About an hour later, Robby rode up from the river. "We defeated the flanking maneuver and have stopped the river crossing for now. We will need more m...n and weapons to be successful in the long run." Well done, Robby. Did Mickey work out well?" Yes, I left with him in charge to try to continue to contain the Cincy's. That musket has really helped. Shot from it sinks rafts. The explosives that I took killed off those who had reached our side without us having to engage them except to mop up. We. I told him people don't just walk into our apartment." Mary says she knocked." Well, she didn't bruise her knuckles doing it, that's for sure. I was six feet away and I would have heard a normal knock. And I'm sure I would have heard someone opening the door if they weren't trying to sneak in." Why that little imp. Wait till I talk to her after the party." Oh, don't make a big deal about it. She was probably getting back at Jack for embarrassing her last night."We put the potato salad on two. " She lifted his hands from her leg and dropped it in his lap."Oh, I'm sorry," he said, turning to the bar. "My mistake."The blood was pounding in her temples again. "But they're late, so I might let you buy me one drink," she said quickly. He thinks I'm a whore, she thought, God, how exciting!He looked at her cautiously. "You're sure?" he asked."I'm sure," she said.Actually, she was waiting for Ruth, who wanted to show off her new boyfriend. "The guy I'm going to marry," she had told Sarah.. I grinned, "OK. Well let's just say I've sortof got a record deal."She blinked a few times and her expressionclouded as she processed the information. Shefrowned a little and then began to think aloud,"You have a record deal. As a woman. So youdon't want people to know you are really NickEvans. Scandals are not good for business ?well, for an unknown anyway. Hence the secrecyand the name change." She nodded to herselfsatisfied that she now had the full story. Sheslowly shook her head, "OK,.