Elizabeth Powell by The Traitors Daughter Page B

sincerely hope you are not involved with Admiral Locke or his fellows,” he said. “I would hate to have you arrested.”
    “Arrested?” she squeaked. Alarm constricted her throat. “But I have done nothing. Locke is a blackguard, and I intend to prove it. He framed my father, who took the blame for Locke’s crimes. My father was a loyal officer—he was innocent!”
    The stern lines of Everly’s face softened. “I respectyour regard for your father. For your sake, however, I hope that something more than fervent conviction drove you to rifle through Locke’s personal belongings. You put yourself in great peril, Miss Tremayne.”
    “I have letters from my father, letters detailing his suspicions about Admiral Locke, but no one would listen. No one at the Admiralty, no one on the Navy Board. I had to take matters into my own hands.”
    “Letters?” Everly’s golden brows arched toward his hairline. “What do these letters contain?”
    “Documentation of my father’s suspicions about Admiral Locke. Activities, dates, apparent consequences.”
    “Why did he send this information to you, and not to the Admiralty, or even to his solicitor?”
    “He tried to warn the Admiralty, but he also feared that Locke was not working alone, so he sent home a copy of the information. He trusted me to do what was best.”
    “I don’t think he meant for you to go off half-cocked like this,” Everly muttered. “You should have given the information to you family solicitor and let him deal with it.”
    Amanda twisted her hands together in her lap. “After we received word of the trial, our solicitor respectfully declined to represent us in any further legal matters.” Try as she might, she could not keep the bitterness from her voice.
    “Then he was a fool,” Everly said. He stared straight into her eyes; his azure gaze captivated her. “Listen to me, Miss Tremayne. This is not a matter for a woman of your sensibilities. Give me your father’s letters, they may aid me in my investigation. I assure you that I will do my utmost to find out what Locke is hiding. If I find evidence to exonerate your father, I promise you that I will.”
    “You want me to trust you with my father’s letters? Do you take me for a gudgeon, Captain?” Her scorn sliced through the air between them. Surely he did not think her so naive! She was not convinced that hewouldn’t destroy the letters; she vowed not to let them leave her care.
    Everly let out an exasperated sigh. “No, Miss Tremayne. You are many things, but I do not think you are a fool.”
    Amanda wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or piqued. “Don’t you?” she accused.
    “No,” he insisted. “What have I done—lately—to earn your disfavor?”
    “You never asked my direction. We have been driving around in circles for the past quarter hour.”
    She had embarrassed him; a slow wave of color washed over his face from jaw to brow. “You’re quite right, Miss Tremayne. I can be very single-minded at times. If you would be so kind?”
    Amanda gave him her address, and Captain Everly opened a window and relayed it to his coachmen. The steady clop-clop of the horses’ hooves combined with noises from the street to dull the silence between them.
    “Allow me to apologize,” Everly offered with a small, self-deprecating smile. “Too much time ashore has compromised what manners I have left.”
    Amanda smiled back in spite of herself. He was charming, wickedly so. “About the letters, Captain …”
    Everly sat up, intent.
    “It’s not that I do not wish to aid your investigation,” she continued, “but I have come too far to be shunted aside now. I will let you read my father’s letters, but they must remain in my possession.”
    He scanned her face as if searching for duplicity. He must have found none, for he nodded. “Very well, Miss Tremayne. I agree to your terms.”
    Relief bloomed within her; she sighed. “Meet me tomorrow afternoon by the gates to Green