Smugglers' Summer by Carola Dunn Read Free Book Online

announced the smuggler with satisfaction as the barge swung wide to head directly into the small dock. “Will there be someone to meet you, miss?”
    ‘‘No. They have no idea when to expect me."
    “It’s not far up to the house but it’s a steep walk. If you care to wait below I can send someone to fetch you.”
    “If you are walking up to the house, I shall go with you. It will be good to stretch my legs. Will you think me impertinent if I ask what business a smuggler has at Cotehele?”
    Red Jack flushed. “I’m courting the housekeeper,” he muttered, suddenly shy. “Ever since she was parlour maid at Mount Edgcumbe. She won’t have me till I change my profession and I won’t quit free-trading till I’ve a fortune to support her with. It’s been a long time, but it won’t be much longer.”
    “I beg your pardon, I was impertinent!” cried Octavia penitently. “It was none of my business."
    “The whole world knows,” he said wryly. “Well, here we are. Let me help you ashore.”
    Several men had appeared from one of the buildings, an inn bearing the sign of the Edgcumbe Arms. There was much shouting and bustle as the River Queen was tied up and they prepared to unload with the aid of a hand winch on board and a derrick on the quay.
    Suddenly a tall, thin, elderly man in uniform pushed through the crowd, followed by a pair of beefy troopers.
    “In the King’s name!” he shouted in a high, rather squeaky voice. “Every basket is to be inspected as it comes ashore. Slowly, now.”
    “I’ve a cargo of fruit on the Lower Quay that’s waited for in Plymouth,” said Captain Pilway angrily. “Ye may inspect what ye please when ‘tis all off my ship.”
    They stood face to face, arguing loudly. Red Jack quietly directed a couple of men to carry off Octavia’s trunk, and swung her lightly over the side, following her onto the quay.
    “The Riding Officer,” he explained. “he’ll have a hard time inspecting tons of limestone. We’ll be off.”
    He waved to the men with the trunk to come after them, and they edged round the jeering crowd. They were a few feet beyond it when the Riding Officer noticed them.
    “Halt, in the King’s name!” he cried. “I know you, Red Jack Day, and I’ll see the contents of that trunk, if you please.
    The men parted to let him through and he came strutting forward to face Octavia. She drew herself up, her chin raised.
    “The trunk is mine,” she said icily. “I am Miss Octavia Gray, a guest of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.”
    He looked somewhat disconcerted, but a glance at her appearance revived his officiousness. “You expect me to believe that?” he said with scorn. “Unlock the chest at once!”
    “You may apply to his lordship for my credentials.” Octavia quaked inside. “I do not think my lord will be best pleased if you strew my undergarments about in public. Come, Captain Day.”
    The crowd roared with laughter as she stalked off, Red Jack at her heels. The two men picked up the trunk and followed, leaving the Riding Officer purple-faced and gaping like a fish.
    “Well done, ma’am,” said Red Jack. “You could not have carried that off more coolly had the box actually been filled with contraband.”
    “Do you know,” confessed Octavia, “for the moment I was quite convinced that it was!”
    They passed a grey stone lodge and started up the hill. Long before they reached the top Octavia was glad to lean on the captain’s arm. She walked in a blur of fatigue, unable to appreciate her surroundings in the least, aware only of the effort to be made to put one foot in front of the next again and again and again.
    The ground levelled off at last, and Octavia revived enough to notice a horseman coming towards them.
    “Jack Day!” the rider hailed her companion from a little distance, in a vaguely familiar voice. “Come to visit the fair Martha, are you? Who is this you have brought with you?”
    “It’s Miss Gray, sir. She’s a guest here.