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than a girl. But she always spoke to Diver this way, as if he were a wayward child, and she his older sister. Or his mother.
    “I was glad to buy him the ale,” Ethan said, keeping his voice low. “I just got paid.”
    She pursed her lips, but held her tongue. Diver had enough sense to shut his mouth as well. A moment later, Kelf showed up with a bowl of steaming stew, which he placed in front of Ethan.
    “Thereyago.”
    “Better bring another for Derrey here,” Kannice said.
    Kelf eyed each of them in turn and tromped back to the kitchen to fetch another bowl.
    Kannice turned her back on Diver and looked down at Ethan. “I’ll deal with you later,” she said, a coy smile on her lips. She started back to the bar, shouting, “Tom Langer, I swear if you spill another ale in my tavern I’ll banish you for a year and a day!”
    Several men behind Ethan laughed uproariously.
    “She’s a hard woman, Ethan,” Diver said, watching her walk away.
    “Only with you. And I’m not sure it’s undeserved.”
    Diver frowned and drank the rest of his ale. Kelf brought a second bowl of stew, placed it in front of Diver without saying a word, and returned to the bar.
    “I want to know what you had going on with Daniel,” Ethan said as Diver started to eat.
    “I told you,” Diver said, his mouth full. “Nothing at all.”
    “That’s the first time you’ve looked me in the eye since we started talking about him.”
    Diver’s cheeks reddened. He was a handsome man, his face still youthful, his black curls as yet untouched by gray. Kannice’s hostility notwithstanding, women were drawn to him. He was tall, lean, and dark-eyed, and he had a winning smile and was quick with a jest. But if Ethan had a daughter, he would have done everything in his power to keep Diver away from her.
    Ethan continued to stare at his friend, saying nothing, until at last Diver put down his spoon and glanced around, as if to make certain that no one could hear.
    “Was Corbett your only job?” Diver asked in a low voice.
    “What?”
    Diver leaned closer and lowered his voice even more. “Are you working on anything else right now?”
    Ethan let out a small laugh and shook his head. “What have you gotten yourself into, Diver?”
    “Answer the question.”
    “No, I’m not working on anything else. In fact, I’m thinking I should lie low for a time. It seems everyone I meet right now knows too much about me, if you catch my meaning.”
    Diver’s eyes widened. “Really? You think Pryce is spreading rumors about you?”
    “They’re not rumors if they’re true. And no, I don’t think she would bother with something like this. If Sephira gets tired of having me around, she’ll just have me killed and be done with it.” He took a spoonful of Kannice’s stew, which was savory, just a bit spicy, and as delicious as usual. He never took his eyes off of Diver, though, and now he added, “But we were talking about you.”
    “I’m getting to it.” Diver took a breath and scanned the room again. “It’s not as bad as you think.”
    “I don’t think anything, yet,” Ethan said, which was not entirely true.
    “Well, then it’s not as bad as it’s going to sound. There’s a group of merchants who have put in together to buy a shipment from a French merchant.”
    “A shipment of what?” Ethan asked, though he already knew.
    “What do you think? He’s French. Wine from France—fifty casks—and a few hundred gallons of rum from the French West Indies. Course the merchants can’t sell any of it the usual way. They can’t have the casks showing up in their warehouses, and they need people to sell them outside the usual places, where the lobsterbacks can’t see.”
    Of course. Since Parliament passed the first of the Grenville Acts the year before, it had been illegal for anyone in the colonies to import or sell any wine from France or any rum from the French West Indies. The problem was, as much as the British here in the