“Breathe, Rosamund,” Bash said, gently pulling me to his side.
“Mmhm,” I answered once more.
“We are so glad you could join us on such late notice.” My mother said, “Please, sit, you must be hungry.”
I wasn’t hungry. My chest burned from where my heart had recently vacated my body.
Movement blurred around us, but the side smile, showcasing dimples, was all too distracting.
Something hard thumped on my back, and I sucked in a breath that ached and burned everything it touched.
“You're welcome,” Oscar said, taking the seat next to mine.
Oh, right. Breathing. Breathing was a thing people did.
Bash pulled out the chair in front of me and gently led me into it like I was a frightened calf. Beside me, Oscar bumped his shoulder into mine and grinned wildly.
“I think it’s going well,” he said.
Maybe when we got back on the Wraith, I could order him for deck duty. That would at least begin the payback, though it wouldn’t be enough.
“Why don’t we invite Inu next time and see how you feel?” I hissed.
Oscar laughed, deep and rumbling, and I hated that I loved hearing it. For months, I worried about him. Wondering how he was coping in prison. Aside from being a little too thin, he was perfectly fine.
“I think that would be entertaining on many accounts,” Oscar said.
“Agreed,” Bash said quietly.
I whipped my head to him, ready to chastise his encouragement, but his small smile said he was enjoying this far too much. He was the one who should have been nervous. Not me! Yet he was grinning and entirely relaxed. Shoulders back and not a care in the world. I barely recognized him.
“Mr. Smith, are you familiar with shipping?” my father asked.
I swallowed hard.
Going for the kill before the first course. Delightful. Beneath the table, Bash rested his hand on my leg, squeezing three times. Just us. It was fine. There was only us.
“Not as well as I would like, Lord Bailey. Paris has less of a shipping culture than London. I’ve spent most of my time there.” Bash said, and there was absolutely no hint of the lies he was telling.
Confident, unwavering to the point that I almost believed him.
“No work at the table, darling.” My mother predictably chastised.
“It isn’t work, I was simply assessing his knowledge,” my father said.
“How did you and Rose meet?” Roberta asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
A servant slid a plate in front of me that made my stomach roll.
Bash cleared his throat, and I was reminded that Roberta was instigating. Now that she had made her debut in society, Roberta did not appreciate feeling left out. While annoying and decidedly sure of herself, she was not stupid. She knew very well not everything was as it seemed, and she hated being left out.
However, the smug smile she flashed at me was exactly why I didn’t trust her with the truth.
“At a book shop, actually,” Bash said.
No hint of a lie. This was unsettling, but we probably should have prepared a story beforehand. I would just have to commit whatever he came up with to memory.
Chapter twenty-two
