

She couldn’t assume the topic had already been discussed. She considered stepping out and intercepting them as they passed. That plan would only work if the men turned left rather than right toward the front door. If she drew Daniel’s attention, she could indicate she wanted to speak with them. She hurried to a gap in the shrubbery to signal him.

Daniel’s voice drew closer. “Behind the Grey’s house sits a kitchen house, a chicken coop, smokehouse, and a few outbuildings. In addition to crops and timber, Twin Pines also produces turpentine.”

She squeezed between two bushy shrubs near a cherry tree and cautiously peered through the foliage. Daniel pointed west, his back to her. Landon stood next to him. Where was the other man? Conal O’Brien?

The valet droned on. “Beyond this garden is a small spring-fed pond, which takes up most of the meadow bottom to the east. There’s another much larger lake on the plantation a few miles southwest.”

Captain O’Brien stepped through the arbor.

Oh no! There was no way to escape without exposing that she’d been eavesdropping. She caught her breath sharply. This wouldn’t work at all. Why would they agree to do a favor to someone who’d been spying on them?

Oh no!Curse her terrible luck.

Now, she’d have to wait until they left, then run to catch them before they made it to the front door.

Drat! That was impossible without being visible from her uncle’s study.

DratShe was doomed. Worse, Daniel would be punished too.

He and Captain Hart soon followed O’Brien. Keelan retreated further into the scratchy bushes behind the sweet blossoming limbs of the cherry tree. She winced as several branches poked the back of her head, legs, and arms.

“This is Mrs. Grey’s pride,” Daniel said, only a few yards away.

Conal stated his approval, “Tis carefully tended, for sure. Pleasin’ to the eye.”

Landon agreed. “Mrs. Grey has reason to be proud. The cherry blossoms are especially magnificent,” he added loudly, sounding closer than the others.

Her heart jarred the walls of her chest. She crouched lower into the shadows of the shrubs next to the tree. Captain Hart was dangerously close to her hiding place. She dared not take a single breath.

“Look at this,” Conal said. “The detail on this bench is as fine as any I have ever seen.”

He ran his large hand over the ornate ironwork. The fragrance of a rose bush apparently caught his attention, and he stepped over to sniff the flowers. He plucked a blossom, lifted it to his nose, and inhaled. Keelan’s pulse pounded frantically. Although Conal stood several yards away, if he happened to glance to his left, he would discover her. She could only retreat so far into the shrubs.

Why hadn’t she tried to intercept them earlier instead of just standing here pondering it?

Captain Hart coughed.

Conal jumped, then grinned. “After five months at sea, ’tis a relief to have somethin’ nicer to smell than salt water and eighty unbathed seamen.”

“Come,” Daniel said, laughing. “I’ll take you inside to meet Mr. Grey and the commodore.”

The conversation droned on after the men walked from the garden, but Keelan couldn’t hear it clearly.

Drat, again.

Drat, again.She’d missed her opportunity.

Were they gone? She waited. After a moment, she leaned forward to glance around the branches, but froze at a sharp, painful tug on her hair. Reaching behind her head, she sought the origin of the entrapment. Her wild hair was snared. She groaned in frustration. This kind of delay was not what she needed now. She tugged, but succeeded in freeing only a few meager strands.

She tucked her chin to her chest and groped for more tangled curls. This was a fine mess. If Aunt Sarah caught sight of her now, she’d drop in a dead faint.

Again.

“Damn!” It didn’t help her cause, but the curse certainly conveyed her mood at the moment. It almost made her feel better.

“That’s an understandable expletive for a young girl posing as a boy, however, as a young girl masquerading as foliage, it’s a bit disconcerting.”

Hart!

Keelan ceased her struggle, mortified. A shadow fell over the ground at her feet, followed by black riding boots, lightly dusted from the road. She raised her gaze over fine black breeches and tapered waist. She lifted her gaze higher, and it stuttered at a white linen shirt untied at the neck, before she took in the broad shoulders, strong jaw, small scar on the chin and a straight, but haughty aquiline nose.

Captain Hart stood in front of her, his crystalline blue eyes glittering with amusement.

This was going to be trouble.

A slow smile pulled a dimple into his cheek. “You can come out now. I’m afraid you’ve been discovered.”