She didn’t, of course, care about him. Just because he was more courageous than a hundred men together, because he risked his life to help others, because he kissed her until she couldn’t breathe, because he’d chosen her out of all the women in Warbrooke—no, that was no reason to give him a second thought.
“Jessica,” Eleanor said sternly, “if you aren’t going to eat those turnips, give them to someone who will.”
“Yes,” Jess mumbled. “I’m eating.” But she didn’t eat and Nathaniel gave her plate to Molly and Sarah. Jess didn’t even notice.
Chapter Seven
YOU are to come with me,” the young English soldier said, staring straight at Jessica.
“She hasn’t done anything,” Eleanor protested, three children clinging to her skirts. “She was an innocent bystander to the raids.”
“That will be determined by His Majesty’s appointee, John Pitman.”
“It’s all right, Eleanor,” Jessica said, determined to not allow her voice to shake. Pitman had only to accuse her and it would be as good as being convicted. She gave a quick look of encouragement to her family and then followed the four soldiers sent to fetch her.
Nathaniel walked beside her. “I’ll protect you, Jess,” Nate said, his young eyes looking very old.
She gave him a weak smile and kept her head aloft.
The soldiers led her to the sprawling Montgomery house, not going through the door to the common room but through a side door she’d never entered before. It led to the office that had for years belonged to Montgomery men. She’d often seen Adam there, sitting by his father, quietly learning how to manage the extensive Montgomery holdings.
John Pitman sat behind the desk that had serviced generations of Montgomerys.
One of the soldiers pushed Jessica’s shoulder, so that she sat heavily in a chair before him.
“Mistress Jessica,” Pitman said after he waved the soldiers away. They were alone in the room. “I have been told that you have knowledge of this criminal who calls himself the Raider.”
“I know nothing about him. Neither who he is, where he lives, nor anything else.”
“Yet he kissed you.”
Jessica moved uncomfortably in her chair. Too vividly she remembered the night she’d stumbled across Pitman in the woods. He’d told her that he didn’t sleep with his wife, and he’d tried to kiss her. “Many men try to kiss me,” she said in a low voice, looking him in the eye. “I don’t invite such attention.”
His eyelids lowered a fraction, showing that he remembered what she was referring to, but then his eyes strayed to the front of her dress.
Jessica suddenly realized that this man had never paid her the least bit of attention until the Raider had noticed her. “I know nothing of the Raider,” she said again, this time louder.
Pitman stood and walked around the desk toward her. “I don’t know whether I believe you or not. You saved him the last time he appeared.”
“I merely tossed a rope to George Greene. How was I to know your English soldiers would be so clumsy?”
He looked at her for a long moment. “Yes, that is what I was given to believe.”
Jessica wondered if Alex had paid his brother-in-law to get her released.
Pitman moved closer to her, put his hand on her shoulder. “I never realized until recently how pretty you are, Mistress Jessica.”
“Not until the Raider pointed it out to you?”
He moved his hand away. “You have a sharp tongue on you. Perhaps too sharp. If you continue helping this brigand—”
“You’ll what? Punish me because you can’t catch him?”
Pitman drew his breath in sharply and Jessica wished she hadn’t spoken. He opened his mouth to reply but the door burst open.
“What is the meaning of this?” Alexander demanded, slamming the door open against the wall. His heavy wig was flying out behind him. “I was told you’ve been arresting women.”
Pitman moved behind the desk. His face wore an expression of boredom. “I did not arrest them, I merely had them brought here for questioning.”