“Who is Captain Luke Bannock?” asked Dani. She said the name like an ingredient in a recipe that made no sense.
“Captain Luke Bannock is a national hero, of course,” Amelia exclaimed. “He rescued a cousin to the Prince Regent in a naval battle. His ship was sunk and his crew was tortured but he managed to escape and tread water in open seas for three days, keeping himself and the prince’s cousin afloat in the Atlantic Ocean. He fought off sharks and starvation and despair.”
“How does one fight starvation?” Dani asked, but she wasn’t really listening. What care had she for naval battles and sharks? She was engaged. To be married. To an actual man. He became more real with every enthusiastic pronouncement from Amelia’s mouth. Perhaps Miriam and Whittle’s approach had been best; perhaps they should go round and round and understand nothing. If it made no sense, then perhaps it wasn’t happening. But now this person had a name. And the designation of “Captain.” Amelia was practically levitating with excitement.
“But don’t you remember?” pressed her friend. “I read the account to you from the London papers months ago?”
Dani shook her head. No, she did not remember. Amelia was obsessed with London gossip, particularly newspaper accounts of King George’s family and the royal court at St. James’s Palace. Her friend had read aloud every minute detail, but Dani comprehended only a fraction—and she remembered even less. Certainly she’d not remembered Captain Whomever who’d swam for days and rescued a royal cousin.
“But this is remarkable, Dani,” insisted Amelia. “You’re to be married to a national hero!”
Dani stared blankly at her friend. She felt the color leave her face and a prickly tingle in her fingers and toes. She had no air.
Meanwhile, Amelia’s enthusiasm escalated like notes on a scale. Dani may rarely think of marriage, but Amelia thought of getting married second only to thinking about royal gossip.
“The wife of a war hero,” Amelia gushed. “Captain Bannock is one of the most celebrated men in Britain—absolutely, for certain, youwillbe introduced to Queen Charlotte at some point in your life. You will meet the Princess Royal. Oh Dani!” She clamped her hands together beneath her chin. “Can you imagine it?”
“No,” said Dani hopelessly. “I cannot imagine it.” Perhaps the truest statement of the morning.
“But do you remember the portrait of Captain Bannock I showed to you on the front page of theTimes?” Amelia prompted. “Remember how I said he looked ever so dashing?”
Dashing?Dani repeated in her head.What use have I for dashing?
“Do not make this out to be a deficit, Dani,” warned Amelia, “do not. Dashing is better than wretched. Or sickly. Or spotted, or—”
“I understand the universal appeal of dash, Amelia,” Dani said, “but how can we celebrate the nature of the man until we understand who attached him to me—and why? Letters do not simply arrive in the post and bind unsuspecting women to strange men, I don’t care how heroic they’ve been.”
“Remember I can also report from where the manhails,” announced Miriam, straightening. She lifted the letter above the cat and read, “?‘Cornwall.’?” She made a face. Everyone in the room made a face. Miriam lowered the letter. She said, “It’s a misconception, cannot we agree, that the Cornish are all—”
“What does it matter if he’s Cornish?” Dani cut in. “Start at the very beginning, Miriam. Tell me who has made this decision about me and my future. Tell me why. Tell me whyhim. Tell mewhenfor God’s sake.”
The mention of schedules made Dani remember the parish house, her plan to arrive early, the threat posed by Giles Stinchcomb. “Oh no—the committee,” she said, slapping a hand to her forehead. “How has this detonated on today, of all days? I’m due at St. Andrew’s in ten minutes. I’m late already.”
“But you’re always due somewhere aren’t you, Moppet?” asked Whittle gently. “There was never a good time for this. That is why we’ve not yet told you. There was never a good time.” His voice was so very sad.
“No,” said Dani, dropping her hand. “No, I don’t suppose there has been.”
Of course Whittle was right. Since the grant money had come through to refurbish the parish house, Dani had been single-mindedly occupied with seeing it done.
And her surrogate parents were in obvious distress. Their shoulders were slumped and their expressions drawn. They clasped hands or rubbed nervous palms on the arm of the sofa. A second cat leaped into their laps and they ignored her. Miriam and Whittle would not purposefully waylay Dani; nor would they purposefully saddle her with a surprise betrothal unless they’d had no choice.
“But perhaps Amelia Broom should remind us more about the dashing Captain Bannock, if she’s so familiar with the man,” suggested Whittle. “We’ve been told so very little, haven’t we Miri? Perhaps we’ll breathe a bit easier if we learn Dani is to be united with a man of good manners and character. Valiant and honorable. If he swam for days and saved his friend, he must be rather young, mustn’t he be? Amelia Broom?” His gaze was almost desperate, studying Amelia. And now Dani realized that Whittle and Miriam were as terrified as she was.
“Give me the letters,” Dani said, holding out a hand. “All of them. It’s my future, I should be permitted to read them.”
“First allow us to explain how news of the betrothal came to us?” tried Miriam, clutching the parchment.
“Fine,” said Dani, “explain it. I’ve been begging you to—”
She was cut off by the sound of footsteps, muffled male voices, and then a very clear exclamation of,“Oh.”
She twisted in her chair.Now what?
Framed in the sunny square of the open Dutch door stood the figure of a man. He was tall, broad-shouldered, finely dressed. Dark auburn hair curled beneath a black hat. He was flanked by a second man—shorter, rounder, balder—another finely dressed gentleman.
Dani looked from the tall man, to his companion, and back to the first. Their gazes locked. He had pale green eyes and the hungry, assessing expression of a predator.
Expression of a predator?Dani thought. What did she know of predators? She lived in a leafy, swan-dotted village called Ivy Hill. There were no predators. Even so, a cork popped loose inside her chest, revealing an open hole. Through it, she heard the beating of her heart.
