He stared at her for a long moment, but she didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. She told the truth. Warstein had set something in motion. Thequestion was, what?
“And you believe I would be better off not knowing what my father became?”
“Sometimes, things are better left unknown.” Sea-colored eyes met his. “What good can come of the knowledge?”
The muscles in his chest constricted. “It’s a reminder of what I could become.”
“You’re nothing like Thorne.”
A cold laugh lodged in his chest. “How do you know?”
Pretty pink lips pressed together. “You’re not. You...” She began to fidget with the glove once more. “You wanted to save me. Even though I was a pirate.”
The hazy scene flashed before him, her curled naked against his side, staring at him from behind that blasted mask. Her soft words:You can’t save me.His pulse thrummed anew.
A flush had spread across her cheeks and she dropped her gaze to her lap while the breeze tossed a curl over her forehead.
He reached out and tucked it back in place. “I would have, Red.”
She sucked in a breath and pulled from his touch. “I think it might be best if you would stop calling me that.”
Numbness tingled through his limbs. This was it, then.
Goodbye.
He pushed to his feet and stepped to the edge of the dock. Murky water swirled in angry eddies. Tide was going out.
A chorus of shouts came from the square and they both turned toward the shore. His father had probably been brought out. Not long now. He pressed his eyes shut.
Her fingers grazed his arm and he jumped at the contact.
“If it were my father, I don’t think I could bear to stay, no matter what he had done.”
He could barely manage a nod. “Let me take you home.”
She inclined her head and he led her to the bank. At the top of thesteps, she tugged his arm and pointed to a nearby wagon with two mules.
“They belong to my uncle’s men.”
Silence had fallen over the city and he hurried toward the vehicle. If they could get far enough, maybe they wouldn’t hear the applause that would follow his father’s death.
Son of a bitch.
A cold sweat broke out across his brow as he helped her up to the bench. When he took his seat next to her and took the reins, he caught her worried look.
“I’m a monster, aren’t I?” The wagon lurched into motion and she grabbed his arm for balance. “I could have let him go.”
“You were only doing your job.”
He slapped the mules into a trot. “Would you have done it? Brought your father in?”
“I don’t know. If he had done the things Thorne has...” She met his gaze. “I don’t know.”
He cleared his throat against the uncomfortable weight gathering there and his vision went blurry. If they kept talking about this, he was going to lose control. He needed to get her home and lose himself in a bottle.
The wagon bumped along the road as it opened into the countryside and he urged the team faster. Her grip on his forearm tightened as they reached a teeth-rattling speed and a few tendrils of warmth pierced through the coldness settled in his stomach.
“I don’t t—think this wagon is meant to go so fast.”
