Captain Jack’s Woman / A Gentleman's Honor

Chapter 5

“Damn!” George flung his cards down on the rough deal table and glared at Jack. “Nothing’s changed in well-nigh twenty years! You still win.”

Jack’s white teeth showed in a laughing smile. “Console yourself it’s not the title to your paternal acres that lie under my hand.” He lifted his palm, revealing a pile of woodchips.

Pushing back his chair, George snorted disgustedly. “As if I’d risk anything of worth against such a dyed-in-the-wool gamester.”

Jack collected the cards and reshaped the pack, then, elbows on the table, shuffled them back and forth, left hand to right.

Outside, the east wind howled, whipping leaves and twigs against the shutters. Inside, the lamplight played on Jack’s bent head, exposing the hidden streaks of gold, bright against the duller brown. Aside from the table, the single-room cottage was sparsely furnished, the principal items being a large bed against the opposite wall and an equally large wardrobe beside it. Yet no farmworker would have dreamed of setting foot in the place. The bed was old but of polished oak, as was the wardrobe. The sheets were of linen and the goosefeather quilt simply too luxurious to permit the fiction of this being a humble dwelling. True, the deal table was just that, but smoothed and cleaned and in remarkably good condition. The four chairs scattered about the room were of assorted styles but none bore any relation to the crude seating normally found in fishermen’s abodes.

Jack slapped the pack on the table and, pushing his chair back, stretched his arms above his head.

Hoofbeats, muffled by the wildness outside, sounded like a ghostly echo. Dragging his gaze from the flames flickering in the stone hearth, George turned to listen, then sent an expectant look Jack’s way.

Jack’s brows rose fleetingly before his gaze swung to the door. Seconds later, it burst open to reveal a large figure wrapped in heavy frieze, a hat pulled low over his eyes. The figure whirled, slamming the heavy door against the tempest outside.

The tension in Jack’s long frame eased. He leaned forward, arms on the table. “Welcome back. What did you learn?”

Matthew’s lined face emerged as the hat hit the table. He shrugged off his coat and set it on a peg beside the door. “Like you thought, there’s another gang.”

“They’re active?” George drew his chair closer.

At Jack’s nod, Matthew pulled another chair to the table. “They’re in business, all right. Ran a cargo of brandy last night, somewhere between Hunstanton and Heacham, cool as you please. I heard talk they did that consignment of lace we refused-the run that clashed with that load of spirits we took out Brancaster way.”

Jack swore. “Damn! I’d hoped that night was all a piece of Tonkin’s delusions.” He turned to George. “When I went into Hunstanton yesterday, Tonkin was full of this gang he’d surprised running some cargo south of Snettisham. Preening that he’d found another gang operating on Osborne’s turf that Osborne hadn’t known about. I spoke to some of Tonkin’s men later. It sounded like they’d seen a fishing boat pull in for a break and Tonkin invented the rest.” Jack grimaced. “Now, it seems otherwise.”

“Does it matter? If they’re a small operation…” George broke off at Jack’s emphatic nod.

“It matters. We need this coast tied up. If there’s another gang operating, no matter how small, who’s to tell what cargoes they’ll run?”

The wind whistled down the narrow chimney and played with the flames licking the logs in the hearth. Abruptly, Jack pushed away from the table. “We’ll have to find out who this lot is.” He looked at Matthew. “Did you get any hints from your contacts?”

Matthew shook his head. “Not a whiff of a scent.”

George frowned. “What about Osborne? Why not just get him to clamp down along that stretch?”

“Because I’ve sent him to clamp down on the beaches between Blakeney and Cromer.” Exasperation colored Jack’s tone. “There’s a small outfit operating around there, but for most of that coast, the silts are so unpredictable no master in his right mind will bring his ship in close. The few reasonable landings are easy to patrol. But I sent Osborne to ensure the job was done. Aside from anything else, it seemed preferable to make certain he wouldn’t get wind of our activities and seek to curtail them. Tonkin, bless his hopeless heart, is so bumblingly inept we stand in no danger from him. Unfortunately, neither does this other gang.”

“So,” George mused, “Tonkin’s now effectively responsible for the coast from Lynn to Blakeney?”

Jack nodded.

“Whoever this other lot are,” said Matthew, “seems like they know the area well. There’s no whispers of pack trains or any such, but they must be moving the goods, same as us.”

“Who knows?” Jack said. “They might actually be better set up than us. We’re only novices, after all.”

George turned a jaundiced eye on Jack. “I don’t believe any man in his right mind would call Captain Jack a novice-not at this sort of devilry.”

A broad grin dispelled Jack’s seriousness. “You flatter me, my friend. Now, how are we to meet this mystery gang?”

“Must we meet them?”

“How else, oh knowledgeable one, are we to dissuade them from their illegal pursuits?”

“Dissuade them?”

Jack’s face hardened. “That-or do Tonkin’s job for him.”

George looked glum. “I knew I wasn’t going to like this mission.”

Jack’s chair grated on the floor as he rose. “They’re smugglers, for Christ’s sake.”

George sighed, dropping his eyes from Jack’s stern grey gaze. “So are we, Jack. So are we.”

But Jack had stopped listening. Turning to Matthew, he asked, “What cargoes do they usually take?”