he said quietly, his breath disturbing her hair. “I would consider it a gift to spend a few hours with you and find out what kind of woman you’ve become.”
Alice tried to think of a scathing reply, but mostly she just wanted to pull out of his arms and find a pair of drapes behind which she could cry.
“I never stopped loving you, dearling,” he said. “I know what they’re saying about me and the Esquimaux here, and I know Reggie Penhaven will probably have me arrested as soon as he knows I’m aboard, but it was worth the risk to find you and say my say while I could.”
“Is there a price on your head here, too?”
“As soon as they manufacture some proof, I’m sure there will be.”
“But why? What have they got against you? The Dunsmuirs seem like decent sorts—they know who I am and they’ve treated me downright civil.”
“So you’ve told them you’re related to me?”
“Well, sure. That’s the whole reason I came all the way from Resolution. I tracked you to Santa Fe and then to Edmonton … and then here.”
She felt like a fool for admitting it, but it was the truth. When he didn’t reply, she looked up, and was stunned into silence a second time by the expression in his eyes.
His wet eyes, blazing with admiration, with grief, and … with love. For her.
“You tracked me from one end of the continent to the other?” he breathed at last. “No wonder you were so angry. You went through all that, and I must have seemed like ten kinds of yellow-bellied coward for not being willing to do the same.”
Another whirl, and she found herself being danced down a short corridor and into what appeared to be a galley. It was narrow, and cramped, and empty but for racks of dinner plates and cups.
Frederick Chalmers released her, allealley. l except for her gloved hand, which he held the way some people held gold, in both hands.
She had not been prepared for honesty. It was one thing for her to say her say and call things as she saw them. It was another altogether to have someone be just as honest with her. It left her nowhere to hide, no smart remarks behind which to take offense, no lies and affectations to poke fun at and gain the upper hand.
It left only herself, in her silken finery, feeling lost and naked in the cold.
“Yes,” she said at last. “That’s exactly how I felt. But that’s no reason for you to come here and risk getting tossed in the brig.”
“They need proof for that, and since it’s all rumor and innuendo and third-hand information, it’s not likely they’ll find any by the end of the evening.”
“But why? That’s what I don’t get. The Dunsmuirs don’t—”
“It isn’t the Dunsmuirs. I don’t want to say any more in case I’m wrong, and to burden you with knowledge might harm you.”
“I know a thing or two, Pa. I know that the Dunsmuirs trust the Esquimaux who work here, and the folks in your village. And I know there’s someone out there who doesn’t want Count von Zeppelin’s ships to land anywhere but New York City. And I know—”
His grip on her hand tightened. “What do you know of that? Alice, keep your voice down. Men can be killed for saying things like that out loud.”
“But it’s true,” she whispered. “Men have already been killed. They nearly got Claire and me—it was only chance that we didn’t get shot full of bullets with tiny propeller engines and M.A.M.W. stamped on ’em.” She tugged her hand out of his. “Ow.”
“I’m sorry, dearling. You just—you surprised the stuffing out of me. Please tell me you haven’t said any of this to anyone.”
“Just to Claire and the kids.”
“Kids? Are you serious? Children are being burdened with this knowledge?”
“They’re not ordinary kids,” she said dryly. “Those twin girls with us—they know everything.”
“They can’t. You can’t. Alice, it’s worth your life to speak of this.”
She eyed him. “You sound like some kind of spy. What are you really doing up here?”
Now he slid the galley door closed and locked it. His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “You’ve got your ma’s brains, and that’s a fact. So it has happened already? The count knows his life is in danger?”
“Hard to avoid it, when a bullet creases your head and lays you out. But like you say, there’s no proof. Someone shot at us, and