Crystal Passion (The McClellans Series, Book 1) Author's Cut Edition by Jo Goodman

Author:Jo Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2017-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Salem's forearm rested on his brow to shade his eyes from sunlight that broke through the treetops. Lying on his back in his wooded sanctuary, he was thinking he had earned this short rest when some movement alerted him to the presence of another. Squinting to see who would invade his privacy, his eyes rested on a dusty three-cornered hat about six feet above him. The black hat was trimmed in gold braid and covered a head of hair so brightly yellow that Salem thought the sun most likely envied it. Below a pair of darker brows were deep blue eyes that stared down at Salem on either side of a hawk-like nose. The man was standing aggressively, broad shoulders braced, legs slightly apart, and arms holding a fixed bayonet pointed at Salem's chest.

Salem's eyes crossed slightly as they settled on the sharp tip of the bayonet. He frowned and looked up again. The man was smiling broadly now, lips drawn back over a row of even white teeth.

Salem pushed the bayonet away. "Have a care, Smith. Your smile's more deadly than your musket. Close your mouth man, you're blinding me." Salem sat up while Smith dropped beside him, still grinning. That boyish smile made him look younger than his twenty-six years, but Salem knew better than to suppose it made Smith any less of a danger. The man was a crack shot and deadly with a knife at close quarters or twenty paces. Beyond those small bits of information, which seemed rather more important when Smith was needed in a fray, Salem knew virtually nothing about his background. There was a hint of something in his speech that indicated he had been well educated, but most often he covered it with a lazy drawl that defied any schooling at all.

"What are you doing here?" Salem asked, taking Smith's offered hand in a firm, friendly grip. "I could have met you in Norfolk, or even Williamsburg."

"You never made contact."

"That's because I didn't have anything to relate."

"I heard you spent some time in Newgate."

"That should have explained why I never bothered to set up a meeting when I got back. My cell was hardly the place to learn anything."

"What about before that? I understand you were hob-nobbin' it with some duke."

Salem's eyes glittered. Smith wasn't grinning any longer. "That was personal. It had nothing to do with our cause."

Smith was thoughtful a moment, then nodded, accepting Salem's explanation without more details. "Then you didn't know the number of troops Gage was expectin' in Boston? You never heard about the eleven hundred men and the three major generals? The message about Clinton, Howe, and Burgoyne was never passed on to you?"

"Is this an inquisition? I tell you I heard nothing and if someone tells you differently then they're playing you for a fool." Smith's eyebrows shot up while the rest of him grew very still. Salem ignored the tension in his companion. "Don't forget, Lexington didn't happen until I was on my way home.

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