He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself for coping in your own way. That would be unfair.”
Amelia hummed. It did make her feel a little better, and he wasn’t wrong exactly, but that wouldn’t protect her from the reality. “Life isn’t fair though, is it?”
He dipped his chin, conceding the point. “No, I suppose not. If it was, I daresay you’d be the Countess of Winterhope now.”
But would she be?Amelia tried picturing herself as the mistress of Winter Castle and suddenly found it incredibly… stifling.
“Regardless.” He cleared his throat. “It makes sense, that you’d feel safer to imagine me a gentleman.”
Amelia had been about to take a bite of tender buttered carrot, but froze at his words. “You think I mistook you for a gentleman?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“That’s exactly what you said.”
“Then we’ll go back to your first idea. You were naive and gullible.”
“I’ve never once imagined you to be a gentleman.” Heat pricked the back of her neck. “Well, except for when you first stopped my father’s coach. I’d read stories, you know, about gentlemen highwaymen. The kind who stole from unsuspecting travelers in order to maintain their lifestyle within society.”
“So you created this little…” Mr. Beckworth circled his fork in the air. “Fantasy. As I said.”
“I realized you weren’t a gentleman when you declined to take my father’s valuables and abducted me instead.” When he’d thrown her over his shoulder. When he’d dared to strike her. Still, she wondered. “Why wouldn’t a smuggler take his valuables?”
“I could be holding you for ransom.”
She entertained the notion for half a second, then shook her head. “But you could have had hundreds of pounds worth of jewels without the trouble of keeping me.”
“Perhaps you’re more valuable than jewels.” His voice, which had seemed cool and level, sounded gruff.
They were going in circles. But wait, had he just said she was more valuable than jewels? Amelia’s heart skipped a beat.
She made a valid attempt to sweep the stars out of her eyes.
He didn’t mean he personally considered her valuable. The statement was a practical one—not a romantic declaration.
And yet she couldn’t forget those few minutes at the window upstairs. His affection had been fleeting, but she had not imagined it.
“Am I?” She felt incredibly brave to ask the question.
His ebony gaze flared, and tension squeezed Amelia’s chest as the air in the room thickened around them.
But then his jaw ticked, and with a shrug, his attention returned to his food.
“I suppose that’s up to your father to decide.”
Leopold stoodon the edge of the cliff watching shadowed figures moving about on the beach below. The wind from earlier that day persisted, creating difficulties they’d rather have avoided, and a few wispy clouds muted the moonlight.
“They’re bringing the last load up now, Boss,” Fitz announced from three steps behind Leopold. Through years of trial and error, Leopold and his men had worked their system of loading and unloading down to an almost perfect science. If not for the fickleness of nature, they’d have finished unloading a few hours earlier. “Captain sent word that another unidentified vessel is trolling thecoast, and has been for the past three days.”
Leopold nodded. It could be the one Crossings was waiting for.
If they’d had the support Leopold’s men did, and the experience and the discipline, they would have attempted toland tonight as well, and Leopold knew from past accounts, that Crossings’ men knew their business.
The fact that they hadn’t made an attempt was concerning. If Crossings wasn’t pressuring his captain to land, it was highly likely that the duke had no intention of paying his investors.
Speaking of payment…
Leopold reached into his pocket and withdrew a thick envelope—the agreed upon sum, plus a surety for the next trip. “Send this out with Nick. Along with my thanks.”
