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It took every thread of strength to curb the roaring hunger in his chest. Thomas pulled away, trying not to groan from the sheer pain of it. Eliza’s eyes slowly blinked open, and the pain he saw there sawed his heart in pieces.
He turned away. Please forgive me, Eliza. Forgive me.
The heat from moments ago turned to ice. Eliza wrapped her arms around her chest as an uneasy quiet settled in the glowing room. How she wished she’d never come back down! Oh, why did she have to open her heart to him?
Wisdom told her to march upstairs and forget it. She should shut the window to his affection and build a wall high enough to keep him out forever.
But she couldn’t. Somehow she couldn’t even find the strength to make her feet unlock from their position on the floor.
Chewing on her lip, Eliza stewed. Well, if she couldn’t escape, she might as well say something. Eliza kept her voice low to cover any remaining quiver. “I overheard Nathaniel tell of the political rally.”
Thomas peered at her from over his shoulder. “You overheard a lot.” A sliver of mirth rippled his voice as one brow tilted up.
Eliza’s spine straightened as she tried to forget the pain of moments ago. “I know you said it would be dangerous to attend, but I can’t help my curiosity. If my father can risk what he did surely we can also. I know how much you want to be a part of it as well, and I believe we must be. God protected Father, and I know He’ll do the same for us.”
Thomas jerked his head back. A chuckle rumbled in his chest, but Eliza could sense his earnest. “Eliza, you know we can’t leave this house. As much as I would like to attend the rally, it’s far too dangerous.”
Eliza took a step forward and softened her tone, releasing her hands at her sides. “If we go to the rally together, in disguise of course, I’m sure we will be safe and no one will recognize us. I believe I could begin to truly understand what Father felt and why he—”
“Absolutely not.” Thomas came toward her, lowering his chin. “Neither of us will be attending that rally and that’s the end of it.”
“But—”
He interrupted her again, this time with a finger on her lips. The feeling of his warm flesh scalded her skin. “You must wipe that foolish notion from your pretty head. I won’t have you going anywhere near trouble.”
“How else am I to find out the truth? Sitting here and reading about the importance of liberty cannot be enough, surely. I must be involved if I am to understand it. I thought you wanted to help me.”
“Of course I do, Eliza, but going to the rally is not the way I’ll go about it.” He took her by the shoulders and looked down at her as a father would to a child, sending a painful sting down her spine. He continued, his voice heavy. “If you heard everything Nathaniel said, then you would have also heard his warning. Already there are more soldiers in town and we must not risk being found out.” His deep voice remained calm, but Eliza’s pulse heated at the intensity of his words.
She pinched her lips and lifted her lashes to meet his gaze. The closeness of him almost untied the laces of her willpower. His blue eyes radiated as they roamed over her face, causing her mouth to go instantly dry.
He brushed a flyaway hair from her cheek, tenderly stroking the skin of her neck with his thumb. What was he doing? The sensation of his skin touching hers sent the most pleasurable tingles chasing up her neck and down her arm. Her lungs halted and she stared into his fathomless eyes.
“We want to avoid trouble, not search it out.” The delicious timbre of his voice twined around her. “I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”
His gaze traveled to her mouth and lingered there.
Eliza tried to move, but couldn’t. This could not be happening. Not again. She froze, wanting—and at the same time, not wanting—him to come closer. She cleared her throat and tried to focus on her words. “How else can I really taste what Father tasted? How better for me to learn what I need to know than to attend that rally—to be a part of it? I want to know why my father betrayed King George. And for my benefit no less!”
A charming smile lifted the corners of his mouth and he moved his lips to her ear. “I’ll tell you everything.” His low tone trickled through her and settled in her stomach, awakening thousands of butterflies.
Slowly, Thomas released his hold and moved away, then turned and placed another log onto the fire. He acted so casual Eliza almost believed she’d imagined his closeness. He must experience the same storm of longing that pelted her chest. How could he now act as if nothing had happened between them?
She turned to face the stairs, searching for the strength to make her feet move across the floor. Somehow her body was as stuck as her clogged mind. She wanted to believe he cared—that he wouldn’t want to rid himself of her when the search was over. She tried not to hope he would ask to her stay and be his ‘real’ wife, but she saw the resistance in his eyes, and all reason told her such a hope was folly. He was doing his duty—that was all. Caring for her like Father would have wanted him to. Nothing more.
Chapter Nineteen
“Clark, you fool! Because of you, now I’ve wasted even more time! I should never have listened to you.” Rubbing his forehead, Samuel handed the reins of his horse to another soldier and waved him off.
Boston’s wintry night sky shrouded the three men as Samuel clenched his fist to keep from pounding the young soldier.
Clark, his boyish face and small frame trembling, shook his head. “I truly believed it was them, Captain. Or I would never have said so.”
“Well, your pure motives make everything all right, don’t they?” Stupid boy. Nothing would bring peace to Samuel’s anguished soul. Nothing except finding Eliza. He would die without her, just as surely as she was dying without him—alone and frightened in some strange place.
Donaldson dismounted and stood behind Clark, his gloved fingers twitching. “What’s done is done, Martin. Best to let it go and get back to work.”
“Shut up, Donaldson, I’ll have none of that from you. I went to Salem on good faith, Clark,” Samuel said, jabbing his finger into the boy’s chest. “I saw no one that even remotely resembled that barbarous fugitive or my future wife!” He yelled and yanked the lapels of Clark’s red jacket, expelling all his anger through his voice and onto the soldier’s face. “Not one!”
