She’d taken to writing him, daily—at first.
Then twice a day.
When he didn’t respond to her letters—letters that were by turn angry and accusatory, then cajoling and repentant—she’d taken to arriving at his door in the middle of the night.
Imogen had never been rejected in all her life, and she wasn’t taking it well.
Now, she’d tracked him to Dover—and would have to be dealt with.
“Lady Godiva Gallop,” the first mate informed him.
Lady Godiva Gallop?
Belief refused to take hold inside Dev.
Could there be anotherLady Godiva Gallop?
The first mate shook his head. “She insisted, so I put her in your cabin. I didn’t know what else to do with her.”
Dev tossed a hasty, “Thank you,” over his shoulder, his feet already on the move.
Lady Godiva Gallop.
There couldn’t be another one, yet he was too afraid to let hope in.
Not until he burst through his cabin door and beheld her with his own eyes.
Beatrix—seated primly on a three-legged stool, pencil suspended mid-air, journal flat on her lap, she scratched out one last thought, then lifted her gaze.
Oh, how he’d missed this.
The way she could look at him as if she could see straight into him.
And, tonight, he hoped she did.
Straight through to his heart.
“Lady Godiva Gallop, I presume?”
He hadn’t intended those to be his first words, but as they were the only ones that came to him, he supposed they had to suffice.
Her mouth curled to one side, even as the intensity within her eyes remained, and she nodded.
Sometimes, it was easier to speak the truth as someone else.
But there was also a time to speak the truth as oneself.
That time had arrived.
“Beatrix, what took you so long?” Before she could open her mouth to reply, the reality of the moment struck him. “What are you even doing here?” And another reality… “Did you travel through the storm?”
She gave an indifferent shrug. “Blaze’s coachman is quite skilled with the team of horses, although the weather did deliver a few vicious swipes here and there.”
“Blaze?”
“He lent me his coach-and-four,” she stated, utterly unflustered and matter-of-fact.
Dev’s anger only amplified. “He let you travel in this weather?”
