Bobbi Smith - Captive Pride

“I’m leaving…” Matt ground out, his tone terse with condemnation. “I hadn’t meant to intrude. Polly just said that-”

CC could almost feel the violent emotions that were being barely held in check by both brothers, and with a supreme effort she twisted quickly in Noah’s shielding embrace.

“Matthew…wait… It’s all right…really…”

“CC, damn it!” Noah swore. He had wanted to protect her from recognition and yet she had openly and willingly given away her identity.

“CC?”

A kaleidoscope of comical emotions ranging from censure to understanding to humorous crossed Matt’s face as he stared at CC dressed in her boy’s disguise.

“CC…Miss Demorest, I presume.” The jarring tension that had seared him when he’d first entered the room faded quickly away, leaving him feeling slightly foolish, and he grinned in self-derision. “Thank heaven it’s you; I should have remembered…”

“What?” Noah looked questioningly from CC to his brother. “What should you have remembered?”

“CC’s disguise, of course,” Matt answered easily.

“You knew about the disguise?” Noah was astonished.

“Yes, CC and I ran into each other at the meeting at Faneuil Hall and I vowed to keep her secret.” Matt suddenly looked thoughtful. “That explains my knowing, but just how did you find out?”

“He discovered my involvement the night of his first rendezvous with Graves,” CC supplied, moving out of the circle of Noah’s arms the moment he loosened his grip. “You do know about all that, don’t you?”

“Yes, he knows about it,” Noah snapped, suddenly irritated and not quite sure why.

“You’re a member of that group?” Matt was astounded to find out that she belonged to the innermost decision-making group.

“Yes,” she answered with pride. “I have been almost since the beginning.”

Everything quickly came together for Matt now that he better understood the relationship that existed between Noah and CC. No wonder she’d sounded slightly embittered when they’d spoken of Noah the other night. If she cared for him, as she obviously did or she wouldn’t have just been in his arms, his refusal to become involved in the revolutionary movement and his determination to return to England had no doubt hurt her terribly.

“So that’s how you knew so much about-” Matt began, and CC flashed him a warning look.

“Knew so much about what?” Noah demanded, wanting to know everything about Matt and CC’s acquaintance.

“Oh, nothing. Listen, I can speak with you any time, Noah. I’ll just-” He started for the door to allow them time together, but CC spoke up quickly, halting his progress.

“No! I’ll go…I must…” She rushed to the door. “Good-bye, Noah.” Her eyes were filled with sadness as they met his across the room, and without another word she fled the room.

“CC…” Noah started after her, but when he emerged into the hall she had already disappeared down the steps, and he knew it would not do for him to race from the inn in hot pursuit of a messenger boy. Slowly, unaccountably miserable, he turned back inside and closed the door.

“Noah…what was that all about?” Matt was frowning, not understanding CC’s haste to be gone.

“CC was sent by Ryan Graves to deliver the first half of our payment for the arms.” He gestured toward the table, where the money lay untouched.

“Oh.” Matt was disappointed, for he had hoped that there might be more to her visit than that. “I thought she might have had another reason-”

“There was no other reason for her visit, Matt.” Noah cut off his insinuation.

“That’s too bad. CC is a very special woman.” Matt admired her very much, and he let his feelings for her show in his tone. “A man could do far worse.”

“Perhaps.” Noah refused to reveal anything of his feelings for CC, and Matt finally let the matter rest.

As Matt considered the whole scenario for a moment in silence, he thought it odd that a woman had been sent on such a potentially dangerous mission, and he asked, “Why in the world would the leaders send CC to you with the money? Wasn’t that slightly dangerous? One woman…alone…unprotected?”

“I asked her the same thing, and all she would tell me was that there was a letter in the packet that would explain everything.” Noah quickly unwrapped the parcel and, with little interest, set the money aside in favor of the envelope enclosed. “Let’s see here…”

Silently he read the missive, and his jaw tensed in explosive anger. “I don’t believe this…” He looked up at Matt, stunned.

“What?” Matt took the letter.

Lord Kincade-

It has come to our attention that your every move about town is being watched. We have no idea why, but certain precautions must be taken from now on in our dealings, and I will no longer be able to meet with you personally. Please understand, and if you can explain the surveillance, send word.

Graves

“Damn! We’re being watched, Matt…or at least I am,” Noah snarled, striding to the window and staring out at the seemingly deserted street below.

“But why? Who would want to know your movements?”

Noah’s mind was racing, and his expression was etched with anger as he paced furiously about the room. “Who indeed? I have no enemies here. Except for my one brief meeting with Graves and Adams at the Green Dragon Inn some time ago, there’s been no other open contact between us.”

Matt felt the sudden weight of his own actions.

“Noah…” His tone was solemn.

“What?”

“I wonder if it could be because of me.”

Noah frowned at the thought. As much as he didn’t want to lay that guilt on Matthew, it fit. Matt had argued with Winthrop, Matt had been seeing Faith regularly, Matt had attended the meetings at Faneuil Hall, and he was definitely involved in the growing unrest.

“Damn!” he swore, his once-softening feelings toward Matt’s relationship with Faith suddenly hardening. If anything happened to his arms deal…“I told you not to get involved with the rebels! I warned you about what could happen, but you refused to listen! And now…”

“Noah, I-”

“Stay away from Faith and stay away from the meetings!” He was livid that his plans might be ruined.

“Faith and I are going to be married shortly, in case you’ve forgotten, and I will not let anything interfere with that.”

“Not even the possibility that you might be jeopardizing our entire future?” Noah countered.

“We can protect ourselves now that we know about the surveillance.”

“It’s not that simple, Matthew.”

Matt was not about to give quarter. “Noah, it most certainly is. So far we’ve done nothing that could be considered illegal. I’ve attended a few public meetings. So what? There’s no way they could have any proof that we’re involved in any wrongdoing. The only way they could prove anything would be to get hold of the Pride’s manifests and make a connection between the payment you just received and the rebels taking delivery of the arms.”

“Maybe so, but we can’t be sure. Until we are, I want you to steer clear of anything controversial,” he ordered.

Matt’s eyes were aglow with an inner fire as he glared at his brother. “Noah, I will do nothing to endanger your plans, but you cannot ask me to stay away from the woman I love.”

“I most certainly can if our lives depend on it!”

“Then I’m afraid there can be only one solution.” Matt stiffened as he prepared to do the one thing he’d never wanted to do. “I will move out of the inn tonight and sever our relationship. You should then be freed from any further surveillance.”

“What?” His statement caught Noah totally off guard. “You can’t mean that.”