She lowered her head, for surely she was asking for the impossible. If that trip to Gravelines had taught her anything about Ridge Claymoore, it was that he was so much more than an agent for the Home Office. He was the renowned smuggler, One-Eye, and the profligate man who’d grown up in a brothel who had likely never stepped foot inside of a glittering ballroom, when that was all Isabella hadeverknown.
At least, until the past couple of weeks, when her entire world had notmerelybeen flipped upside down, but twisted sideways and maligned into something ugly andcorrupt.
Was it really just too much to ask for someone to love, who cared for her in return?
She stood there for an interminable length of time, but when it became apparent thata previous encounterwould not come to pass, that Ridge wouldn’t be joining her this time, she turned around and headed for her chamber.
As she walked down the hall where Simon had intercepted her, she hugged herself, rubbing her arms against the chill that broke out over her body.
Shelimpedintoher room and shut the door behind her with a heavy exhale. She had to quit imagining ghosts that weren’t there. But even as she sat down at her dressing table andkicked off her slippers andbegan removing the pins from her hair, she couldn’t shake the strange sensation that something was about to happen.
Perhaps it was the glow of the setting sun that disturbed her, the last rays of dusk turning the sky into an eerie reddish-orange.
Isabella clenched her fists and told herself to breathe deeply and remain calm, but when there was a sudden knock at her door, she couldn’t help but jump.
Forcing her heart to calm its sudden, thunderous beating, she walked to the door and pulled it open. Her lungs froze when she saw Ridge standing there.
“What are you—?”
That was all she had time to say before she was in his arms.
