“Sir,” Bixby murmured.
“Yes, I know,” Alex said testily. “Don’t be rude to a lady.”
“Actually, sir, I detect no lady other than Miss Pettifer. I was trying to explain that the houses are advancing beyond our view.”
Alex pulled his gun back, releasing the hammer. “I suggest you leave quietly,” he told Miss Plim. “Before I change my mind.”
She threw him a look so vicious it would have scythed through the confidence of most people. Alex just laughed. “You don’t scare me. I was educated by nuns. They would sort out a woman like you in the space of one Hail Mary and half a Paternoster, then have you spend the rest of your days doing laundry. Go. Now. Fast.”
To Charlotte’s utter amazement, Miss Plim actually obeyed. “I’ll see you at home,” she said with a final scathing glance to Charlotte, then turned so briskly on one heel that Charlotte half expected her to spin right around. Shoving her way through the crowd, she vanished.
Charlotte stared after her, stunned. Never before had anyone chastised Miss Plim in such a manner. Certainly never before had anyone defended Charlotte from her haranguing, as if Charlotte might be vulnerable, soft, with a heart that deserved protecting.
Hastily she affected an arch amusement before Alex could realize how touched she felt. “Goodness me, it was worth jumping out of a burning house, getting arrested, and betraying my entire heritage, just to see that moment happen. But may I raise one small question, Captain?”
“No,” he said. And the way he looked at her, so steadily, so deeply, made her realize he saw right through her affectation. She swallowed heavily—and yet, she was not scared of him.
“No?” she echoed, her heart swaying.
“Not until I’m ready to say it again in a proper manner.”
The swaying became a waltz. “Oh, I see. With a ring?”
“And down on one knee. Yes.”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
His solemnity broke into a smile unlike any Charlotte had seen from him before. Its beauty and warm sincerity shone on her heart, which gasped and hugged itself.
“I’m glad you finally agree with me about something,” Alex said, cupping a hand to her face. The dangerously beautiful eyes were gentle as they looked down at her. “Hold on to that answer.”
She tried to huff, but it came out as a dreamy sigh instead. “I will.”
“That one too.”
They gazed at each other, grinning rather foolishly.
“Tsk.”
Turning, they found Bixby shaking his head with exasperation. “I beg your pardon,” he said without the least hint of apology in his voice, “but is this a romance or is it an adventure? For I will remind you, we are missing the ongoing action.”
Charlotte and Alex exchanged a smiling glance. “I think what this is defies definition,” Charlotte said.
“Which is only right,” Alex added. “We, Charlotte, are the makers of manners.”
“Ooh,” she said, her smile brightening, “Shakespeare! I didn’t know you read—”
His eyebrows shot up in amusement.
“—such things,” she added. “I didn’t know you readsuch things.”
He shrugged. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, darling.”
“Good, for I am not too old to learn.”
She took his hand, and they hurried after the crowd toward the shore.
24
