More giggles, then a gasp. Malcolm twisted back to see what was wrong. She scrambled to her knees. “Turn around,” she instructed.
He knew immediately what she had noticed, so he complied, turning his back to her. Her fingertips danced between his shoulder blades, tracing his tattoo.
“It’s the North Star,” she murmured.
He nodded, letting her study it for another moment before turning to face her. “When I was a boy my mother had this necklace, a gold pendant of the North Star with a tiny diamond in the center. She gifted it to me when I left for school. She told me that as long as I wore it, I would never be lost. Many years later, it was accidentally torn from around my throat and lost at sea. And I replaced it with this tattoo. A more permanent reminder of my mother.”
“That’s lovely.” Adeline’s eyes were shiny with emotion. “The fortune-teller saw the North Star on my hand.” She lifted her left hand. “She said the North Star would lead me to my new life.”
He grasped her hand and placed a kiss in the middle of her palm. “See, fate.”
Adeline’s puzzled expression turned into a frown. “I don’t believe in fate.”
She may not believe in fate, but he did. He knew bone-deep that this was the woman fate had sent him to love. Now he just needed to convince her. Step one. Seduction. He wrapped his arms around her and tumbled them both back onto the middle of the bed.
*
Later, they satat breakfast across from Mrs. Shelley and her adolescent son, John. Another couple chatted at the other end of the long table. They were long-term boarders staying for the winter. Malcolm took a bracing sip of tea. The food was excellent, the weather outside sunny, and his girl sat beside him. He couldn’t imagine a better start to the day.
“Where are you folks headed?” Mrs. Shelley asked.
“To my estate in Dorset,” he replied. “It shouldn’t take us more than one day, barring any more unfortunate incidents.”
The gentleman down the table chuckled. “Traveling in the British countryside is always an adventure. The roads must be the worst in Christendom.”
His wife nodded in agreement. “That’s why we are settling for the winter. Mrs. Shelley always takes good care of us.”
“Thanks, deary. You and Mr. Holburn are always welcome at the Red Rooster.” Mrs. Shelley turned back to Malcolm. “Perhaps you could use a driver for your chaise. My son would be happy to earn some extra quid to drive you to Dorset.”
Malcolm considered the extra cost, but it would be worth it to sit inside the carriage with Adeline and have someone to handle changing horses. “Yes, that would be excellent. And you can bring the chaise back to your uncle after dropping us off.”
John nodded eagerly at the price Malcolm offered.
“We would like to leave directly after breakfast.” Malcolm glanced at Adeline.
She had been very quiet during the meal. She didn’t appear upset, only deep in thought as she stared down at her plate.
He nudged her. “All right, darling?”
She glanced up. “Pardon?”
“To leave after breakfast?”
“Oh, certainly. That would be fine.”
Malcolm was still worried about Adeline as they sat cozy next to each other in the post chaise, heading south to Dorset. It wasn’t that she seemed upset with him. He couldn’t put a pin in it, but she felt far away.
He squeezed her with the arm he had draped around her shoulders. “Adeline, what are you thinking about?”
“Fate and the North Star.”
He let out a sigh of relief. She was simply mulling. Leave it to Adeline to think so hard about whether she should believe in a concept like fate. “I thought perhaps all that happened yesterday was tumbling down on your head this morning.”
“It is.” She shifted so that she looked up at him. “All the more reason to think about things, people, that come into your life. That man could have killed us yesterday, but he didn’t because of Lucy. Who was he? And what was on that piece of paper he pulled from the statue? And further, I met you in a bookstore, a random occurrence at best, but you knew my brother, and you knew Hartwick’s father, and Lucy’s father was your captain, and well, how does it all connect with you at the center? And you were investigating my father, and my father paid to have Lord Hartwick killed and—”
“Wait, your father paid to have Lord Hartwick killed?”
Adeline nodded. “Yes, the day you came to the house and took me for a walk, I overheard those rough men say that they had done the job of silencing two toffs for my father, and my father replied that they had failed at the task because Hartwick still lived. That is why I was so upset that day. To learn your father is a murderer is a lot to take in.”
