Cynthia Bailey Pratt Read Online Free Page B

difference between their thin, unformed chests and the smooth muscularity of the stranger’s body. She had to look at him to bandage him, but she tried not to let her eyes wander away from her work.
    When she finished, she asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Hammond?”
    “It isn’t mister. Just Hammond.” He grasped the blanket and settled himself beneath its itchy warmth. He sighed again, but with contentment not pain. “Do me one more favor before you go, Joss. I’m sure your mother must be growing anxious.”
    “Yes, sir, I’ll do what I can.”
    “Look out into the street. No, not that way, you ass! Cross to the wall, lift the curtain out slowly from the side, and then, showing none of your body, look out.”
    “There’s nobody, sir.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes,” Jocelyn said, looking a moment longer, just the same. The alley’s darkness had deepened since they were in it an hour or so before. Now the lengthening shadows obscured all but a small square in the middle. “There might be . . . no, it’s only a stray cat.”
    “That’s all right, then. Take that coin out of my pocket. You’ve more than earned it.” Hammond shut his eyes.
    Jocelyn came over and picked up her coat from the bed, noticing the blood still upon the sleeve. After what she had been called upon to do, a small smear like that hardly seemed worth noting, and she felt ashamed of her earlier foolishness.
    Looking down at him, she thought he slept, but he said, “Joss?”
    “Sir?”
    His eyes opened slightly, like a child awakened in the night. His voice was softened by approaching sleep. “Don’t. . . don’t say anything to anybody, will you? I can trust you, yes?”
    “I won’t say anything,” Jocelyn promised.
    A frown passed over his brow, slowly vanishing as if he could not concentrate on his worry. “I’ll come see you, when I’m better. Meet your mother and reward you properly. Where do you live?” She almost missed the last word.
    “Um . . .” What had become of the facility she boasted of in learning to lie quickly? She could think of no falsehood, so she settled for half a truth. “We live on the Luckems’ property. Anyone can tell you where that is, sir. You rest now. And thank you again for saving me from that officer.”
    Hammond did not speak. She didn’t know if he even heard her. Jocelyn stood by the door for a long minute, her hand on the latch, watching the rise and fall of his breathing. She didn’t want to remember about her cousins or the duty owed her aunt and uncle. She wanted, with an intensity that surprised her, to be there when Hammond awoke, to be able to reveal herself as a girl. Perhaps he would be glad of it. Jocelyn remembered and went down the stairs.
     

Chapter Two
     
    “Oh, oh, you do look funny! Granville said you did!”
    With a haughty glance Jocelyn passed Arnold by, trying not to limp on legs and feet sore from the day’s exercise. “I’m not the least bit interested in talking to you, Arnold Luckem. How can you fall into such scrapes? Poaching with Handsome Foyle! A more ill-named man never lived.”
    Arnold slithered down from the stone fence that ran along the lane. “Don’t be that way. I was waiting for you to say how grateful I am to you for saving me.”
    “I suppose Granville made you wait for me.”
    “Well, yes. But I would have thanked you anyway.”
    If asked, Arnold Luckem would have admitted that his cousin was by no means the worst girl he knew. That honor belonged to Clarissa Rogers, who never failed to make sheep’s eyes at him in church. Even Jocelyn, however, had ideas about cleanliness and truthfulness that a fellow could not be expected to admire. Arnold prided himself on his fairness, and to be fair, his cousin acted like a brick in coming to rescue him from Constable Regin. It had taken Granville two hours of earnest conversation to make his brother see cause for gratitude.
    Jocelyn turned suddenly on Arnold. “What makes