“Tell them I’m not here,” Raeni said. “Tell them you’ve never heard of me.” Her voice held a note of panic. Mrs. Poole glanced at Thomas for agreement, but he didn’t have any answers.
“Tell Mrs. Price we will be along in a few moments.”
“Yes, sir.”
Thomas closed the door and turned back to Raeni.
“I have to go,” she said, looking about frantically. “But not in this. Help me—” She gave him her back and gestured to the dress, where pins and laces held the bodice together.
“You want me to take off your clothing?” he asked.
“Quickly,” she said, not hearing or not caring about the tone of his voice.
“I will undress you, but I have no intention of hurrying.”
She scowled at him over her shoulder. “Thomas. Mr. Gaines, you don’t understand. I have to go. I have to leave. Now.”
“Why?”
“The men who’ve come for me, if they find me, they’ll take me back.”
He took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Back to Jamaica?”
“Yes.” Tears sparkled in her eyes.
“Why? Are you a runaway slave?”
She bit her lips. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean? Are you free or not?”
A tear slipped down her face. “No.”
Thomas stared at her in disbelief. He was harboring a runaway slave, and now the slavers had come to reclaim her.
Five
Even through her tears, Raeni saw the way he looked at her. His expression was one of horror and disgust. And why wouldn’t it be? She had brought slavers to his door, an unwanted reminder of what he had escaped.
“You needn’t worry,” he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. “The law is against them. They cannot take you back.” He gathered her into his arms, and she stumbled back out of bewilderment. “Raeni, you are safe now.”
She shook her head. “They don’t care about the law. They will have me on the ship and set sail before any court can act.”
“I believe it.” She heard the disgust in his voice and realized it had come from his dislike of slavery and the men who perpetuated it, not her own actions. “But I won’t let them take you.” He pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I didn’t know who to trust, and...” She looked down. “I needed this position. I feared if anyone knew I might cause trouble, I would not be hired or let go.”
“I’ll forgive you for thinking such things only because you didn’t know me very well. And now, we had better go down.”
She jerked back, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest. “Go down? I have to run!”
“You have to face them. I won’t let them take you. This is your chance to show them that you’re not afraid, that you’re more trouble than it’s worth to them. If they know you’ll put up a fight, they will probably find some easier means of earning their blunt.”
She shook her head. “I’m worth too much.”
His brow arched. “We’ll discuss that later, but you need to trust me on this. I’m not without power. I will convince them of the wisdom of leaving you alone.” The glint in his eyes would have frightened her if it had been directed her way. Instead, she allowed him to take her hand and lead her into the coffee room. It was late enough that most of the shops on Bond Street had closed and the coffee room was all but empty except for a woman and her baby.
“Alice?” Raeni released Thomas’s hand and rushed to her friend. “What are you doing here?”
Alice had tear tracks down her face, and in her arms George slept, his breaths hitching as though he had cried himself to sleep.
“I’m sorry to come here, Raeni.” She looked over Raeni’s shoulder where Thomas stood back a little. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“What happened?”
Alice began to cry again, and Raeni sank down in the chair beside her. “Here, give me George. You’ll wake him.” She took the sleeping baby, and Alice covered her face with her hand.
“I will confer with the cook,” Thomas said, withdrawing to give the ladies privacy. Raeni would thank him later. There was a long list of things she should thank him for.
“Alice, you can tell me what happened,” Raeni said. “It must have been serious for you to come here.”
Alice nodded. “There’s a new rector at the church. The old one has been sent to another parish or position or—oh, I don’t know what they call it.”
“I see. And?”
“And the new one told the caretaker we can no longer stay there. He threw all of me belongings onto the street and told me not to come back. Raeni, what am I to do? Where will we sleep?”
“I have a little money now,” Raeni said. “I’ll find us a place to stay for a few nights.”
“But you’ve already done so much for us,” Alice said. “You bought us clothing and food and medicine for George’s fever.”
“She has done enough,” Thomas said, setting a tray of pastries and coffee on the table. Raeni started when she saw him, not expecting him to bring a tray of food. He hired people to do such work, and she had thought he’d returned to his office. “It’s time someone else stepped in to help.”
“You’re right,” Alice said softly, taking George back. “I will be on my way. I shouldn’t have troubled you—"
“Sit down,” Thomas said, his voice stern. “If I understand correctly, you don’t have anywhere to go. I take it you have been sleeping in a church?” He gave Raeni a dark look. “Yet another fact I was unaware of. That’s simply unacceptable.”
“As I was saying,” Raeni broke in, “I have a little money now, and I can get us a room for the night.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “A room with eight of you cramped inside and that’s not counting the rats and fleas. No. You’ll stay at my town house in Cheapside.”
Raeni gaped at him. “But we couldn’t do that!”
“I will sleep here. Then it will be proper.”
She didn’t care about what was proper. She could not move herself and a woman and child he did not even know into his home. “Sir, that’s simply far too much to ask of you.”
He shook his head. She had seen the look he wore before when he’d been negotiating with merchants. She’d come to think of it as his stubborn look. It meant he had made up his mind and nothing she said would change it. “If you’re to insist, then we will stay here,” Raeni said. “Just for a night or two.”
“A baby sleeping above a shop on Bond Street? That won’t do.”
She wanted to ask why not. Surely there were many babies sleeping above shops on Bond Street.
“I’ll take you home until we figure out another arrangement. Miss Alice?” He looked at Alice, who stared at him open-mouthed. “Is that acceptable to you?”
She looked at Raeni. Thomas cleared his throat. “Would you like a clean room, a bath, supper, and a bed for you and your child?”