Chapter One

January 1776

I t was wonderful to be back in town. Lydia had missed the activity of Wilmington while they had returned to Oak Grove for Christmas and then closed up their home on the rich farmland on the other side of the Cape Fear River. She enjoyed escaping the heat of the city during the summer, but it was nice to return to town during the winter and spring when there were always so many things to do.

Since the afternoon was unseasonably warm for so early in the new year, she brought her book with her while she sat on the porch surrounding their home. Liddy doubted there would be many such opportunities for the next month or more.

She opened to the page she had marked with a small piece of blue ribbon that reminded her of Alec Kirkwood's eyes. She thought of him often since she had first met him. She had visited the shop as often as possible before leaving town to assist her father with readying their country home for winter but had little time to enjoy any save the most superficial of conversations with him. There always seemed to be someone around to interrupt, and it wasn't often she escaped the eagle eye of her overprotective father.

She hoped to deepen her acquaintance with Mr. Kirkwood to more than just sideways glances and polite business exchanges. With Phoebe also back to accompany her, Liddy would have more freedom to move around.

The uneven step of her father's gait alerted her to his approach. He had injured his leg many years ago in the carriage accident that had taken her mother's life and had turned him from the jovial father she remembered as a young girl into a hard, bitter man.

"Lydia, you will ruin your eyesight with all that reading."

She sighed. It was a familiar refrain. Yet, what struggles she had with her eyesight centered around distance rather than what was nearby. She closed the book, folding her hands atop it, and smiled at her father. "Did you have a purpose in seeking me out, Papa?"

"Yes. Mr. Iain MacGill has approached me to make a formal offer for your hand."

Liddy did her best to keep her expression impassive. It was never wise to let her father know when she had strong feelings—good or bad—about any of his remarks.

"And what response have you given Mr. MacGill?" She kept her tone neutral, as if it mattered little to her one way or the other. The truth of the matter was she found Iain MacGill repulsive, both in his lack of fastidiousness about his person and in the way he treated anyone he viewed as inferior to him, and that included almost everyone.

"I have told him he may court you and that I felt his suit would be welcomed, as I am sure it will be." The last was said with enough emphasis to tell her in no uncertain terms that she'd better welcome it.

Welcomed in Hades perhaps. Liddy allowed herself a small smile. "I would prefer to take things slowly, Papa. I scarce know Mr. MacGill, and there is quite an age difference."

What she wanted to do was to scream at her father that under no circumstances would she marry Iain MacGill, but revealing her true feelings would only put her father on his guard, and cause him to confine her to the house.

"You are already one and twenty, Lydia, well past the age at which you should be running your own household. I see no reason to stall."

She widened her eyes innocently. "A hasty courtship and engagement might tarnish my reputation... and yours. I'm sure you must see that we should take time to prepare properly. Besides, a spring or summer wedding would be so much prettier."

Her father grumbled. "We will wait until the weather warms, but that is long enough."

Liddy nodded. It gave her some time to come up with a plan to avoid becoming Mrs. Iain MacGill.

*

Alec was wiping the last of the printer's ink from his hands when the bell over the shop door jingled. With a final glance at the paper he would provide for his fellow Sons of Liberty members, Alec removed his apron and stepped from the printing area of the store into the front.

He was proud of the business he'd purchased with the funds his guardian had kept safe for him through his childhood and his apprenticeship. While Alec could never aspire to the highest levels of colonial society, he would be able to support a family through what was proving to be a very prosperous shop.

Two women stood near the shelves at the front where he had placed copies of his newest books. As Alec walked toward them, the smile on his face widened as he recognized them. Liddy Fennell turned toward him, her own smile widening.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kirkwood. Phoebe told me you had some new publications among your selection since I last visited."

Alec bowed to them both, but took Liddy's extended hand and held it for perhaps just a moment or two longer than he should. He could not help but do so. Since first spying her while he trained with the militia, Alec had been unable to forget her unusual gray-green eyes and the smooth, Madonna-like purity of her face and figure. He had also learned from her visits to his store that there was a keen and curious mind behind her beauty.

"Indeed." Alec wanted to tell her how pleased he was to see her.

Liddy's friend, Phoebe, not at all ignorant despite the great deal of time she spent giggling and blushing, smiled before wandering to the far side of the store. Alec still held Liddy's hand, but now slowly released it and lifted a copy of Edmund Burke's Speech on American Taxation .

"I know you have some interest in political matters, perhaps not so aligned with your father's sympathies?"

Liddy laughed softly. "Please do not spread it around. He will lock me in the attic."

Alec studied her expression. There was a certain brittleness about her today. "I would have to play the prince to your Rapunzel, I fear, were that to occur."

The look in her eyes when she lifted her gaze to him made him catch his breath.

"I might have cause to take you up on that, sir."

He took her hand again. "Then if I am to be your future rescuer, you must call me Alec."

"And you must call me Liddy." She gave him a mock curtsy, her gaze never leaving his.

He set Burke's book in her hand. "I think you would find this interesting."

Liddy studied the slim volume, opening it carefully. "I would, indeed, but I cannot take it home with me."

"Then you shall read it here."

She glanced over to where her friend was studying some books of poetry. "I should like that."

"Come." Alec crooked his arm and led her to the reading area near the rear of the store. "I cannot provide you with tea, but I do have coffee."

"I require no refreshments, but I would appreciate your company."

A blush bloomed on her cheeks as she said it. Alec nodded, waiting as she took a seat near the fireplace before he leaned his shoulder against the stone surrounding it.

"Is aught amiss, Liddy? You seem on edge since the last time I saw you in town. Perhaps it is the approaching round of entertainments I understand take place to help pass the dullness of winter?"

She set Burke's speech on the small table next to her. "It's true that it will be quite busy, but my disquiet has more to do with my father's wishes where I am concerned."

Alec had heard things. One tended to as the printer of the closest thing Wilmington had to a newspaper and a gathering place of sorts for men whose politics matched his own.

"Iain MacGill?"

Her gaze shot to his. "Has my name already been linked with his?"

There was a wealth of horror in her tone. Alec eased away from the fireplace and squatted next to her. "Not linked, but it seems to be common knowledge that your father desires to join his shipping business to MacGill's. It's not a far leap from there to the idea that marrying his daughter to MacGill would be the easiest way to accomplish that."

Her lips tightened.

"I take it that is not what you wish." Alec had encountered MacGill on more than one occasion in which the man was maltreating his servants. Alec had started to speak up, but upon seeing the look of fear on the servant's face, he'd held his tongue.

"He is an odious man," Liddy said. "I have no desire to be the bait to seal a bargain."

"Surely you have some say in the matter?"

Her eyes flashed. "Men have choices. Women simply have duties—first to their fathers and then to their husbands."

"So you would not choose to marry at all?"

"I would choose not to marry Iain MacGill," she retorted. "I would choose to make my own choice. A man who would respect my opinions."

As the bell over the door jingled once again, Alec rose to his full height. "I must attend my customer. Take some time to read Mr. Burke's speech. I am interested to hear your opinion of it."

She studied him for a moment before lowering her gaze to the book. "Thank you, Alec."

He would far preferred to have stayed with her. On her previous visits to his shop, before she had left town for a few weeks, Liddy had been laughing and somewhat flirtatious. He had been enchanted. The brittleness of her mood now was sobering. Her father must indeed be serious about her marrying MacGill. Alec shook his head as he walked to the front of the store to greet the newcomer.

The man's sober attire and accent were seemingly at odds. While he dressed plainly, his voice was as languid and smooth as Cape Fear River's current on a summer afternoon.

"I'm seekin' the whereabouts of Mr. Alec Kirkwood. I hear he's the proprietor of this establishment. Might you be him?"

"I am. How may I help you?"

The man glanced from Phoebe to Liddy. "Perhaps we should speak privately? If now is not an opportune time..." his voice trailed off.

"The two young ladies are regular patrons. We can step into the back room, if that would suit you?"

"It would."

Alec led the way. As they passed Liddy, he spoke. "If you would, please come get me should someone else come in."

She glanced up from her reading, her gaze going from him to his guest. "It will be no trouble at all."

"Thank you, Liddy."

He extended his arm for his guest to precede him into the print shop area of his business. The older man looked around him with a small smile. "I had been told that you were a good man to know and a man clever enough to spread the information we must relay."

Alec crossed his arms over his chest. "Might I know the identity of my guest?"

The older man bowed. "Richard Caswell, at your service."

Alec straightened and returned the bow. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. I have read some of your opinions on our current situation—"

Caswell held up his hand. "It is our future situation that is of the most importance to me at the moment." He lowered his voice when he spoke again. "We have had word that the British are heavily recruiting in this area and believe that they plan to clamp down on patriot activities. It's my understanding that you might relay the need for additional militia to defend this area if cause for that should arise, as I believe it will."

Alec nodded. "There are many patriots in this area, sir. I know we will all answer the call to defend our liberties against the tyranny of the Crown."

He would do whatever Caswell asked of him. The man had already proven again and again his loyalty to North Carolina and the cause of the Continental Congress.

Caswell's lips quirked. "I see your broadsheet posted outside. You already voice some opinions I'm sure are not entirely popular among some segments of Wilmington society. How do you propose to spread this word without bringing undue censure down upon yourself and your business?"

Alec turned to the counter next to where he stood and lifted a smaller sheet which he handed to Caswell. "You've seen my public paper, but I also publish this edition to a more select clientele."

The older man peered at the smaller type, the quirk of his lips broadening into a smile. "This will do quite nicely. Are you already a member of the local militia?"

"I am. And we drill quite openly in the square. I think you will find, sir, that many in this area are more than ready to be out from under the heavy taxes and tariffs of an absentee ruler."

Caswell nodded. "Keep your eyes open, Kirkwood. I fully expect the coming weeks will bring more hostilities."

"Sir," Alec said as Caswell gathered his hat from the table on which he'd set it. "Pardon me for being so bold. You are a ways from home. Do you need food and lodging?"

Caswell shook his head. "I am moving on. I have more people to connect with south of here. I have friends along my route who will assist, but I appreciate your offer." He eyed Alec as he continued, "The young lady seated by the fire reading. She is a friend of yours?"

Alec sighed. "She is, and not as close a friend as I would like her to be."

"I noticed her reading Burke's speech on taxation. She shares your feelings?"

"She does. Her father does not. Perhaps you know him... Amos Fennell?"

Caswell grunted. "I do. Despite the damage taxes have done to his shipping business, I believe Fennell is still stubbornly loyal. You would do well to be careful."

"I will." Alec offered the reassurance, but in his heart, he knew that if Liddy needed him to stand against her father, he would risk it. Why that was so, he didn't want to examine too closely at the moment.

Caswell clapped him on the back. "I must go. Good luck to you. We can use men like you in our fight."