“I don’t see you that way.”
They were the truest words he’d spoken all day.
A light blush pinked her cheeks. She’d heard that truth.
When she rose to take her leave, he stood, too. Like a gentleman. Well, it couldn’t be helped. Some manners were so deeply ingrained they’d become part of him.
“I’ll see you on the morrow,” she said, and pivoted.
Lucas resumed his seat and watched her navigate a path between empty tables and chairs as she made her way out of the tea room, graceful and delicate as a bird, her hips a gentle sway beneath her skirts, enough to reveal a hint of the curves underneath.
He couldn’t quite understand himself. He’d just told a passel of lies to get a woman to spend an afternoon with him, when all he’d needed to do was apologize and compensate her for frock and pelisse. He simply hadn’t been able to end their acquaintance with such finality. When he was around her, he had no desire to be anywhere else.
Perhaps in getting to know her more fully he could better understand this need in himself. That way, when they inevitably parted in a few days, he would’ve exhausted the feeling by letting it run its course.
And perhaps that feeling wasn’t on his side only, for he’d detected a spark of interest in her eyes.
Perhaps she, too, wanted to know more of him.
It seemed too much to hope for.
And yet, he did.
4
Nell and Tilly stood before the mirror, heads tilted in study, staring at Nell’s reflection. At last, Tilly said, “That’ll do right nice.”
Tilly might be a lass with a bit of cheek and an eye for flash, but she told the truth. Also, she was quite a skilled lady’s maid, who could do wonders with hair. Nell looked… Well, she looked better than possibly she’d ever looked, wearing her finest mint-green dress and matching pelisse, her hair styled by Tilly.
“Now, about them valets,” Tilly said, warming to her role of wise, older friend, never mind they were of an age. “You got to watch out for all men, but valets in particular. They can be right cheeky. It’s from hangin’ about lords all day. And the handsome ones?” She gave a rueful smile that spoke of a particular weakness in herself. “That Mr. Kendall does make the blood run a mite hotter, don’t he?”
Nell gave herself one last look in the mirror and grabbed her reticule off the dressing table. “I can manage Mr. Kendall.”
A noncommittal, “Hmm,” was all Tilly spoke in response.
Oh, why had Nell agreed to a day out with that man?
Actually, she knew why. Yesterday, she’d been all set to go back on her agreement by telling him the truth: It would be best if they never saw each other again.
Then he’d spoken the words that made it impossible.
I don’t see you that way.
No one had ever said anything like that to her, and his words touched on a possibility. Perhaps he didn’t see her as a little mouse, her childhood nickname. Which meant he saw her as…what?
She didn’t rightly know, but against all good reason she wanted to find out.
“Now, that’s not to say you shouldn’t go,” said Tilly after a moment’s reflection. “A woman can stand to get into a bit of holiday trouble with a strappin’ man like Mr. Kendall. He has nice eyes.”
Mr. Kendall did have nice eyes. But his eyes weren’t the problem. Simply put, Nell had no experience with a “bit” of trouble. The only man she’d ever had dealings with had gotten her into the big sort.
She touched her locket.Troublewas what everyone called it, but that wasn’t how she remembered the product of that trouble.
Soft… precious… the very essence of sweetness… Ewan.
A thought she had every day of her life, sometimes more than once. But instead of grief, it brought her comfort. It made her days worthwhile. Her life lived was for the both of them.
She took her leave of Tilly, who gave her a parting wink and a giggle. A trepidatious smile on her mouth, Nell made her way down the corridor and through the Old Bath Hotel. Already decided she would wait no longer than three minutes, the instant she stepped inside the reception room, she saw she didn’t have to wait at all. There, across the worn parquet floor and threadbare Aubusson carpet, Mr. Kendall stood with an idle shoulder propped against a wall, his gaze having registered her appearance.
