Page 47 of Any Duke in a Storm

“Is he on the list from the Treasury Department?”

Jenks sent her a circumspect look. “Why does it matter? If we can get Saint, Dubois, and Madge in one fell swoop, we’ll be promoted. Or even knighted by your British Crown. Wouldn’t that be a lark!SirHarry Jenks at your service.”

Lisbeth’s stomach fell, but she kept her face composed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” He laughed and then sobered. “In the meantime, I’ll speak to the Treasury agents in New York and let your people know you’re alive. I’ll try to get word to you about plans, but that ship to New York will be our best chance to catch the bastards. I’ll arrange to have men at Cape May Point keeping a lookout over the next few weeks. You know the signal. Anything else?”

“Can you get a message to theSyrenin Tampa to setcourse for New York? I need my ship close if anything goes wrong.”

“Very well. Good work, Agent Medford.”

But as Lisbeth left Parson and Hale’s, the sinking feeling in her stomach didn’t feel like a job well done at all. And it only became worse when she saw the unsmiling man on the other side of the street observing her with wariness and mistrust written all over him.

Devil truly take her luck.

Fourteen

Raphael glanced up at the name on the building with a narrowed stare: Parson and Hale’s General Store. He hadn’t gone in there for good reason, deciding to wait in a shadowed overhang on the other side of the street. Though the building in question was a store and housed the Cedar Key Post Office, from recollection, it was also the home of the local customs office. And no doubt, there was someone in there who would be happy to catch a wanted smuggler on their stoop. And even if there wasn’t, no need to tempt fate by flaunting his presence.

He was just about to send Gibbons or Balzac in when Lisbeth emerged. The expression on her face was hard to decipher. She seemed equally disgruntled and worried, which struck him as odd emotions to have after being in a general store. What would have caused her to have such a reaction? When she saw him, her face froze and then fell back into its usual neutral mask as she walked unhurriedly toward him.

“Before you say anything, it was my fault,” she said. “I wanted to be alone for a few minutes without two shadows on my back every infernal second. Then I saw the general store and popped in to have a look at the dry goods and naval stores.” She let out a sound of pique. “They were out of quinine. I wanted to get some in case of infection.”

A reasonable justification, and one that could explain both of the emotions on her face, but Raphael wasn’t convinced. Something felt too smooth—toopolished—in her delivery of her explanation. “We have more than enough quinine on Exuma.”

“We’re not on Exuma, are we, Saint?” she shot back.

It rubbed a little that she was back to calling him Saint as if she intended to put distance between them. He did not know how he felt about that… He was of two minds. On the one hand, getting involved with a woman—and another smuggler, at that—would distract him from his main focus, but on the other, helikedLisbeth.

Despite her many idiosyncrasies, being with her made him feel…hopeful. An even odder sentiment, but so much of his recent years had been filled with despair, drive, and bitterness. All working toward one goal—the destruction of the man responsible for his father’s death. Lisbeth was an unexpected beam of light in an all-too-dismal terrain, and just like a stupid fucking moth to a flame, he couldn’t help veering toward her.

Even knowing she could be his ruin.

“No, we’re not,” Raphael agreed with a grunt and turned toward the docks, before signaling to Gibbons and Balzac to go on ahead of them. “And you know very well that the men are for your safety.”

She rolled her eyes. “This is Florida, and it’s broad daylight with shopkeepers and lots of people around. Even if I weren’tme, how much danger am I really in?”

He glanced down at her, amusement seeping throughhis ire at having to chase her through the town when a shame-faced Gibbons had confessed she’d given them the slip. He’d been hounded from the milliner’s by a young woman with a sizable broom—a scene that Raphael had come upon and would not soon forget. If he hadn’t been hard-pressed to find Lisbeth, he would have laughed until his sides ached. The comical sight of a chit half the men’s size screaming at them to stop their thievery had had Lisbeth’s influence all over it.

“I seem to recall that danger finds you quite often,” he pointed out. “Explosions, public street brawls, tropical storms, shopkeepers with brooms. I’m beginning to think you should come with a warning label: Beware, death by association entirely possible.”

Her eyes widened. “She went after them with a broom? Good for her.” Lisbeth snorted and smacked him with her reticule. “Besides, you like that about me. Don’t even pretend. I keep you on your toes.”

That was the problem. He liked everything about her fiery personality far too much.

“You’re right. I do,” he conceded.

She glanced at him. “I don’t intimidate you at all, do I?”

“On the contrary, I’d be a fool if you didn’t, but suffice it to say you impress me more.” Unexpected pleasure bloomed in her eyes before it was banked. He wanted to see more of that genuine emotion. “And infuriate me,” he added, and she laughed.

Lisbeth lived without apology, but even with all that self-assurance, she seemed so solitary, keeping everyoneat arm’s length. With her own crew, he’d noticed that she held herself apart. Not enough that it would be obvious, butjustenough that she wouldn’t get too close.

Oh, they adored her and she them, but those bonds felt…conditional, as if she were afraid to lose herself too completely. He recognized it as a form of self-preservation, because he kept himself guarded, too.

Yet another similarity they shared.

Coming to a halt, he turned to face her and caught his breath. He stared at her face, memorizing the way the sunlight hit her gilt-tipped lashes and highlighted the spattering of strawberry freckles over her small nose. Her lightly tanned cheeks were rosy from the sun, lips curling up into a half smile, while sea-glass green eyes sparkling with challenge peered up at him. She was so lovely that he nearly forgot what he’d meant to say.

---