Free Saint and Scholar by Holley Trent

improve their condition…if they survived their tenure. Sturdy crop of people. They were known to be hard workers, but what choice did they have? Actually, sometimes unscrupulous sorts kidnapped poor children from Irish streets to be sent here to work. The abductors would get a bit of a bounty. We’ll hope your ancestor doesn’t fall into that stolen bunch.”
    She slumped against the sofa back. “Wow. I hadn’t known that was…a possibility.”
    “Slavery has existed in different forms and with different names since the dawn of man. People don’t much like talking about it.”
    “Apparently not.”
    Grant drained the contents of his coffee mug and straightened up. “Well, I’ll tell you what. I have to go to campus today to clean out my office. There are a couple of books there I can consult and some people I can call. I think your case will be a simple matter of finding Phillip on a ship manifest. It’ll list where he’s from, at least generally. Alternately, if the original contract he signed to indenture himself exists, that should give us some information about his origins.”
    She stared at him in a stunned haze. She had started the project thinking she would hit the same dead end Minnie had, but all it took to surpass her own limitations was to ask the right person for help. “I appreciate it. You don’t know what this means to me.”
    “No worries. It’s easy when you know where to look.” He stood and cleared away the empty mugs and coffee accoutrement to return them to the kitchenette counter.
    “Hey, Grant?”
    “Hmm?” he answered with his back to her.
    “You all didn’t get arrested last night, did you?”
    He forced out a ragged breath. “No.” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. His jaw grated side to side.
    “Well, what did happen? I felt like an idiot sitting at the table. I should have followed you outside to make sure there wasn’t a problem. I know most of the officers who would have been on duty last night.”
    “We just got thrown out of the joint onto our asses and told to never come back. Good thing you didn’t come outside, because Fran would have probably picked a fight with you.”
    “Fran?”
    “Yeah.” Grant walked back over to the sofa and sat on the arm farthest from her. “She’s why I needed the kiss. Thank you, by the way, for the rescue. I owe you a boon. Fran would have harassed me until I flew out. I got back onto her radar a couple of years ago and ended up having to change my number and email address. She said she was willing to put the past aside because she missed me. Anyway, the guys told her I had a girlfriend, but I guess she didn’t think it was possible.”
    “Why not? And do you?” Her heart thudded at the sudden possibility, but she remembered he’d said he had no attachments. A man who had attachments shouldn’t be able to kiss like that.
    He shrugged and fondled the drawstrings of his pants. “No. I haven’t been in a serious relationship in a while. Dated some, but nothing came of it.”
    “Well, why ?”
    “Why do you sound so surprised?” He narrowed his eyes as he smiled so the tiny wrinkles at the sides creased. “Aren’t you single?”
    She opened her mouth, then closed as she shook her head. “I…um. I mean, you’re obviously smart and…”
    He raised one dark brow. “And?”
    “Andyou’renicetolookat,” she said without enunciating before funneling her energy into fiddling with a loose button on her blouse.
    “I don’t know about that. I have a pretty hard time getting one lady in particular to look at me.” He nudged her shin with his bare foot. She managed a smile and gave him a sideways glance.
    “My friend gave me a pretty hard time last night after you left.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, Meg seems to think you’ve got some dirty old man vibe going on. I mean, what must it have looked like? You making out with a former student, I mean.”
    “That bother you ?”
    She shook her head