Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (9 page)

Seven

S
adie noticed the man shadowing her right away. He managed to keep his face mostly hidden as he walked a discreet distance behind her, but the cut of his clothes and the way he wore them on his muscular frame put her in mind of a pugilist she once saw on a New York street corner. While that man had been encouraging all comers to take notice of him, this one seemed determined to do the opposite.

The rain had ceased, leaving a sheen of dampness across everything the mud had not touched. With the purchase of a new dress for her return home, Sadie tired of the chase and was ready to return to the hotel and a hot meal before bed.

Tomorrow was a day she had put off far too long, as witnessed by the telegram given to her just before she left the hotel earlier. Uncle Penn, in his own cryptic way, had managed to send warning of Daddy’s ire and his refusal to accept any further delay.

The package must arrive on time else the recipient will come looking for it.

She had not yet responded, although likely her uncle was anxiously awaiting confirmation of her arrival. He and Daddy weren’t the best of friends on a good day owing to their conflicting allegiances during the war, so her father was most assuredly making Uncle Penn’s life miserable.

“Shall I have this sent, miss?”

Sadie returned her attention to the clerk at Hattie’s Dressmakers. “Yes, that would be lovely. I’m staying just across the street there.”

She nodded toward the hotel and then spied the stranger in
conversation with her driver. While the man’s back was to her, she could see Sam nod and then gesture behind him.

By the time she picked her way across the muddy street, the man had disappeared. A glance told her the driver was watching. She smiled and then turned toward the telegraph office, located in the opposite direction from where Sam had pointed.

Likely she would not be followed there, not now that Sam had made his presence known. Making quick work of sending a response letting Uncle Penn know his package would be headed toward its destination in the morning, Sadie strolled back to the hotel at a leisurely pace.

For the first time all day, her stomach growled, reminding her of how little she had eaten. And while penny candy wasn’t the best meal, right now Sadie couldn’t think of anything that would taste any better.

Hurrying back across the street to Dupre’s Mercantile, she just barely slipped inside before the shopkeeper closed the door for the evening. The elderly Mr. Dupre met her apologetic expression with a smile.

“Considering the penny candy?” he asked.

“How did you know?”

“I know my customers, and you…well, I had you pegged for a candy girl from the minute you walked into my shop.”

She moved toward the candy display, offering him only a quick glance before turning her attention to the delicacies displayed there. “You did?”

“Sweets for a sweet lady.” Had he not been teetering dangerously toward at least eighty years of age, Sadie might have thought Mr. Dupre was flirting. When he tucked in two extra candies, she knew for certain he was.

“Thank you,” she said as she retrieved enough money to pay for the candy she had requested as well as the two pieces she’d been gifted with. Then she waved away the old man’s protests. “I insist.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she again saw the man who had been following her. Somehow he had slipped into the mercantile and now appeared to find a keen interest in a horse collar over in the tack section.

“Thank you, Mr. Dupre.” She tucked the bag of candy into her reticule and turned toward the tack department, only to find the man was no longer there.

Reaching down to press her palm against her loaded Remington pistol,
Sadie put on a neutral expression and moved casually toward the door. Sam would be watching once she stepped outside, or at least he should be. If this man meant her harm, she would get the draw on him with the driver acting as backup.

Sensing a presence just behind her, before she reached the door Sadie whirled around to see the stranger. Only he was no stranger.

Her heart did a flip-flop as gray-blue eyes met hers. “Mr. Tucker?”

“Miss Callum,” he said with a nod.

A sweeping glance told her that the London policeman had been shaved and shorn and scrubbed clean. His grin was broad, offering a pair of dimples as a nice added surprise. Indeed, now that she thought on it, the man did resemble the twin whose reputation had put him behind bars. And yet this Tucker…well, he was the kind of handsome that caused her breath to catch. Something she had never experienced in the presence of the other Tucker twin.

Somehow, though, his smile didn’t exactly reach his eyes.

Looking beyond her, he seemed to be taking measure of something on the street. Or across the street.

“Thank you again,” Mr. Dupre said, coming up to them and getting the door for her. “I’ll have plenty of that candy here tomorrow should you wish for more.”

She smiled. “I’m afraid I’ll be leaving on the early train.”

“That is a pity. Is there anything an old man can say to change your mind?”

“I’m afraid not.” Sadie chuckled as she went through the opened door, only to have her breath catch when she noticed two very familiar faces standing across the street.

Brent and Cade. Her brothers.

She turned and slammed into Jefferson Tucker, who was walking out of the store behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brent looking over in her direction, so she did the first thing that came to mind.

She kissed the Tucker fellow.

On the lips.

Right there on Main Street in front of anyone who might be looking. And this she did in front of her brothers. For one thing they knew about
her was that she would never kiss a man on the street. She’d been raised to behave like a proper lady at all times.

And thus the woman they saw could not possibly be her. Only it was.

Acting against character was a classic diversionary tactic learned during Pinkerton training, and one that almost always worked. Thankfully, she had never had to kiss a stranger.

Until now.

She pulled back slightly and saw that the boys were still in view. So she lifted up on her toes and deepened the embrace, even moving one hand to run it through his hair.

Reluctantly, she broke off the kiss and then pushed him back inside the mercantile. Sadie slammed the door and rested her back against it. What were
they
doing here?

No doubt the pair, fraternal twins who rarely did anything separately, had been sent by her father to see just what sort of delay had kept Sadie away.

Leaning to the right, she lifted the flour sack curtain and looked out across the street. Indeed, Brent and Cade were standing outside the livery next to her hotel as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

“Well, now,” Mr. Dupre said. “May I interest you in some of what the lady is having, sir? Or are you in the market for some other purchase?”

Jefferson Tucker’s grin returned full force as he turned to stand next to Sadie, casually linking arms with her. “We’ve kept you well past closing time, so we will just go out the back door with you,” he said smoothly as he led Sadie toward the rear of the store.

“Back door?” the shopkeeper called after them. “But I’m not ready to leave. There are things yet to be done, and—”

“Then we will see ourselves out.” Mr. Tucker picked up his pace, causing Sadie to scramble to catch up.

Whatever the reason, her companion apparently wasn’t any more anxious to be seen in front of the mercantile than she was. Only when they stood in the alley, shadows gathering around them, did he pause.

“Please convey my thanks to the Pinkerton Agency for their diligence in seeing to my happiness,” Mr. Tucker said.

She looked up, confused. “I’m sorry. Your happiness?”

“Well, Agent Callum, that kiss was the kind that would make a man smile.”

“Oh.” She shook her head. “You are incorrigible, sir. Did you not recognize that as a technique used for drawing attention away from my identity?”

His chuckle was maddening. “That’s an interesting way to put it,” he said slowly. “The only attention it drew far as I can tell was mine. And trust me, you had my full attention.”

Sadie opened her mouth to say something and then thought better of it. As much as she wished to put him in his place and end his teasing, a more pressing matter needed to be attended to. She moved to the edge of the building and peered around. Unfortunately from this vantage point she could not see her brothers.

Jefferson Tucker tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump. Sadie whirled around, prepared to give him a lecture on protocol during stakeouts, for this was arguably a form of stakeout, when he leaned down and kissed her again.

“Mr. Tucker!” Sadie pressed both hands against his broad chest and used her considerable strength to move him backward. “What in the world possessed you to do that?”

“Me?” He looked down at her as if she were the lunatic instead of him. “You’re the one who kissed me first. I was just returning the favor.”

“Kissed you?” She shook her head. “As I said, that was an elementary diversionary tactic.”

“Well, it worked,” he said, grinning unrepentantly. “I’ve been completely diverted from thinking about anything else.”

Cade came into view, and Sadie ducked back behind the wall. This was ridiculous. She certainly couldn’t stand behind the mercantile for the remainder of the day.

And as nice as Jefferson Tucker’s kisses were, she could not have him kissing her again. Not ever, but especially not now.

Mr. Tucker stepped in front of her, and she scooted out of the way. “Over here. They will see you.”

“They?” He leaned out beyond the corner of the building and then looked back down at her. “I know those two.”

“You do? How?”

“We became acquainted a little while ago back at the hotel. Want to tell me why two men would bust in on me while I’m taking the first bath I’ve had in almost a year? And before you say anything, you should know your name was mentioned.”

She searched his face for evidence of ill treatment. While Brent was amiable by nature, Cade had been known to have a hair-trigger temper.

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

It was Jefferson Tucker’s turn to study her. “You do know them.”

“Please don’t ask me how.”

Again his gaze swept her face. “All right, but I need to know whether they mean you harm.”

She contemplated the proper response. To allow to a stranger that they were two of her five overly protective brothers would needlessly complicate matters.

“Harm? No, the opposite, actually.”

Well, now. It all began to make sense. One of those two was sweet on the lady Pinkerton. Apparently that feeling was not returned, or perhaps they had had a tiff of some sort.

Didn’t matter. While he wasn’t keen on getting in the middle of some sort of romantic entanglement, Jefferson did owe a debt of gratitude to Miss Callum.

He let out a long breath. “All right, Miss Callum. Do you want me to see that they leave town or just leave the situation alone?” He looked down at her. “Because I don’t intend to stand in the alley with you and miss the first decent supper I’ve had since last May, nor do I intend to tolerate any further interruptions to my evening.”