Law, Susan Kay by Traitorous Hearts Read Free Book Online Page A

eat."
    Adam darted off, trailed by his three smaller friends.
    Tightening her shawl around her shoulders, Bennie continued around
the square. Although the day was clear, the sun bright, the air had a definite
bite, and Bennie thought she caught the crisp, metallic tang of approaching
winter. The blue of the unclouded sky was pale, as if the color had been washed
of intensity, a hue that reminded her of Jon's eyes.
    His eyes. Why was she still remembering his eyes? It wasn't as if
she'd seen him since that afternoon in the woods when he'd listened to her
play. The weather had turned colder since then, and she'd only been able to get
back there once, practicing in the stables the other days. Yet every time she'd
brought out her instrument, she'd found herself looking for him. Missing his
presence.
    How absurd. She'd played thousands of times alone, only once with
him there. She couldn't have become accustomed to him so quickly. Still, it had
felt good to share the music. To have a friend who seemed to like it as much as
she did.
    A friend. Oddly, that's the way she thought of him— as if she knew
anything about having a friend. She had more family than she knew what to do
with, but she'd never really had a friend. She'd always been too different, too
awkward, too... something, to be close to someone who wasn't related to her.
    It was impossible: he was a soldier, he was British, he was a man.
He was beautiful and simple and completely out of her realm of experience. He
was many things, but he couldn't be her friend, and she'd do well to remember
it.
    The common was already crowded with people. The annual mustering
was as much an excuse for all the residents of the area to gather as it was a
military exercise. Bennie wended her way through the peddlers selling books,
patent medicines, and hats; candy, sweetmeats, and cutlery. She inspected a
particularly fine collection of twig baskets and pretended not to notice the
men, carefully out of sight of their wives, gambling with homemade playing
cards.
    Betsy Grout, Rufus's wife, along with a number of other women, was
selling a tempting array of sweets arranged on tables in front of her husband's
store.
    "What will you have, Bennie?"
    Bennie rubbed her stiff fingers together. "Mmm, tea, I
think."
    "Yes, it is a little brisk this morning, isn't it?"
Betsy poured the steaming liquid. "Sugar?"
    "Absolutely." Bennie grinned. "Lots. And you might
as well make it two teas. I'm going to stop over at Brendan's."
    "It's a fine day for the mustering, despite the chill."
Using a sharp pick, Betsy chipped several large tan chunks off of the hard,
beehive-shaped lump of sugar. "I just hope everything goes well."
    "It always does."
    Betsy pursed her plump lips. "So far it has."
    "Why wouldn't it?"
    "Rufus said there may be a bit of trouble with the
redcoats."
    "Trouble?" Bennie accepted the two mugs. "Because
the captain told us not to hold the mustering? Oh, I'm sure it's nothing to be
concerned about. After all, what could they really do?"
    "They're well-armed, well-trained soldiers." Betsy
pinched her brows together. "I would think they could do rather a
lot."
    "Soldiers under orders not to fire on any colonists without
orders from a civilian authority," Bennie reminded her.
    "I hope you're right," Betsy said skeptically.
"Orders can be changed, Bennie. Or disobeyed. Has Brendan heard anything
about there being any potential trouble?"
    "Not that I know of." Bennie sipped her tea, shuddering slightly
at the bitterness the sugar couldn't quite disguise. Pine needle tea might be
better for her digestion, and it was certainly the patriotic thing to drink,
but her tongue still preferred a good imported tea. "Not yet, at any rate.
I'll go ask him now if he knows anything."
    Betsy caught Bennie's wrist, her grip nearly painfully tight.
"Will you let me know if you hear anything?" Tension radiated from
Betsy's round body. "My sons..."
    "I'll let you know. I promise," Bennie said, laying her
hand