Miranda had watched the exchange from a window, and when the Captain rode away and Judah turned toward the house,

she hurried to a chair and sat down. Judah wasted no time upon entering. "Where did you meet him?" he demanded to know.

"On the road. I had no idea who he was -"

"Yet you accepted a ride?"

"He gave me no choice, Judah. He would not let me pa.s.s, and then he lifted me onto the horse and refused to let me go. Perhaps if I had used my powers -"

"Your powers would have been useless against him. You are not to see him again, my dear. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I have no reason to see Captain Forsythe." And she meant it - in her mind. But her heart kept reminding her of the intense look in Aaron's hazel eyes, and the way his face would become gentle when he smiled. Stop this, she told herself. Aaron Forsythe is Judah's enemy. You owe everything to judah. Forget the captain.

"h.e.l.lo, Miranda," Aaron said softly as she left the dressmaker's. It had been a week since their first meeting, and he had seldom been far from her thoughts - or she from his.

Seeing him now, in person, made her pulse quicken, but she forced her voice into polite coolness. "Captain." She made to pa.s.s him, but Aaron was too quick, blocking her way.

"May I walk with you?" "I would rather you not, sir." "Because Judah might find out?" "He would," she said with certainty. "Meet me somewhere." "For what reason?" she asked. Without touching her, he compelled her to look at him. "I want to talk to you. To get to know you."

She was tempted to throw caution to the winds. The thought of being with Aaron made her light-headed. "No. No, I cannot risk it. Judah has many spies -"

Now he placed a finger lightly beneath her chin. "Miranda, are you in love with Judah?"

"I - thought I was. But now -I am not certain of anything."

"Because of me?"

"Captain, please. Let me pa.s.s. If Judah discovers that I spoke to you-"

"If he ever tried to harm you, Miranda, you must promise to go to the SEA WITCH and tell me."

"It is not my welfare that concerns me at the moment. It is yours."

"Judah Zachary cannot harm me - unless he harms you."

She raised wide eyes to his. "Are you truly so powerful?"

"Some think so." His eyes grew serious. "Meet me. I will go anywhere you name."

Miranda could no longer resist the attraction between herself and the handsome sea captain. Lowering her voice, she said, "There is a hidden cove not far from here to the south. There is an abandoned fishing shack. Be there at dusk."

"How will you get away?"

"I will tell Judah that Mistress Pearce wishes me to stay in tonight, so I cannot attend the meeting."

"I will be waiting," he told her.

Judah agreed not to require Miranda's presence at the meeting. "You are right to tell me about it. Mistress Pearce must be kept happy since her husband is one of the town aldermen. Stay home for this one night."

"If you wish. I think I should tell you before another does - Captain Forsythe spoke to me in town today."

"What did he say?"

"He tried to warn me against you. I did not listen to him."

Judah touched her cheek. "Loyal, beautiful Miranda. You are my greatest creation, you know."

Her insides were shaking as she departed Judah's house. Never before had she lied to him. About anything.

Aaron was already in the one-room shack when Miranda arrived, as he had promised. Words were unnecessary as blue eyes met hazel. Aaron held out his arms and Miranda went into them as if she had done so countless times before. There was an uncertainty in the air, the knowledge that these stolen hours might very well be their only ones if Judah discovered this meeting.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," Aaron told her as they sat wrapped in a quilt before the small fire he lit in the grate.

Her blue eyes sparkling with contentment, Miranda looked down. "I daresay you have seen many woman, Captain Forsythe."

He laughed softly at her formal address, considering how close they were. "None with hair like sunshine and eyes the colour of sapphires. You should have a necklace of sapphires."

"I have no jewels," she told him. "A simple maid cannot afford such things."

His laughter was still evident. "You, my beautiful Miranda, are in no way a 'simple maid'. You will have jewels and silks -I am certain that Judah promised you those things."

"In the beginning." She frowned. "Aaron, is Judah the reason for - ?' v

He met her look. "No. I would have wanted you no matter what. I did not know who you were on the road that day. How did you become involved with Judah?"

Miranda sat forward and gazed deeply into the fire. "We met when I was on my way to church meeting with my aunt. I lived with her after my mother died."

"What of your father?"

"He was a sea captain - he was lost when I was little more than a babe." She smiled when he squeezed her hand. "My aunt was a spinster who spent her time working as a seamstress or reading her Bible. She had no notion of how to raise a child."

"She was no doubt jealous of your beauty."10.

"I think you are right. She tried everything she could to hide it, but nothing worked. I had heard the stories about Judah, knew there was another way than my aunt's. When he began to call on me, she warned me about him, but I would not listen to her."

The story sounded familiar to Aaron. He rested his chin on her head. "What happened to her?"

"She - died. Her heart - just - stopped beating one night."

"On its own, or did it have help?" "Are you suggesting that Judah killed her?" she asked, turning to look at him. "It is something to consider." "Why do you hate him so?" Aaron's eyes moved to the flames. "I have my reasons." Then he smiled, looking at her again. "Let us talk no more of Judah Zachary. Instead, I will tell you about Martinique."

When Aaron left the shack before dawn, he returned to the Sea Witch and penned a letter. Sealing it, he called to his cabin boy. "Henri."

"Oui, Capitan?"

"I want you to take this letter directly to the home of Amadeus Collins. Leave it there and return. I need no reply."

The young man smiled. "Right away," he promised and was gone. Aaron sat back, thinking. Elsbeth would be avenged. And Miranda would soon be free of Judah Zachary forever. Amadeus Collins was one of the judges in the witch tribunal. Once he read the letter in Henri's hand, Judah would be arrested and tried for practicing witchcraft.

"Judah," Miranda asked before the meeting began that night, "I have been thinking about my aunt of late."

"Indeed? Why should you think of her?"