Her face paled. He hated himself for saying it so plainly. “I know,” she whispered.
No, she didn’t. Not fully. She could imagine danger, but imagination was kind compared to men like Ellis.
Nathaniel caught her wrist. Anna flinched. The small movement nearly undid him. “I am not going to hurt you,” he whispered.
“You are asking me to trust you,” she shot back.
“Yes.”
“Well, I do not.”
The words landed exactly where they ought. He deserved them.
He slid his fingers beneath the edge of her cuff. The folded paper was there, tucked against the inside seam, small and warm from her skin. A scrap of information that could save Josiah Bell or condemn Anna. He drew it free and palmed it before the soldiers could see.
Anna’s breath caught. Her eyes told him she thought she’d just watched him steal every hope she carried.
Good. Let her think it. If she believed he’d betrayed her, she might be frightened enough to go back inside and stay there.
The two soldiers stopped their horses a few paces away. One was broad and red-cheeked with mud on his boots. The other was younger, thinner, with an eager look in his eyes.
“Mr. Reed,” the broad-shouldered one said, “orders are to stop anyone on the lane.”
“So I was told.” Nathaniel placed himself between Anna and them. “I have stopped her, as you can see.”
The younger soldier peered around him. “What is she doing out?”
Anna straightened. “I am fetching horehound from Mrs. Albright.”
The broad soldier looked at him. “Horehound?”
“For a cough,” Anna said. “One of the other maids has one.”
The younger man snorted. “I hear no cough.”
“The one with the cough is in the kitchen at Pembroke house,” she replied.
The broader soldier smacked the thinner one in the chest.
Nathaniel didn’t dare look at her. Even though every protective instinct he had was rising to the surface. “She is Mrs. Pembroke’s maid,” he said, “and she is going back to the house.”
Anna’s gaze shot to him. “Mr. Reed…”
“You are going back,” he said, letting a hard edge enter his voice. “Captain Whitby has no patience tonight for servants wandering where they ought not.”
Hurt flashed across her face. Nathaniel turned that into a wall and placed it between them because it might keep her alive.
The younger soldier eyed them. “Orders said search anyone on the lane.”
Anna froze.
Nathaniel looked at him. “Do you see her carrying anything suspicious?”
“Well.” The young soldier looked her over. “Now that you mention it, no.”
“Then search the lane if you like. Search the trees. Search every rabbit hole between here and Mrs. Albright’s.” Nathaniel reached into his coat and withdrew the folded paper he’d taken from Captain Whitby earlier in the day. “Or if you require paper badly enough to justify your evening, take this.”
He held it out. The broad soldier took the paper, unfolded it, and frowned. “What is this?”
