“A towel, please,” Graham said from somewhere behind me, and my nerves seized. A quick glance assured me he’d covered his upper half, thank the heavens.
“Thank you,” he said to his servant. His voice sounded the same, but for some reason, hearing it made me feel different inside. Nervous. Anxious. Like something was both gnawing at my insides and tickling my skin.
Our relentless bickering and underhanded politeness, even his feigned flattery, had never seemed more comfortable nor more welcome than now. Could we just pretend this afternoon hadn’t happened and go back to the way things had been?
I took a sip of lemonade, then set my cup down upon my plate. How early, exactly, could I say I was ready to depart? But even then, if we went home, tohishome, would we sit in the drawing room all afternoon?
I listened to the rustling of his hands and towel, the shifting of rocks beneath his feet, all mingled with the rushing of the sea and the birds overhead and the pounding of my heart in my ears.
“Blanket?” he asked, and I finally looked up. His cheeks were flushed, full lips parted, and his eyes seemed to study every inch of my face. Like I’d changed too. He held a soft, red blanket in his outstretched hand.
I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Thank you.”
Instead of handing it to me, he unfolded it, then laid it over my lap. Tabs whined, and he chuckled, taking another blanket and doing the same for her.
With a queen cake in hand, he laid out his towel beside us and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. We sat in silence for a time, while Tabs, full and lazy, sprawled out on her belly and picked at the rocks in front of her.
“I’d say something about the view, but we both know how well my last attempt was received,” Graham said.
I cast him a sideways glance. He was baiting me. More straightforward than usual, but still, that comfortable bitterness. So I gave it right back to him. “Tabs, darling, your brother is annoying me. What can I do to silence him?”
Graham grinned down at his cake, sending a prickling sensation all through me.
Tabs rolled to her back, stretched out, and rested her head on my leg. I startled at first, unsure what to do. Should I rest my hands at my sides, or place them on her back? Thebreeze blew a strand of her curly blonde hair in her face, so I tucked it behind her ear. She smiled, so I smoothed the rest.
I caught Graham’s gaze, which was solemn and serious, just before he looked away.
Tabs yawned. “Tell him you think he’s handsome and you’d like to marry him. That should send him running back to his study.”
I blanched, my breath stopping altogether, and Graham must have swallowed a bite of fruit at that precise moment, for he choked, then coughed in a fit.
At least we both agreed onthatpoint. “There, there, Graham. You’re more likely to win a thousand pounds in speculation than ever hear those words from me.”
“I wasn’t”—he coughed again, voice hoarse—“Tabitha, you cannot say things like that.”
I shrugged. “I did ask for her advice. And judging by your reaction, she’s excellent at giving it.”
Graham looked over at me, cheeks flushed, but eyes all business. “All right, then. Tabs, how can I convince Anna to love Brighton enough to allow her father to invest?”
I shook my head, unsurprised by his persistence, and snatched up my cake for a hearty bite.
Tabs grabbed my free hand and placed it back atop her head in motions that insisted I continue to smooth her hair. “Have you asked her nicely?”
“Yes,” Graham said.
“You have not!” I exclaimed through a mouthful of cake.
Graham handed me a napkin, amused, and turned his voice to honey. “Please, Anna, will you love Brighton and allow your father to invest with me?”
Allow my father to give all his time and attention toGraham when I needed him most? With Mr. Lennox and gossip abounding? As soon as word spread that I’d been duped by a man already engaged, that I’d been second best, I’d never be taken seriously by a worthy suitor ever again. I’d be pitied and gawked at. Allow my father to invest with him? “No.”
He threw his hands up. “Did you not enjoy today? I gave you exactly what you wanted.”
“You threw me in the sea!”
“You practically dared me.”
“And I shall be writing all about it in my notebook.”
