“Here you are,” Morton called, and I dropped my hand, flushing.
Graham stepped away from me, rubbing the back of his neck.
Morton had two large fish wrapped up over one shoulder, and the packaged eel over the other. A young boy trailed beside him, waiting. “You’re both of you welcome on the jolly anytime,” he said.
“For Tabs’s odd fascinations,” Graham said, motioning to the eel. “If you’re agreeable.”
I nodded. Her own dark creature of the sea, defeated. She’d love inspecting that thing even more than the prettiest shell on the coast. As long as I did not have to see it ever again.
Morton gave the fish to the little boy, and Graham told him where to deliver them. Then he and I offered our thanks to Morton.
The sun had dipped low, darkening the earth. Only an orange, golden glow haloed the sky, and it was glorious, but signified the ending of a day. Tourists were gathering to go home; stragglers finding their shoes and collecting their last purchases from the markets.
I wanted that too. I wanted to go home.
I tugged on his arm. “Come, Guardian Graham. Light on your feet. I have a reputation to save before night falls.”
He tugged me back, mischief alight in his eyes. His full attention sent shivers all over my skin. “Let’s tarry a while,” he said in a low, silky voice. “I am suddenly not in a rush.”
His cheeks were pink, chin dipped with the most becoming adoration on his face. So I obliged him. Was it the sunset? Or did he feel as content as I?
He took my hand and secured it in the nook of his arm. Slowly, releasing all our pains and cares to the salty breeze,we walked in silence, admiring the sea, pocketing a shell for Tabs, laughing as a tourist dipped down to clean his hands in the water, then struggled to rise and splashed sideways into the sea. Graham led me up to the Steine as stars began to light the sky and lanterns glowed on every storefront.
He stayed by my side all the way to the carriage, where he handed me up, then sat opposite, humming Morton’s sea tune, and watching out the windows with me.
I wanted to lean in, to feel his hum against my lips, feel the pressure of his hand at the back of my neck, and the warmth of his mouth on mine.
Goodness, Anna. Who have you become?
We only had a day left. Surely, I could control myself. Surely, I could wait to have a reasonable conversation with this man in the morning.
Surely, I could ...
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Graham
Anna climbed the stairs, and I followed behind her. She’d borne enough hardship tonight for ten people, so I tried to be a gentleman and not watch the sway of her hips by candlelight, nor the curve of her neck, but dash it all, I’d have to walk blind. Today had been unlike any other day of my life.
The Pavilion, the promenading, the prawns. Even Morton’s excursion. It had all felt like a dream.
Anna made it so. Her sharp wit and audacity, how she pushed forward despite her heartache and fears, how she’d forgiven me my part with her father so quickly and so fully. And her laugh, that musical sound—it filled me up and shattered me all at once.
I’d made the biggest mistake of my life pretending not to love this woman.
I hadn’t the slightest idea I’d been living a half-life. But now it was like a missing piece had returned and the part of me I’d locked away was now free. Alive.
Her father would come tomorrow. He and I had always kept business and family separate, and the mere thought of crossing that line sparked fear like lightning through me. Butsomething had to be said. I’d stand beside Anna if she needed me to. I’d speak for her if she let me.
The Brighton investment could hang for all I cared. If Anna would take me as I was, we could live like this, by the sea, forever. If only she’d have me. If only she felt as I did.
Was I imagining things, or were her steps slowing the closer she got to the top of the stairs? Her hand glided along the banister, then—
She stopped on the top stair, slowly turning to face me, her silhouette lit by candles hung on either side of the wall. She was mesmerizing.
I froze a step below her; our heights made us nearly even. My heart hammered in my chest. I dared not move as I waited for her words.
She licked her lips, and a moment’s hesitation flashed across her face. The candlelight glowed and crackled all around us.
