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  The meeting deteriorated under their exuberant conversation. Cain excused himself to return to his post, while Micah, Simon and Henderson retired to the kitchen with Henderson’s bags from his outing. Left to entertain the boys for the remainder of the day, Claudia proceeded with a project of her own.

  Several hours later, Micah found both boys squatting in front of his and Claudia’s bedroom door, talking to someone on the other side.

  His temper rose significantly as he stood back to observe what was going on. They appeared to be instructing the room’s occupant on how to open the lock without a key.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Now press the pin into the side of the hole, until you feel it catch the spring.” Micah heard Adam whisper into the side of the door. “Did ya feel it catch?”

  A light voice mumbled through the door.

  “Good. Just push down slowly, then you’ll feel it sort of give a pop. When it does, you’ll be free as a bird.”

  A moment later the door sprang open. Out walked a triumphant Claudia.

  “I did it.”

  “That you did, my dear.” Micah approached the trio at the bedroom door, trying to contain his reaction to their game.

  “Isn’t it wonderful, Micah? Thanks to the boys, I’ll never be locked in a room again.” Claudia turned her beaming face up to smile at him.

  “I can see that.” His voice sounded angry even in his own ears and he could kick himself when the joy left her eyes, but she needed to learn when he made a promise, he always kept it. He wouldn’t lock her in ever again. Before he could impress on her that fact, he needed to get rid of their audience. “Boys, I believe Henderson has some vegetables for you to clean for dinner.”

  “Aww…do we have to?” Joey began to protest.

  “In this house, young man, we all help. Whether it’s cleaning vegetables for our meal or standing guard outside of warehouses, all tasks are to be completed without complaint,” Micah said before the boy could argue further.

  “You mean we get to be lookouts tonight?” Adam and Joey exchanged looks of pure pleasure.

  “That will depend on how many vegetables are on the table tonight.”

  Both boys took off for the kitchen without another word, scrambling to see who could get there first. Micah kept his attention on Claudia’s face. Once the boys were gone, she slowly raised her eyes and drew her breath in.

  Good. She realized what a predicament she was in.

  “Now, Micah,” she said, taking a step backward into the bedroom, “it really is important for me to know how to get out of a locked room.”

  As he moved forward, she took another step back until they were standing in the room. Reaching behind him, Micah closed the door.

  “What if I were trapped by someone and they locked me in? It would be in my best interest to know how to get out, wouldn’t it?”

  Without a word he kept advancing on her, forcing her to move farther back into the room.

  “Micah? Micah!” Her breasts rose and fell quicker with every step she took and the pulse at the base of her neck drummed visibly. When her legs came up against the bed she stopped retreating. Both fists braced on her hips, she tossed her head back, several strands of her coppery hair flying loose.

  Damn, she was magnificent.

  “Micah, I refuse to be treated like a child. If you’re not going to talk to me, then I’ll just leave.” She started around him, but he grabbed her arm, halting her.

  “I thought we had cleared up the question of you being locked in anymore, Claudia. I don’t like my word being questioned.”

  “I’m not questioning your word, Micah. That’s not what this was about. I realized how vulnerable I was, not knowing how to get out of a locked room. Any locked room, not necessarily one that you locked me in. I knew the boys would be able to get out if they were in that type of situation, and I felt I should be able to also.”

  He arched one brow as he drew her up against him. “So you believe me when I tell you I won’t lock you in our room anymore?”

  “You said you wouldn’t. I believe you.” She leaned back to look into his face. He felt a light tremor go through her beneath his hands.

  “It’s important to me that I have your trust, Claudia.” His voice became low and seductive. His fingers gently rubbed her arms, then moved to splay across her back.

  “It is?” She licked her parted lips, sending a different kind of heat coursing through him.

  “Yes it is.” His head dipped, his lips covered hers in a slow, drawing kiss. He pulled her closer and let his hands roam freely across her back as he used his lips to work magic on her body. She lifted her hands to tangle in the mass of his hair, loosening it from the queue. Holding her buttocks in both hands, he lifted her up until she pressed against the hardness of his manhood.

  Micah turned around and sat down on the bed, bringing her down to straddle him there. “I need to know you trust me. I need to keep you safe,” he murmured against her lips.

  Unbuttoning her shirtwaist, his lips followed his hands, searing a path down to her breasts. Claudia’s hands held onto his head, her back arched to allow him better access to her. When his lips teased one swollen nipple into his mouth, she sucked in her breath and made him want to growl with pleasure. Micah pulled the shirtwaist completely off of her, flinging it to the floor. It was quickly followed by the camisole. He stroked her back as his mouth kissed and suckled her breasts.

  Reaching behind her, he untied the strings holding her skirt. He stood her up long enough to slip it and her pantaloons down over her thighs, leaving her standing before him clothed only in her stockings. He gazed at her in the afternoon light.

  “Lord, you’re beautiful.”

  She blushed with sudden shyness at his words, trying to cover herself. He stopped her hands with his own.

  “Don’t hide yourself from me, love. You are the most beautiful angel I’ve ever seen. Don’t you know what you do to me?”

  “No. What do I do to you?” An impish grin replaced the embarrassed look on her face, her eyes glittering with mirth.

  “Ah! Let me show you, my dear.” Micah stood and unbuttoned his own shirt, letting it fall to the floor next to hers. Then his hands moved to the buttons of his britches. He watched her face as his hands eased each button open. When they were all unbuttoned, he pulled his pants down, letting his swollen shaft stand out at her. “This is what you do to me.”

  Claudia came forward to stand in front of him, reaching out her hand to stroke the solid steeliness of him. “I really do that to you?” She watched his face as she lightly stroked him from base to tip.

  Micah’s eyes closed in ecstasy.

  When he could stand her touch no longer, he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed. Lying her down there, he stretched out beside her. His hands found the moist folds of her desire, gently stroking her into a feverish passion to match his own.

  As she arched against him, he watched her lips part and her breathing quicken. Suddenly, she shuddered her release in tiny convulsions, crying out his name. While she continued the throes of her climax, he rolled on top of her and entered her, feeling her muscles contract around him. He thrust in and out of her several times, finally releasing his seed to the core of her womb, collapsing on top of her.

  The sun was setting when Micah lifted himself up onto his elbows to gaze down at her. “Are you all right?” He smoothed the damp hair away from her face.

  “Mmm…I believe so. Are you all right?” She whispered, a little shy about this passion he aroused in her.

  Micah rolled over onto his back and pulled her up against his side to rest. “I’m sorry I doubted your faith in my promise to not lock you in. I saw you there and I just saw red.”

  “You gave me the key to the room, remember?” She ran her hand lightly across the hairs on his chest. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Did you have another dream about me and that’s why you feel this need to keep me safe?”

&n
bsp; How did he tell her of his dreams without scaring her too much? Every time he thought about them, the panic took over, his heart raced and his breathing nearly stopped. He forced himself to take a ragged breath.

  “Micah, what is it?”

  “Yes, I’ve had a dream about you. There may be more than one, I can’t really tell. They’re so similar it’s confusing for me.”

  “Why? What did you see?”

  “In one you’re on the ground, sort of kneeling. It’s dusk or near dawn. The sky is grey and foggy, so I can’t tell which it is. Your hands are covered with blood. I can’t tell if you’re hurt or not, but your face is ghost white. In the other dream, things appear almost the same, except this time you’re lying on the ground, the blood covering the front of your dress. I can’t tell if you’re breathing or…” He pulled her closer, his voice trailing off.

  Claudia laid her head down on his chest, wrapping her arms around him. “Do your dreams always come true?”

  Micah squeezed her tighter, then answered. “I’ve never known one to be wrong.”

  “Then you’ll just have to stay with me all the time, won’t you?”

  “That’s the idea.” He relaxed his hold at the humor in her voice, but only slightly. Despite her effort to diffuse his worry, her body lay tense against him and he knew his visions scared her. He promised himself to somehow keep her safe. Even though he knew the events his dreams predicted always came to pass, he had to believe there was some way to prevent them.

  * * * * *

  Later that night, two small shadows darted across the alley at opposite ends, hiding inside the doorways of the buildings to watch the comings and goings on the docks. A small whistle alerted two larger shadows that they were in place. The larger forms crossed over to the warehouse. Slipping open the window, the larger of the two shadows lifted the smaller one up and hoisted it into the window, following right behind.

  “Which way?” Micah asked Claudia once they were inside the darkened structure.

  “Toward the front.” She took his hand and guided him in that direction.

  When they were inside the office of the building, Micah closed the dark drapes, then lit the candle they’d brought with them. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light. There was a large desk in the center of the room, two cabinets along the wall and a couch opposite the door.

  “You start with the desk. I’ll see what I can find in these.” He opened the closest cabinet. “It’s not going to be a list that we’ll be able to identify. Probably something along the line of invoices, or perhaps a shipping ledger.”

  Only the sound of shuffling papers broke the quiet of the room. Micah realized Claudia worked without talking. He’d never grown accustomed to women who needed to chatter endlessly because they were uncomfortable with silence. His stepmother had been that type of woman.

  Thinking of Julia brought on bitter memories. Every time he’d looked into Julia’s cold, calculating eyes, and listened to her constant whining or wheedling, he pictured seeing and hearing evil incarnate.

  His father hadn’t understood his anger until that fateful night. Even then he turned on his son instead of the witch he’d married. The last time he’d seen his father, they’d fought over her. Micah stormed off the plantation, his father swearing never to allow him to return.

  A thud sounded behind him. Micah turned to find his wife crawling up beneath the center of the desk. He smiled at the sight. Her enthusiasm for her investigation was a delight. She wore a pair of Adam’s black pants and the now-clean, old sweater he’d thrown at her the night he’d rescued her in the Whaler’s Reef. The pants accentuated her round derriere, while the bulky sweater covered the small firm breasts he’d held and caressed only hours before.

  Micah smiled again. Despite her lack of experience, or perhaps because of it, Claudia found the passion to be had in their bed a new and fascinating adventure. It pleased him that she found pleasure at his hands. It also surprised him that she didn’t know how lovely she truly was. She wasn’t the classic pale blonde that most of society believed to be the model beauty. No, not his wife. Her beauty came from the inner strength and outer joy that gave her the uniqueness of a fine painting. Her coloring wasn’t a frail pastel, but bold, rich tones on an oil canvas. That was his wife.

  “Micah.” Claudia called out to him as she struggled with something beneath the desk. “I need you over here. Bring the candle.”

  “What have you there?” He held the candle down to cast light into the cavernous hole beneath the desk.

  “It’s some sort…of book wedged into a…ledge under here. If I can just get my fingers…there…I’ve got it. Here, you take it.” She handed him a small, thin, leather book. Scrambling out from beneath the desk, she stood brushing the dust off of her knees while Micah examined it.

  “I believe this is what we have been looking for. Here look at these.” He pointed to several entries with the same initials on them. “By the way the streets are set up in this city, I’d say those were K Street and L Street.”

  “These are streets down near the docks, Micah.” Claudia pointed to three entries with names beside them. “According to this ledger, shipments have been going to the letter streets once a month on a regular basis. But these places on the docks have sporadic shipments in and out.”

  “Let’s copy down all the different streets listed as well as the shipment dates and get out of here.” Micah began writing down the information as Claudia read them off.

  When they finished with the book, Micah wedged it back under the desk, which was much easier for him, because of his longer limbs. They took a quick look around the office to be sure everything was back in its proper place. Snuffing the candle, they opened the blinds and headed back out to the open window in the warehouse. Micah lowered himself out the window and reached up to help Claudia out. Just as he was lowering the window a low whistle came from in front of the building.

  Micah pulled Claudia down against him and up against the wall, shielding her with his body as a light came on inside the warehouse.

  “What is it?” Claudia whispered into his chest.

  “Someone’s in there. We have to stay low.” Lowering his head so she could hear him better, delighting in the small tremor that went through her as he whispered in her ear. “I wish I hadn’t had Henderson stay two blocks away with the carriage. Now we’ll have to wait until they leave before we can go. There’s not much else we can do.”

  “I suppose not.” Claudia turned her head, bringing her lips inches from his.

  “Mmm, not much.” His lips caressed hers before pressing forward, parting them for his tongue to sneak through, his hands gently framing her face.

  The clip clop of horses’ feet brought Micah back to his surroundings. He looked behind him to see Henderson maneuvering Claudia’s black carriage down the road. Stopping just across from where he and Claudia were standing, the driver motioned them over.

  Micah risked a glance up at the lit window where the office was located. Not seeing anyone staring out of it, he lifted his wife up into his arms and dashed across the lane to the waiting carriage. Joey had the door waiting open, and Micah tossed Claudia inside, following her and closing the door in the same movement.

  As Henderson started the team of blacks up the lane, Claudia struggled to right herself on the seat next to Micah. Reaching down, he helped to pull her into an upright position. Then he winked at the two boys seated across from them, sending them into silent laughter. The four occupants of the carriage remained quiet, but smiling, until the carriage passed over the bridge from Alexandria to Washington. Then, as if on cue, they all began to talk at once.

  “Criminy, we thought they’d got ya for sure, Micah.”

  “Me and Joey hightailed it for Henderson as soon as them crums was inside.”

  “You didn’t have to hurl me in here like a sack of laundry.”

  “It was just the excitement. I didn’t want to leave you behind, after all.” Mi
cah grinned down at her. With a raised hand, he quieted the other members of the group, asking, “Did either of you get a look at how many men came into the warehouse? Can you describe them?”

  “Looked like two to me.” Adam answered, looking at his friend, who nodded in agreement. “One tall, skinny guy. He looked kinda dark.”

  “Yeah, and the other one was as big as you, Micah,” interrupted Joey. “Only you know, fatter. He had yellow hair just like you, too.”

  “Sounds like Gibson and Stephen.” Micah rubbed his hand over his jaw absently as he thought about the two men.

  “You’ve told me who Gibson is.” Claudia watched him from her corner of the carriage. “Who is Stephen?”

  “Stephen is the man who almost dragged you up the stairs the other night.”

  “He was a drunken pig.” Claudia shivered at the memory of the man’s fetid breath on her. She paused and fixed him with an intent stare, her eyes narrowed slightly. “He resembled you. In fact, that night, I swore it was you for a moment, but then I knew he wasn’t. When I looked into his eyes, I saw pure evil. It was as if he had no soul.”

  “He doesn’t.”

  “You know him, then?”

  “He’s my brother.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Why is your brother working with this group of murderers?” Claudia asked the minute they arrived back at the town house.

  “We have more important things to discuss at the moment.” Micah knew she had questions, but he wasn’t ready to give her those answers. At least, not yet.

  “Such as?”

  Instead of allowing her to press him for details, he spread the shipping charts Henderson had obtained that afternoon out on the dining room table next to the lists they’d made at the warehouse. “Such as determining the depth of this conspiracy, and possibly finding Patrice.”

  She stared at him a moment, then nodded. “What do we do now?”

  He relaxed, knowing the discussion had simply been tabled, then handed her a map of the city. “We mark every spot on these maps.”