Smuggler's Kiss (13 page)

‘Which is more than some others will,’ I said bitterly.

‘Give them time. You don’t belong. And you gave us no good reason to trust you at first either, remember?’

I reluctantly acknowledged the truth of this. ‘Did they mistrust you too?’ I asked. ‘How long have you been sailing with them?’

‘This is my second winter,’ he said as we passed a bakery. A wonderful smell drifted out and I paused a moment to sniff.

‘They didn’t trust me for a long time,’ Will admitted. ‘But many of them are good men. I hope they respect me now, even if I don’t fit their idea of what a smuggler should be.’

We paused outside a shop and I looked at Will in surprise. ‘This is a dressmaker’s, not a draper’s or lace maker’s,’ I said.

‘I know. It was agreed among us while you were sleeping that you should be dressed as a lady for this excursion.’

My eyes widened with pleasure. ‘So you are going to buy me a gown?’

‘The skipper has authorized the expenditure,’ said Will, apparently making sure I didn’t think this was a gift from him.

I didn’t care. I pushed open the door eagerly and went in. We were cautiously greeted by two Frenchwomen who looked at Will’s plain clothes and my rough ones with some distaste and disappointment. It was clear that they didn’t expect much profit from such as us.

I was less than thrilled by their dowdy establishment too. I would never have patronized it in my former life. Considering we were in France, only a few days’ drive from Paris, the fashionable heart of Europe, the gowns on display were shockingly outmoded. I wandered around the shop, eyeing them disparagingly, while Will spoke to the dressmakers in rapid French. I was astounded at his fluency and rather mortified to realize how inadequate my schoolgirl French actually was. They spoke so fast, I could catch very little of what was said.

At last one of them came forward and began to speak to me more slowly, showing me fabrics and smiling. I responded in halting French, gradually gaining in confidence as I could see she was no longer hostile. Whatever Will had said to her about my boy’s raiment had clearly done the trick.

I tried on several gowns and at last settled on a green one that needed only minor alterations. It was not something I would have chosen normally. But when I picked out a much more fashionable day brocade gown in pink silk with lace trimming which needed more altering, Will shook his head at me. I took the hint, ungraciously, settling instead for the green velvet promenade gown with the cream edges and gold buttons. He seemed very determined I should select a gown with a hoop too, which surprised me. Hoops were impractical for anything but fashionable leisure time. However I didn’t object to having a fine gown, and obeyed him meekly enough.

Will bundled me out of the shop and led me off to a milliner next to find a hat that would match the gown. I tried on quite a few, parading in front of the looking glass while Will sighed and groaned behind me. As soon as I settled on a pretty cream bonnet, he shoved the money at the shopkeeper and dragged me out of the shop.

‘What’s the rush?’ I asked. ‘This is the first fun I’ve had in weeks.’

Will looked decidedly harassed as he replied: ‘It might be fun for you. I’ve got to stand there explaining what you’re doing in boys’ clothing and coping with all the comments and strange looks while you preen in front of the mirror.’

I rolled my eyes and looked down at my boots. ‘Shoes next?’ I asked.

‘Definitely not! I’ve had enough. Besides you’ve spent a fortune already.’

‘But I can’t wear these! I’d look completely wrong. Anyone would stare to see men’s boots with the gown I’ve just purchased!’

Will groaned aloud. ‘For heaven’s sake, Isabelle, shoes don’t show under all those petticoats!’

‘They certainly do,’ I argued. ‘Every time you take a step. It was bad enough playing the ghost in the dark. I could never get away with it in the daytime.’

I got my way, of course. Within another half an hour, I was seated in a coffee house with both a hat box and a shoe box on the seat beside me. When I wanted to peek inside the boxes while we waited for the food to be served, Will pushed my hand away. ‘Leave them!’ he hissed at me. ‘You’re a boy again now, if you please. Could you behave like one?’

‘How am I supposed to know how boys behave?’ I asked indignantly. ‘I know they’re rude and unmannered, but that’s about it.’

‘Well, they don’t constantly peep at their shopping and squeal over it,’ replied Will.

‘I wasn’t!’

‘Oh yes, you were!’

Our bickering was interrupted by a waiter bringing us our food. He was an older man and bestowed a fatherly smile on me as he put my plate before me and said something I didn’t quite catch about a young lad. Will had ordered us
ragoût
with a glass of wine and light French pastries to follow. I ate eagerly, hungry after my morning’s activity.

‘So what happens next?’ I asked cheerfully. ‘I’m beginning to enjoy this smuggling lark.’

Will rolled his eyes. ‘We’re going back to the dressmaker’s,’ he replied. ‘Once we have your gown we’ll go to the warehouse and select some lace.’

‘I don’t wish to appear in any way ungrateful,’ I said cautiously. ‘I’m delighted to have appropriate clothing once more. But why go to so much trouble and expense for one visit to the warehouse? If my disguise is good enough to fool the waiter, wouldn’t it do for purchasing lace as well?’

‘Not once you start sighing over the point work and showing all manner of feminine knowledge, it wouldn’t,’ said Will dryly. ‘You might look the part, but you’re not much of an actor.’

‘It’s a skill I haven’t had any use for up to now,’ I replied, unruffled by Will’s criticism.

‘As a matter of fact, it’s not so much the visit to the warehouse that you need the disguise for,’ Will told me. ‘It’s more disposing of the goods on the other side of the channel.’

A small chill crept into my stomach at his words and I laid down my fork. ‘Tell me at once what it is I’m going to have to do,’ I asked.

Will waved my question away. ‘Plenty of time for that later,’ he said lightly. ‘Enjoy your meal. French cuisine is so superior to English fare. You should make the most of it.’

I pushed my plate away with a frown. ‘I find I’ve quite lost my appetite,’ I said.

Will pushed it back to me. ‘No tantrums now, Isabelle,’ he said. ‘They don’t become you.’

‘Do you have sisters?’ I asked him.

Will looked startled. ‘No. Why?’ he asked.

‘I’m very relieved to hear it. You would be an intolerable older brother. I’d strongly advise against having daughters too. You’d be an even worse father.’

To my surprise, a deep flush suffused Will’s face and his eyes clouded before he looked away. I’d only been bantering and was surprised to see the effect my words had produced. ‘I’m sorry,’ I began. ‘I only … ’

‘Shall we go?’ asked Will, standing up abruptly. I had no choice but to gather my boxes together and follow him as he left the inn. We walked in uncomfortable silence to the dressmaker’s. There the green velvet gown was fitted once more and a couple of last adjustments made. I put on my new shoes and matching hat and emerged from the fitting room, a young lady again at last.

I walked out, holding myself very straight and grand, hoping for a word of approval from Will. Sure enough he was waiting and greeted me with a smile. It was a broad smile that didn’t reach his eyes and I suspected at once he was playing a part. ‘
Magnifique, ma coeur!
’ he cried when he saw me. I thought this was overdoing it more than a little. The gown was nothing out of the ordinary and I certainly wasn’t his dear heart. When he came towards me with outstretched hands I stopped short, unsure what to expect. Will caught both my hands in his, kissed them and then kissed me briefly on the cheek.

He certainly wasn’t kissing me for the pleasure of it. Why would he? So I refrained from slapping him and forced myself to smile up at him complacently instead. From the corner of my eye I noticed that both the dressmakers were watching us with almost tearful expressions on their faces. As Will slid an arm around me and embraced me, one of them actually dabbed her eyes with a pocket handkerchief.

Will tore himself away from me with apparent reluctance and completed the purchase of the gown and a very bright red woollen cloak. I looked at it in some trepidation, but said nothing until we were out of the shop.

‘I do hope that isn’t for me,’ I said once we were on the pavement once more, my hand drawn through his arm as the two ladies watched us from the shop window. I indicated the neat brown paper parcel now tied with string in his free hand. ‘I can’t imagine any colour that would go less well with this gown.’

‘It is for you,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t buy it with fashion in mind. For this too we have a use.’

‘I see. And may I ask what the … the
kissing
thing was about?’ I asked, injecting as much revulsion as possible into my words. I removed my hand from his arm at the same time. We were now out of sight of the shop.

Will laughed; a more natural laugh. His sudden restraint was fading again. ‘I told the good ladies that we were engaged. It was a very affecting story.’ He saw outrage on my face.

‘I had to tell them something!’ he said and had the grace to look a little sheepish. ‘To explain the scandalous way you were dressed, you know. I spun them a fabulous tale about your wicked guardian who wasn’t really your guardian and how we escaped from the house at the dead of night, with you up before me on the horse. That’s why you needed to be dressed in boy’s clothes. We are about to be married, you know.’

‘I wouldn’t marry you for the world,’ I told him. ‘Your story is a disgraceful lie from beginning to end!’

Will shrugged. ‘Tell me your real story and maybe I won’t need to make up lies.’

The purchase of lace was more exciting than I expected. I justified my presence by asking to have each roll unrolled fully and discovering that on some, only the first section of lace was top quality. Thereafter, the work was shoddy and would have lost us both customers and money. The merchant was grumpy about being caught attempting to cheat us, but Will drove a very good bargain as a result and left the warehouse much lighter in mood.

‘Well done, Isabelle,’ he praised me as we walked back to the ship, two errand boys following us, carrying all the goods we had purchased. ‘Good work.’

‘Thank you. I imagine the merchants try all sorts of tricks with the goods.’

‘Many are honest; some will try to cheat you. There are many ploys: a common one is sampling a barrel of brandy. Traders will sometimes offer a taste straight from the barrel. It tastes excellent and you are convinced to buy. But what you’ve tasted comes from a small compartment at the top of the barrel. The rest is rough enough to strip your insides right out only you don’t discover until it’s too late. That’s a ploy used for contraband on both sides of the channel.’

I wrinkled my nose in thought. ‘It seems a short-sighted way of doing business,’ I observed. ‘You wouldn’t go back to a dealer who had cheated you once.’

‘Absolutely right. We work on building up trusted contacts. And on being trustworthy ourselves. It’s better for trade in the long term. But there are always a few rogues about trying to make themselves a quick fistful of guineas. And that isn’t limited to the contraband trade.’

‘What is my next part in this?’ I asked. ‘In what way will I be part of this trustworthy illegal trade?’

I should of course have known that whatever my ‘next part’ was, it would be embarrassing and awkward. Why else would it be delegated to me? I stood in my cabin in my shift, looking at the neatly-folded quantities of costly lace and didn’t know where to start.

There was a knock at the door. ‘Go away!’ I shouted assuming it was Will.

‘Are you nearly ready?’ asked Gentle Jacob’s voice mildly. ‘We’re almost in the port.’

‘Sorry, Jacob,’ I replied more politely. ‘Nowhere near ready.’ The ship swayed and tilted under my feet as we swung round to negotiate the harbour entrance.

It was going to be an easy matter for me to walk off the ship and into the town carrying a large quantity of contraband lace, Will had assured me. I wasn’t convinced.

I unfolded a large length of lace and wrapped it experimentally around one leg. As soon as I let it go, it sagged down around my ankle. I needed some way of fastening it. I picked up my garters from beside my bunk and tried again, tying it in place. That worked better.

I wrapped lace around my waist. It wasn’t going to be a flattering look. There was another rap at the door; less polite this time.

‘Isabelle, we’re running out of time,’ said Will’s voice imperatively. ‘We need you ashore the moment we’ve tied up. We can’t risk the ship being rummaged while the lace is still aboard.’

I went to the door and peered out cautiously. Jacob, Will, and Harry were all waiting outside and looked around eagerly to see how their idea had worked. I shook my head at them. ‘It’s too difficult,’ I told them. ‘It’s going to be so bulky and I can’t tie it on to myself without an extra hand.’

‘I knew you wouldn’t be able to manage alone,’ said Will. ‘We’ll have to help you.’