“I’ll not have it,” Alex said, his voice becoming higher by the second. “Do you understand me, I’ll not have it. Come along, Jessica.” He held out his hand for her as if she were a child.
Jessica took it, never looking back at Pitman, and followed Alex out of the room. “Who else did he talk to?”
Alex didn’t answer but began pulling her down the corridors of the house.
“Alex, where are we going? Who else did he question?”
At last Alex opened a door, pulled her inside and shut it behind them. He let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Alex,” she said again. It was a large room with furniture covered with yards of muslin to protect it from the dust.
Alex sat down in a chair, a cloud of dust and powder from his wig wafting about him. He lifted a sheet behind him, opened a drawer and withdrew an embroidered fan that perfectly matched his green satin vest. “All right, Jess, tell me everything.”
“There’s not much to tell. He wanted to know if I knew anything about the Raider.”
“And you don’t, of course.”
Only his kisses, Jess thought.
“Do you?” Alex persisted.
“Not anything that will help Pitman execute him, I don’t. I really should go home and tell Eleanor that I’m all right.”
“Eleanor knows; I sent Nate. What do you know about the Raider? Sit down and quit wandering about.”
Jessica removed a dust cover and sat on a small, pink tapestry-covered chair. “I don’t know who he is or how to contact him. I know nothing about him.” Except his hands on my body, she thought and she wasn’t about to tell Alex or anyone else about that.
“Have you seen him again?” Alex asked softly, his gentle eyes suddenly turning intense.
“I…Alex, why are you interrogating me, too?”
“I told you, I feel responsible for you. I don’t want this Raider around you. I don’t trust him. There’s too much of the braggart about him.”
“He’s all right,” she snapped. “At least he’s trying to help. Everyone else in town sat on their backsides and did nothing while Josiah’s ship was stolen out from under him.”
“I thought you considered this Raider a coward, too frightened to stand on his own without hiding behind a mask.”
“He’d shot if he protested openly.” She wanted to change the subject. “Isn’t that a picture of your mother?”
Alex seemed to want to ask more questions, but instead he fanned himself awhile longer and then stood. “This was my mother’s room. I wanted to show you something.” He went to a large painted chest against one wall and opened it. Inside, carefully folded, were many dresses.
“These were my mother’s and they’re just lying here rotting. I thought maybe you and Eleanor would like to have them.”
Instinctively, she pulled back from him. “Charity to the Taggerts? Just because I took one dress from you doesn’t mean I’ll accept this. I don’t want your pity, Alexander Montgomery. You always did think we were nothing but dirt.”
“No, Jess, I didn’t mean—”
“What is going on here!”
Both of them turned to see Marianna Montgomery Pitman standing in the doorway. It was a formidable sight. The Montgomerys’ tall, broad-shouldered physique looked great on the men, but it left something to be desired on a woman. Marianna stood six feet tall, wide-shouldered, deep-bosomed, slim-hipped—she had a body any man would envy. With her big body went a personality that was a cross between a typhoon and a newborn baby. No one ever knew whether Marianna was going to be domineering or try to snuggle in your lap.
“Alexander, I asked you a question.”
It looked like it was Marianna’s day to be stormy and Alex was beginning to cower before his sister. Jess stepped forward. “I was brought here for questioning by…by your husband and Alexander so kindly brought me in here to show me your mother’s lovely things. We were just leaving.”
“Oh,” Marianna said and sat down heavily as the wind seemed to leave her sails. “My husband. I did make a mess of that. I didn’t know he was like this before I married him. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me. I sent for Adam and Kit, but I guess they never receive
d my letters. I’m sure they’d come if they could.”