Page 43 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
She nodded and thanked him for his handkerchief. She blew her nose and let him lead her to a bench in front of a chandler’s shop.“You did leave me with the consul, but he was beastly and kept asking me the same questions over and over again, and when I said I wanted to see how Daniel did,he said it was out of the question and I ran away,”she finished in a rush of words.
“Miss Whittier, I do believe you have changed a greatdealsince youcameonboardtheDissuade,”he said, a grin on his face.
“What has that to do with anything?”she demanded, and clutched hisarm.“I have to know how Daniel is. They are going to put me on a ship forHollandand then home, and I have to know. I still have the dispatch, and he needs it.”
He stood up then and offered her hisarm.“Miss Whittier—Hannah—let us find the captain.”
She burst into tears again and had to blow her nose more heartily before the lieutenant would allow her to accompany him.“After all, I have appearances to keep up,”he told her, his voice stem, but his eyes merry.“You certainly are a tenacious bit of shark chum.”He paused a moment“I suppose if the American consul finds us, I will be clapped in irons and charged with attempted kidnap.”
“I suppose it’s possible,”she said, twinkling her eyes back at him.“I suggest we hurry.”
His grip tight on her arm, Lieutenant Futtrell led her through the crowd of sailors and soldiers and onto a quieter side street leading up from the harbor.“Lord Wellington is in the city,”he explained as they hurried along.“He is supervising the construction of breastworks aroundLisbonto keep Boney from pushing us into the sea. We will see some hot work here soon.”
Hannah hurried to keep up with his long stride, and he shortened his steps obligingly.“What will happen to you?”she asked.
“I’m to be shipped out on the next tide back toPortsmouth,”he said, and stopped before a church.“He is here,Hannah,at All Saints.”He tipped histallhat to her.“I would come in, but he and I have already spoken, and I have to catch the tide. I’llprobably see you inLondonquite soon.”
“Not if I am bound forHolland,”she said,retaining her clutch on hisarm.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek,gently tugging off her fingers.“What little I know of you tells me that you will find a way to get toLondon, Hannah. Do you know you still smell of tunny?”
She laughed and dabbed at her eyes, hugged him one last time, and slipped into the cool gloom of the church. When her eyes became accustomed, she looked around in shock and horror. The nave was filled with wounded men from the entrance to the chancel, lying practically shoulder to shoulder on pallets and tended by nuns, who glided up and down the rows.“War, I hate thee,”she said softly, clasping her hands tightly together.
There were doctors here and there, kneeling beside the patients. She thought of AndrewLease, swallowed a huge lump in her throat, and went from surgeon to surgeon until she found an English physician. His eyes red from lack of sleep, the surgeon pointed to a side door and turned back to his patient.
There were more pallets in the lady chapel off the main sanctuary. She gasped with relief when she saw a redcoated Marine sitting on the floor by a pallet closest to the altar. He looked up at her approach and grinned, and she recognized him from theDissuade.
“Well,as I barely live and faintly breathe, it’s Lady Amber,”came a voice from the pallet.“Corporal, go find someone else to watch for a while,willyou?”
With another grin and a tip of the hat, the Marine left the chapel as she ran forward and flung herself across the manwho lay on the pallet.
“Ow! Gently, my dear,”Captain Spark said.“My ribs are still sore and look out for myarm. But before you get discouraged, let me add that my lips are fine, however.”
She sat up,put her hands gently on each side of his face and kissed him. His goodarm went around her and he pulled her back down to the pallet, kissing her with a fervor that belied his convalescing condition. One kiss was not enough;two scarcelyservedtoslake her own thirst for him. Thee is an idiot, Hannah Whittier, she told herself as she ran her tongue inside his eager mouth and wished the world somewhere else.
Spark finally stopped for breath. She sat up then as he sighed and grasped her hand.“My dear Hannah, I hope the next words out of your mouth are‘I love you,’or I will think you an unconscionable tease.”
“I love you,”she said.“And I’ve never kissed anyone like that.”
“I am profoundly grateful,”he said.“I would have to call him out.”
“Come to think of it, Captain Sir Daniel, I’ve never kissed anyone but you,”she said.
“Better and better,”he said, pulling her closer again.“Let’s keep this Yankee abandon our little secret, all right?”
She nodded and rested her head carefully on his chest.“The American consulate wouldn’t let me come to see you, but I did anyway. Mr. Futtrell showed me the way.”
“That boy continues to rise in my estimation,”he murmured, his hand in her hair.“I see a brilliant future for him in the Royal Navy. And a future for you in my Dorsetshire manor.”
The moment the words were out of his mouth, she wished he had not said them. It was as though they were a cold dousing of seawater from the wash pump, a brutal reminder of her situation. As she lay in hisarms in the chapel inLisbon, she thought of her home, and a wave of agony washed over her.“Oh, Daniel, I don’t know,”she whispered.
“Trust me. I do know,”he replied. When she said nothing, he sat up.“You have the dispatch?”
“Not with me,”she replied,sitting up more decorously and moving away slightly, wondering at the power of words to make her feel so dispirited suddenly.“This expedition was decidedly spur of the moment. I can get it to you tomorrow, now that I know where you are.”
“Good. I probably will be here a few more days, at the very least.”
She sat closer again and told him of the consul’s determination to ship her and Adam toHollandtomorrow.“I do not see how we can avoid it.”
