Free Virgin Star by Jennifer Horsman Page A

of imagination makes you think I am in any way interested in the young lady's state of dress?"
    "Oh, but she insists on donnin' a pair of trousers, sir!"
    "What?"
    "Trousers, sir. She wants to wear trousers!"
    He collapsed with a frustrated sigh. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" Molly used the distraction to drive him mad, with some degree of success. "Look, Tilly, I suggest you indulge the girl's fancies. I wouldn't want you to suffer her blows—they can be quite deadly." Returning to Molly's expert ministrations, he said, "Off with you, Tilly."
    Tilly's hand grasped at her heart as she bobbed a curtsy to the closed door and left. She had never known of a woman wearing a man's clothes. Oh, the things that went on in this house! She'd have to go see her vicar again to get the assurance that being a good light in a house filled with sin, but charged with more charity and human goodness than Westminster Abbey, would not be a detriment on Judgment Day...
    Seanessy always took his time, arid he was just getting warmed up when another knock sounded.
    "Seanessy, are you in there?" Kyler asked.
    "Not quite, Kyler."
    "What the devil are you doing in there?"
    "I wouldn't want to shock you, my friend."
    A woman's laughter sounded, arid Kyler, recognizing Molly's gaiety, did not stifle his chuckle. "It seems Harding and boys caught the two bastards that dropped the package off last night. I'll keep them waiting until you feel up to seeing them."
    Seanessy buried his laughter in Molly's perfumed shoulder. "Save me, Molly ... save me."
    "Master." Tilly's excited voice came next from the other side. "Should I give the young lady a pound note or two? She says you promised her a note before she goes on her way, and you see, sir—" Tilly whispered as if it were a royal intrigue with global consequences. "Methinks she's meanin' to leave before the doctor gets here. She says she refuses to see a doctor, and, well, if ye ask me, she's a little touched from the terrible things that have been happenin' to 'er and I think ye should make her wait—“
    "Tilly, as God is my witness," Seanessy almost cried from behind the door, "I'm going to kill you."
    The words gave Tilly pause. She waited for more to be said. No more words were forthcoming and she asked, "Does that mean aye or nay?"
    The young lady without a name waited a few moments after the kind serving woman left. She cautiously opened the door and peered outside. No one moved in the hallway. She quietly headed for the entrance hall at the bottom of the long curving stairs.
    Seanessy at last emerged from the green room, having finally managed to send Molly into a pleasant slumber. He was smiling as he shut the door, but the smile disappeared in the instant as he issued the single word: "You!"
    A delicate hand flew to her heart as it leaped in fright. Startled eyes turned to see her nemesis, thankfully fully dressed, including a well-worn shoulder harness and two expensive silver-handled pistols-—fifty calibers if one. Against her will, she thought of all the hideous sounds coming from the next room, and when she imagined the scene he had just quit, a blush went from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes.
    He kept his concubines here. Even without the assurance of memory, she felt certain that she had never been subjected to this odious form of her sex's subjugation before. As soon as she left, she could be reasonably sure she would never be subjected to it again.
    He was just such a beast!
    His sharp hazel eyes looked her over. Tilly had pulled the thick blond hair back and worked it into a single braid that fell down to the small of her back. That hair would be a vanity to any other woman, it was so beautiful. His own sweet mother always wore her hair in plaits. He loved old-fashioned braids. And, Lord, the rope of her hair was as thick as a man's fist!
    Aye, the girl was a pretty thing with her hair away from those eyes, but the rest! She wore a man's large dark vest over a clean