And dreading what she might say next.
At length, she sighed, her warm breath puffing a small cloud into the cold air. “No, I do not think you are a monster.”
The tension in his jaw eased, yet whatever wounds he’d unintentionally inflicted had to be drained completely before healing could take place. “Look, Eva, I am sorry for the sins of my youth. I acted recklessly, clearly causing you pain at times and leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth where I am concerned. But that was twelve years ago. I’ve grown up since then. What will it take for you to trust me?”
Her gaze dropped as if the answer might be found written in the scuff marks on the toes of her shoes. She clutched the lantern with both hands in front of her. Was this such a difficult question?
Eventually she lifted her head. “If only I could be sure you weren’t keeping secrets from me.”
His brows shot to the rafters. What suspicions did she harbour behind that pretty face of hers? “Why would I keep secrets from you?”
“Because you did all those years ago. You must have known you would be leaving Royston, yet you never breathed a word of it to me. You never told me where you went or why. You never even said good-bye. How can I trust you when I don’t know if you will do the same again?”
“Is that all? Eva, I promise I won’t leave you without a good-bye this time. Believe me, I would not have done so all those years ago if I’d had a choice in the matter—which I did not. Not even I knew I was leaving at the time, but that is a discussion for another time. Please, give me a chance, won’t you?” He flashed the most disarming smile he could muster.
And when a small smile whispered across her lips, satisfaction made him grin all the more.
She lifted her nose in the air. “Very well, badger. I will try. We shall leave the past behind us, where it belongs.”
“Thank you, but we can leave that nickname in the past as well, if you don’t mind.” He winked as he grabbed the lantern from her hands. “Follow me.”
Her footsteps lagged behind his. “Where are we going?”
“Not far.” He set the light on the back end of the wagon. Pulling a canvas sack to the edge, he groped inside for a small wrapped parcel. What a find this had been! He peeled away the cloth and held out the relic.
Eva’s nose crinkled. “What is it?”
He set the pendant in her hand. Granted, the trinket didn’t look like much now, but it surely would once polished. He pointed to each part as he spoke. “This thin gold sheet holds a cylindrical bead that’s pierced through longitudinally. You can’t see it in the evening’s shadows, but that bead is made ofa stunning azure glass. Attached to the bottom are two golden loops that each connect to a pearl. Either some woman wore this as a pendant or she’s missing an earring, for we only found the one.”
After a hard look at the bauble in her hand, Eva’s gaze drifted to his face. “Is it valuable?”
“Very much.” He grinned. “I thought you might like to see the fruits of our labour.”
“Your uncle showed me the oil lamp earlier today, so I have no doubt on the matter.”
“See? You’re trusting me already.”
She laughed, a delightful sound after such seriousness. “I suppose time will tell, Professor.” She offered back the pendant. “And with that, I bid you good night.”
She collected the lamp, leaving him with the moonlight as his sole companion. No, that wasn’t quite true. He was also accompanied by a foreign urge to be a man she could trust, one she could confide in, depend upon, lean against.
But did that mean he must tell her all his secrets?
9
She really didn’t want to do this. Not one little bit. The closer Eva drew to Tattleton’s Pawn and Jams, the more her steps lagged. She tugged the drawstring of her reticule tighter around the handle of the letter opener that didn’t quite fit inside her silk pouch. She’d already pledged her personal valuables and now was down to soliciting whatever else she could find that would bring in money. But parting with her father’s favorite desk ornament stabbed deeply. Not that Mr. Tattleton would care. He was too busy making a profit off other people’s misfortunes and his wife’s homemade preserves. A shop of such heartbreak ought to be somber, not displaying brightly labeled confectionery spreads the moment a person walked in the door.
Jam. Of all things!
Ahead, a street vendor haggled with a woman in a ridiculous hat over the price of apples. The ostrich feathers on her bonnet wisped about like furry little arms. A good distraction, that. Eva couldn’t help but take advantage of the opportunity, for as much as she’d like to purchase a newspaper, she couldn’t spare a coin.
With the man’s back turned toward her, she picked up a copy of theRoyston Gazetteand quickly paged through to theemployment adverts. It never hurt to keep her options open, especially if worse came to worse. It’d been a week now since Bram had proudly shown her the Roman pendant. It truly was a beauty after he’d cleaned it up, and yet neither he nor his crew had found much of anything else since. Not that such lack was entirely their fault. The work tent had collapsed in the middle of the night, creating quite a mess and tearing the roof. Repairing the canvas and putting things to rights had taken a good day. Bram never did figure out why the thing had collapsed. Probably a freak wind burst, despite the mild weather they’d been enjoying. Unfortunately, the event had started Sinclair going on again about disturbing the cursed acres. At least it gave her an excuse to keep Penny away from the dig site the next couple of days before her conscience caught up to her again about giving her sister new challenges and experiences. On the other hand, the event had preoccupied her time in helping patch the canvas roof, taking her away from Penny—and her sister had been most vocal about her displeasure on that.
She scanned down the newspaper columns, looking for a governess or teaching position. She could do either. Ah, what about a lady’s companion? She narrowed her eyes on the small type declaring a need for a lady of good standing—which she was—who loved to read—which she did—and who wouldn’t mind if—
“That’ll be two pence, miss.”
She glanced up at a pointy-nosed weasel of a man, the ostrich hat woman already walking away behind him with a bright red apple clasped in her hand.
