“She’s back at the house,” he finally said. “Safe. For the moment.”
Caleb looked around. “That’s not the same thing.”
“I know that,” Nathaniel snapped.
Caleb tucked the pistol into his coat and took the note from beneath the stone. He read it, and all remaining irritation left his expression.
“Bell tonight,” Nathaniel said. “Use Brewster’s lower field if you can. Sloane mentioned it last night.”
Caleb folded the note. “We can move men easily enough through there.”
“You’ll have little time,” he pointed out.
“We never have enough as it is.” Caleb smiled. “It’s a good thing we’re used to it.” Caleb studied him a moment. “What happened with Anna Turner?”
Nathaniel looked in the direction of Pembroke House. “I took the message from her.”
Caleb’s eyebrows shot up.
Nathaniel dragged a hand through his hair. “She thinks I gave it to the soldiers.”
“Did you?”
Nathaniel glared at him.
Caleb grinned. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“She needed to believe I did.” Nathaniel remembered her face as she turned away and the hurt she tried to hide.
“Did she believe it?” Caleb asked.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“Does she know who you are?”
“No.”
Caleb closed the distance between them. “Then perhaps it’s time she did.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “Not with Ellis watching.”
Caleb stepped closer still. “You cannot protect her by making her hate you.”
Nathaniel shrugged. “It seemed efficient at the time.”
“It seems stupid to me,” Caleb said.
Nathaniel’s shoulders slumped. “You always did have a gift for encouragement, Caleb.”
“I have a gift for staying alive. So do you. And you remember to think with your head and not whatever part of you is currently tangled around a maid with quick hands.”
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened. “Careful, my friend.”
“Ah,” Caleb said softly. “There it is. Now that is a problem.”
Nathaniel looked away. The sky beyond the trees had darkened toward purple. Time was running out. “Can you get Bell?”
“We can try,” Caleb said. “Go to the harbor post. Be seen. Make it convincing.”
