His mouth twitched upward. “One can never be too careful, I suppose.” I heard the amusement in his tone.
I smiled in obvious relief, looking out at the sea instead of his deep brown eyes. Somehow, they were even more unsettling with a smile behind them. “Indeed,” I said.
We should not have been conversing at all without an introduction, but he seemed intent to ignore that rule.
I peeked at him again once my smile had subsided a little. He stood at a respectable distance, facing the sea with hishands interlocked behind his back. The breeze tossed his wavy chestnut hair. I noticed a cleft in his chin. The sharpness of his features was more prominent in his profile, especially in the straight line of his nose and edges of his jaw. But when he turned his head toward me, his features were altogether softer, and the line between his brows was gone.
“Mr. Jonathan Croft.” He studied my face—but far less intently than I had just been studying his. “And you are?”
I looked over my shoulder, catching sight of Mama, Edmund, and Charlotte moving in my direction. They were still far enough away. I could answer without being judged for my impropriety. “Miss Alice Kellaway.”
“Have you been long in Brighton, Miss Kellaway?” he asked.
I composed myself with a breath, feeling suddenly flustered. I had never had such an unexpected conversation with such a handsome gentleman before. There was a forbidden quality to it that made my heart race. I felt rebellious carrying on as if I hadn’t just given my own introduction without a chaperone at my side. Perhaps it was my proximity to the sea that made me feel so untamed, but I found that I quite enjoyed it. “We just made our arrival today from Hampshire,” I answered finally. “And yourself?”
“A week.” He nodded down the beach toward the group I had seen him walking with before. “My sisters demanded that I accompany them.”
I eyed the two ruffled, heavily ornamented young ladies, and made swift—and perhaps unfair—judgments of their character. They did seem to be the sort of ladies to achieve all their objectives. In fact, they reminded me of Charlotte.
“Do you regularly obey their demands?” I asked with a tilt of my head.
Mr. Croft gave a half-smile. “Only when they promise me something valuable in return.”
I brushed a strand of hair from my eyes. My curiosity tugged at me. “What did they promise you?”
He leaned down, as if to tell me a secret. “To stop pestering me about everything else.”
I met his gaze and laughed, a blush heating the edges of my cheeks. He was far too charming. “A fair trade, though I do wonder what it is they find the need to pester you about.”
“A great number of things.” He took a step back as a wave approached his feet. “I will not bore you with the list.”
I stared at my shells, which were mere inches from the water’s reach. Would I look like a fool if I slumped over to gather them up? Our conversation would need to end soon. Mama had already spotted me.
“I confess that I had to bargain with my brother to accompany me here as well. However, I was prudent enough not to make him promises I cannot keep.” I paused with a thoughtful look. “I will never stop pestering him.”
Mr. Croft’s smile widened, and he lifted an eyebrow at me. “What did you promise him then?”
“I promised him an adventure.” I looked out at an incoming wave. It would take my shells, for certain. Despite my better judgment, I bent over and scraped up as many of them as I could, cupping them in my hands before dancing away from the water’s edge. I didn’t escape in time. My hem and boots were drenched as I trudged away with my collection of shells.
Mr. Croft watched me with a bewildered look, and I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or not. “My sisters promised me the same,” he said.
I was breathless, and I couldn’t decide if it was due to my rapid movement, or the intent look on Mr. Croft’s face. “But surely they didn’t promise you a dangerous encounter with a flying crab,” I said.
He gave a serious nod, but I caught his lips twitching upward. “That they did not. I don’t think anyone could have predicted such an occurrence. But they did say that Brighton would exceed my expectations.”
“Has it?”
“It’s beginning to.”
I fought against a blush, but my smile had officially earned its ninny status.
I stared at his face, feeling thoroughly charmed and a little lightheaded. My initial observation of his countenance had led me to believe he would be stern and cold, so his willingness to smile and tease fascinated me. Was he unattached? Married? It was entirely inconvenient and unfair that a woman’s marital status could usually be determined by her prefix, but a gentleman could be aMr.no matter what. There was simply no way of knowing if he was single or not without asking a mutual acquaintance.
We shouldn’t have even been acquainted at all, but here we stood—acquainted enough that I would surely not forget him tomorrow. Or the next day, or the next.
I glanced behind me, where Mama, Edmund, and Charlotte walked along the pebbled part of the beach, waiting for me. “Well, I ought to be going.” I hesitated. “I am truly sorry about the crab.”
Mr. Croft pressed his lips together but said nothing. He offered a departing bow in my direction. I wanted to ask him where he was staying, and if I would see him again—perhaps at the assembly or theater—but I had run out of time. He would have to remain a mystery for now.
