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“You are our informant. Greene has made that very clear to me now.” He went to the rug and flicked it back with a single swipe. “I was a fool not to see it in the beginning.” The next he added under his breath. “Such a fool.” Bending, he swung open the door and snarled. His vision snapped up, stabbing Joseph in the neck. “Where have they gone?”
Deny.
The petition came again, and he leaned what remained of his future fully upon it. “Sir, I give you my word I had no knowledge of this—”
“Where have the Patriots gone? This cellar is empty, and I refuse to believe you had nothing to do with this!”
“I did not!” Speaking the lie twisted hard in his gut, but he prayed such a falsehood for a greater good would go unpunished. He must do it, if not for himself, for Hannah. “Philo spoke without knowing what he saw. He knows not what he has done?”
“Then why run?” Stockton leaned forward, breath sour, as he seethed inches from Joseph’s face. “’Tis you who has done this, and ’tis you who will pay.”
“I tell you I did not do it, sir.” Hannah’s face flashed before him, and his voice began speaking ere he had time to stop it. “Hannah would never allow me to do such a thing. She is too devoted to the king. And I…too in love to gainsay her.”
Stilled at the unexpected statement, Stockton straightened, his facial muscles slacking. He blinked and looked to Greene, who had suddenly occupied the open doorway. “Keep watch. Should anyone else arrive, inform me immediately.”
Greene nodded and turned, but Stockton halted him with a second command. “And tell all the other men to return to Major Pitman. I have the matter under control.”
“Aye, sir.” Stepping out, Greene shut the door behind him.
Stockton folded his arms and spoke again the second they were alone. “You have always had designs on her.” His thick chest lifted and lowered as he filled his lungs with a deep sigh. “And once you saw her inclination to me, you were besieged with jealousy.”
Joseph swallowed, his blood stilling. The way to save her opened up like a crack in the earth. If Stockton believed Hannah was available to him, perhaps her life could be spared. Joseph would willingly fall over any cavern and allow her to walk across him to safety. But what security would she have without Joseph there to protect her? Philo cared not for her, and Stockton would use her in ways he dared not consider.
Yet for her to lose her life…to be drawn and quartered? Dearest Lord…
Joseph shifted in the hard chair, molding determined truth across his face. “I have always loved her. I cannot deny that.”
As if he were the father and Joseph the son, Stockton stared down at him. “But she cared not for you.”
Again Joseph worked his wrists against the strangling rope, his mind doing the same with the words that bound him. He could not answer. Not until he’d had a moment to disassemble the welded parts of memory. She cared not for you… ’Twas that very belief he had endured for so many painful years. Until this very night he had thought she’d felt the obverse of love—that she had despised him and wished a life without him.
But now, knowing that she’d wanted him, knowing she’d given life to the fruit of their love and grieved over an unthinkable loss, made a hot swelling start in his throat.
The answer breathed free. “She did. Once.”
“Once, hmm?” Stockton untethered his arms and shifted his feet. “So you’d believed that perhaps by forcing your closeness you could draw her heart back to you?”
Had Stockton no son to lecture to? Joseph would not speak of love with a man who clearly had romantic designs of his own. But if it would save her life…
Joseph swallowed. “I did.”
“I knew something was wrong.” Stockton circled around. “I knew—”
“Major!” The front door flung open, and Greene charged in. ’Tis Captain Higley, sir. And another man—”
“Joseph!” Philo burst past Greene, eyes red and chest heaving. “How dare you!”
Launching to his feet, Joseph tried to dodge the incoming attack, but Philo’s rage made him quick. With a roar he tackled Joseph backward. Like a man possessed, Philo grabbed at his coat, scratching and snarling. Joseph kicked and rolled to get himself free, but ’twas Stockton who yanked Philo back.
“Stop!”
A trickle of salty blood streamed into Joseph’s mouth. Pulse heaving, he looked across the room as Stockton pushed Philo back, and whatever horror he might have felt tripled when he saw whose frame filled the doorway.
Eyes circled in fear, face devoid of color, Hannah’s gaze was on him as one in a dream, ever reaching out but ever moving away.
Why had she come? Did she not know the danger?
Stockton whirled and yelled at Higley, who came to stand beside her. “I told you to keep them at the house.”
