was going to be in serious trouble if she didn’t find his bag.
In the quiet darkness Gabriel Laniere—trained physician, thespian and horse wrangler who presently found himself masquerading as a minister—leaned on the rail of the aft main deck of the Magnolia Princess. It was the only pleasure boat docked among the shrimpers, oyster boats and merchant vessels in the quay of Mobile Bay. He’d waited out the noisy leave-takings of the last of the gamblers. The only sounds on the boat now were the snores of the crew huddled behind the boiler and a faint scraping sound coming from the direction of the gangplank—most likely a straggler meandering home after being left behind.
Gabriel touched the full-blown red camellia in his lapel. It had been tossed at him with a wink a few hours earlier by the “incomparable” Delia Matthews—billed as the “star of Simpson and Company,” a pleasing comedy in two acts, as well as the laughable farce The Omnibus—a symbol of her code name. Miss Matthews had indeed proved to be an actress of some versatility and ingenuity. Gabriel hoped her courier skills would match her ability to bedazzle a theater full of drunken Southern gentlemen.
What he had to report to Admiral Farragut could not wait.
The scraping noise came again, followed by a muffled grunt. Frowning, he straightened away from the rail, but paused when a deckhand appeared out of the mist that swathed the gangplank. The man carried a soft felt bag, which he tossed from hand to hand with a soft chink.
Gabriel retraced his steps and found the hatch down into the hold of the boat. As he descended the narrow ladder, rumors he’d dug up in New Orleans crawled through his thoughts. Even now he could hardly believe the words he’d encoded on the paper in his pocket. Fish boat. Underwater torpedo. Naval warfare was undergoing radical change, literally under Farragut’s nose, and Gabriel’s mission began with alerting the admiral to the fact that the engineers of this dangerous vessel had moved their secret enterprise from New Orleans to the unlikely backwater of Mobile, Alabama.
Then—search and destroy.
Some two hours later, he was still sitting on a barrel that smelled of sorghum molasses, his head clearing the overhead planks by a scant quarter of an inch. The hold ran the length and breadth of the boat, but it seemed to have been designed for the undernourished roustabouts who spent sixteen of every twenty-four hours loading and unloading bales, hogsheads, sacks and crates, and firewood for the ravenous jaws of the furnace.
He had been containing his temper by reciting the human bone and muscle systems. Which made him think of Harry Martin, who never could keep straight which was the fibia and which was the tibia. Last he’d heard, Martin was serving as a field surgeon with Grant. Probably hacking off limbs right and left.
He shifted his position and began on the muscles again. Delia Matthews had better have a good explanation for her tardiness. Admiral Farragut, who had recruited and trained him, insisted that intelligence work was five percent action, twenty percent listening and seventy-five percent waiting. Most times Gabriel did it by sheer force of will. And he didn’t mind when the objective was in sight. But endlessly waiting for a courier who should be right here on the boat—
A light tap of boots overhead interrupted his seething thoughts. Someone removed the square hatch cover, relieving the pitch-darkness. A pair of scratched and broken boots descended the ladder, then hesitated midway.
Gabriel slid off the barrel.
“Now where in creation is he?” The voice was lighter than he’d remembered it onstage. She was a cool one. Serve her right if he scared her.
He opened his mouth to utter the pass code, but a shadow loomed in the hatch.
“Who left the hatch open?” grumbled an unseen male voice. “Harley, I told you—”
The thumping of heavy boots, and Gabriel saw the woman’s panic in the tremor of her body. She was about to scream. He reached her in one silent lunge. Clapping one hand over her mouth, the other arm clamping her arms at her waist, he snatched her into the corner under the stairs. Sliding to the floor with the actress’s shaking body held close, he waited for disaster to strike.
But the mate stood at the top of the stairs, peering down into the murky darkness and muttering. Finally he turned and stomped back up the stairway. The hatch cover clanged into place, submerging Gabriel and his captive in darkness and silence.
The slim, lithe form in his arms continued to tremble. Fearing the return of the mate, Gabriel kept his hand over Delia’s mouth, his hold gentling as she relaxed. Her clothes smelled of turpentine and fish, and the small head was covered with a ragged knit cap that scratched his jaw. A good idea, as the luxuriant mass of hair would have given her away if she were seen away from the cabin area.
Squirming, she expelled a little sigh that tickled his hand.
He tightened his hold. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he whispered. “I’m not uncovering your pretty mouth until I’m sure you can keep it quiet.”
She nipped the palm of his hand.
He released her mouth, barely containing a yelp. “Why you little—” He lowered his voice. “Are you trying to get us both hanged?”
“Who are you?”
Good, she was careful. “Joshua.”
The boat breathed around them: creak of timbers, slosh of water, scent of pine resin drifting with the soft fragrance of lily of the valley. He yanked off Delia’s cap, releasing a tumble of curly hair. He lifted a handful to his face and breathed in, curling his arm more snugly around her.
“Stop pawing me and tell me what you want.”
He chuckled. “Try any more tricks and you’ll be sorry.”
Silence. Then, “I’m listening.”
“Good. I’ve got you a sermon to deliver, and you’d best do whatever it takes to get it in the hands of the man upstairs.” When she moved to get up, he tightened his arm around her. “Stay put. We have any more interruptions, I don’t want to have to dive for cover again.”
“Oh, all right.” She shifted in discomfort.
He reached into his coat for the sermon he’d composed that afternoon, then fumbled at the side of her coat. She stiffened, but allowed him to slide the paper into her pocket. “Too bad you wasted so much time getting down here, Camellia. I’d like to stay and chat, but I’ve got to get ashore before daylight.”
She gasped. Shoving his hand away, she snatched up her cap and crammed it down over her hair. She scrambled to his feet and backed toward the hatch. “I’ve got to go.”
Quietly she climbed the ladder, lifted the hatch cover and peeked out. Apparently finding the coast clear, she disappeared.
Gabriel rubbed his eyes and relaxed against the rough wall. He’d give it a few minutes before he risked his own exit from the hold.
The cipher was delivered.
Camilla scrambled over the wrought-iron fence bordering the rear of the Beaumont property. Chest heaving, she tumbled spread-eagle onto the grass and stared up at the still-black sky. She’d covered the distance from the riverboat to Dauphin at Ann Street at a flat-out
