How would he respond if he knew the truth about her marriage?
Again, without warning, Henry launched the rattle, and it fell over the toe of Anthony’s boot. Anthony stooped down to retrieve it, and this time he took a step toward them to return the rattle. With his nearness came his scent of outdoors and an unexpected flutter within her chest.
Henry’s eyes widened at the return of the toy, and he batted it with such intensity that Anthony chuckled. “He looks like you.”
Charlotte sighed and took in the boy’s wispy white hair and vibrant blue eyes. “He looks nothing like me. He looks a Prior through and through.”
“His nose has the same slope. It will look just like yours one day.”
At the personal nature of the statement, she sobered.
It did not matter how much time had passed or what situations they had endured. An unavoidable intimacy would always exist between them. The secrets they had once shared never could be forgotten, and it was taking only a couple of days with him near for it all to come rushing back.
She stepped back, reestablishing an appropriate distance. If she was to be successful, she could not allow these glimpses into her past to affect her son. “I must get Henry inside. He’ll be hungry soon. Good evening, Mr.Welbourne.”
It was rude, she knew, to depart so abruptly, but she was finding it difficult to know how to act. He was a hired watchman, but her heart was determined to remember him quite differently.
Chapter15
Anthony watched Charlotte carry Henry from the garden to the house.
The fringe of her long, patterned shawl swayed with each step, dragging through the dried russet leaves and rogue branches.
The wind caught locks of her dark chestnut hair in the same manner as he remembered. How natural Charlotte looked with the child in her arms. It was the very sight he’d imagined often in his thoughts—of how he’d dreamedtheirlife would be.
But now, she wasn’t holding his baby. The child was another man’s.
A gentle rain started to fall, the misty sort that ushered in the bone-chilling cold of autumn that would cover the dormant moorland until spring. He sought and found Timmons in the rear garden doing their evening perimeter check.
“Change of plans.” Anthony approached Timmons. “I need you to go on an errand.”
“Good.” Timmons huffed. “This place is a tomb.”
“I thought you liked a Prior assignment?” quipped Anthony.
“Bah. At t’ end of t’ day, one’s pretty much like t’ other, innit? Ican’t believe ye lived out ’ere all those years. Does nothing ’appen ’ere?”
Anthony shrugged and lifted his eyes to the south, where just beyond the road the forest rose. He could see why Timmons would think it a droll locale. But Anthony had lived a whole life here. Loved here. Learned here. “It wasn’t terrible.”
“I ’ave to say, after my last job for a Prior, I thought this would be a bit more excitin’. That job was for Roland Prior though, not Silas Prior.”
Anthony’s ear pricked at the mention of Roland, and he took the opportunity to learn more. “I forgot that the Prior job was for Roland Prior and not his brother.”
“Aye. Roland Prior were purchasin’ some sort o’ machinery, very expensive, for t’ updates to t’ mills. Parts of it were comin’ from overseas, so ol’ Roland hired an escort to meet it at t’ dock in Plymouth t’ make sure it made it without any problems. Roland Prior and Mr.Walstead were both present on the assignment, so ye know it was of consequence.”
Anthony raised his brow. “Did you see what kind of machinery it was?”
“Nay. It was crated from t’ time it came off t’ ship ’til we carried it inside an outbuilding at Prior Mill.”
Anthony ignored the tinge of shame he felt for prodding information from Timmons without divulging the truth about why he wanted to know. But Timmons was not a discreet man, especially if ale were to become involved. Sharing that Charlotte was part of his past would only open her up to gossip.
Timmons pivoted. “So what o’ this change o’ plans?”
“Tomorrow Mrs. Prior’s maid needs to go to Leeds. You’ll escort her.”
Timmons leaned with his elbows on the stone wall. “What’s t’ purpose?”
“Not sure exactly. Mrs.Prior said it was personal. She’ll take the carriage. You’ll accompany it.”
