Page 19 of A Duke in Disguise
“Eat that piece of bread, will you,” Charlie muttered. “Maybe you’ll think straight with some food in you.”
“The government can’t keep executing everyone who rises up,” Nate protested.
“Like hell they can’t,” Verity responded, at the same moment Ash said, “Would you wager your life on that?”
Nate glared at all of them.
“I just don’t want you to die,” Verity said, the words coming out quick, running together, as if she were ashamed. “You’re my brother and I don’t want you to die.”
Good Christ, she really was ashamed. Ash didn’t think he had ever seen that look on Verity’s face before. Ashamed to be asking for something? He wasn’t certain. Under the table, he took her hand, running his thumbs over her knuckles. She squeezed back, then took a deep breath.
“I’ve been thinking all week,” she said. “There’s a ship leaving for New York next week. I have enough saved for your passage. And Ash has enough saved to set you up as a jobbing printer, if you’d like. Or you could write. It’s up to you.”
“Like hell it is. What if I don’t agree?” Nate shot back. “Would you have me kidnapped by pirates like you advised your letter writer to do to her bigamous husband?”
A silence stretched out. “Then I’ll go to America on my own.”
“What?” the three men asked at once.
“I’ll use the money I’ve saved and book my own passage to America,” Verity said, her gaze skittering away from Ash’s, her cheeks reddening, and Ash wondered if she had come up with this scheme to ensure that Ash not be left alone—no matter what, one of the Plums would remain in England.
“And what will you do there?” Nate demanded.
“Not watch you go to prison.”
Ash was holding his breath and thought Charlie was too.
“I don’t believe you,” Nate said.
“Do you really want to call my bluff?”
“Damn it, Verity. This isn’t fair play.”
“TheQueen of Arabiasails from Liverpool. If you leave tomorrow on the stagecoach, you can get there with time to spare.”
“Tomorrow,” Nate repeated. “This is madness.”
“You need to be gone before the redcoats come back with an arrest warrant,” she said. “Either you get on the ship or I do.”
Nate threw his hands up and stalked out of the shop.
“Two passages?” Charlie asked, eyes narrowed.
“One is yours, if you want it,” Verity said. “I don’t want you to get caught up in whatever trouble is coming Nate’s way. And I don’t want to send Nate alone. He needs someone to look after him, and I know that isn’t what you signed on for—”
“Bollocks. You and Nate have always treated me as family, and I reckon family usually try to stop one another from getting killed by redcoats or beaten senseless by a mob.”
“Yes, but we Plums treat our family terribly.” Her voice was heavy with weariness.
“Maybe so, but I don’t have anyone to compare you to, do I? Besides, you and Nate don’t treat one another badly. You just quarrel like Athens and Sparta. If you didn’t care about him, you wouldn’t be doing this.”
Verity looked away, as if embarrassed. “Will you go, then?” she asked. “To America?”
“All right,” Charlie said with a shrug. “I don’t like the idea of him rattling around America on his own, forgetting to sleep and eat.”
“Thank you, Charlie.” She stood and rounded the table, holding her arms out as if to embrace him. She stopped short; Verity wasn’t in the habit of embracing people. Charlie, seeing her halt, rolled his eyes.
“You’ll be bored off your head without us, you know,” he said, rising to his feet and wrapping his arms around her without hesitation. Charlie was a full head taller than Verity now, as tall as Nate, nearly as tall as Ash.
