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sighed deeply. What was the use? Why had she even come here? “What am I going to do?” she said as much to herself as to Gunn.
    “You can’t stay here at the fort for long,” he answered. “You and Pegeen would be the only females in the midst of a gang of woman-hungry men. With winter coming on, there won’t be any ships sailing out of here for England for months, so you can’t go home.”
    “I certainly can’t.” Alice was too weary and disillusioned to tell him the whole story—that there were still those in England who wanted her hanged as a witch. Without Lord Balfour’s protection, she wouldn’t stand a chance if she returned.
    “I’ll see what I can do about getting you to Boston. I have a friend, William Phips, who lives there. I’m sure his wife, Mary, would take you and Pegeen in for a time.” He looked up at her with a crooked grin on his face. “There’s Jonathan Hargrave, too. I gather the bold captain would like nothing better than to stand as your protector. If he lives, you’ve got no problem, Lady Alice. You can marry the poor devil and put him out of his lovesick misery.”
    A few hours earlier Alice would have scoffed at such a suggestion, but now it seemed to make sense. “And if he doesn’t live?” she asked quietly.
    Gunn shrugged. “If you’re in the market for a husband, you’ve come to the right place. Any man among those you saw out there would take you as his wife in a second.”
    Alice stared at him, unbelieving. “Just like that?” she asked, snapping her fingers. “I’m simply to go out there, look them over, and say, ‘I’ll take this one. Wrap him for me, please.’”
    Gunn’s laughter boomed in the room.
    “I don’t see anything funny about the situation, Mr. Gunn. Why, I’d as soon marry you as any of those ruffians we saw earlier.”
    This time he didn’t laugh. Instead, he looked her over again, making Alice feel like a slave on the block. He cocked his head to one side, smiled, and nodded. “Done, dear lady! I’ll take you up on your offer.”
    Alice’s mouth fell open. For several moments she couldn’t find her voice. When she did speak at last, the words came out choked and garbled. “You? I’d never… not in a hundred, not in a million years. Lord Geoffrey didn’t know what he was… You? Gunn, might I remind you that you already have a wife?”
    He looked at her, puzzled, then laughed as he remembered his earlier remark to Pegeen. There was a pretty woman in his cabin all right, but not by his doing. “No, you misunderstood. I said I have a woman already. There’s a vast difference.”
    Alice swallowed hard, trying not to show her embarrassment.
    “Ah, now I’ve gone and made you blush,” Gunn said with a smile. “Forgive me, Alice.”
    “Lady Alice to you!” She turned away quickly, trying to avoid his gaze.
    “All right, for now, but once we’re wed I’ll have to call you something else.” He tilted his head to one side, musing aloud, “Perhaps Mrs. Gunn or Goodwife Gunn or… no, I like just plain Alice.”
    “I think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself,” Alice said, fuming. “There’s no way in hell I’d ever marry you! I can’t help what my husband wanted.” Alice covered her mouth quickly. The words had simply slipped out. How could she have let that happen?
    Gunn’s shaggy eyebrows rose and he leaned closer. “What’s that you say, Lady Alice? Maybe you haven’t told me the whole truth about your husband’s letter?”
    Pegeen interrupted before Alice could reply. “Mum, I’ve burned all the cones. I’ll be going out now to fetch some more.”
    A short time earlier Alice had longed for privacy, but now she desperately wanted the protection of Pegeen’s presence. Before she could stop her, however, the girl was out the door.
    “That’s better,” Gunn said, moving closer to Alice. “We can discuss our plans seriously now that we’re alone.”
    “We have no plans that I’m aware of.”
    He