She said it as if it would only make sense if they did.
“No, I can’t say they do, but neither have I ever been attacked by a parasol, so you can see how I might have made such a mistake.” Good Lord, was he grinning at her as foolishly as it felt like he was?
“Well, let’s hope this is the first and last time. As you see, you’ve vanquished your attacker.” She nodded at the water behind him. “I congratulate you.”
He turned, shielding his eyes from the sun, and there was her parasol skimming over the waves, well on its way to France. “What a pity. I’m sorry you lost it.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
But it did matter, because she watched it bobbing away with stark yearning until it was out of sight before turning back to him. “I’m very sorry for your injury, sir. Good day.”
“Wait!” he blurted, taking a step toward her. Good Lord, he sounded as mad as she did, but it had been months since he’d been so entertained by someone. No doubt she’d start to bore him sooner rather than later, but until then he didn’t fancy letting her go.
She turned back to him, one slim auburn eyebrow arched. “Yes?”
“I, ah… You must let me escort you home.”
“No thank you. That’s not necessary. Good day.”
“Wait!” Clearly he’d left his dignity somewhere on the beach along with a substantial chunk of flesh from his temple, but he couldn’t have held the word back if his life had depended on it. “You could be injured.”
“I’m not.”
“You can’t possibly know that yet. Forgive me, madam, but I’m afraid I must insist that you allow me to escort you to your lodgings, just in case you succumb to a swoon from the shock on the way.”
“The shock of stumbling upon a man in a state of…of…” She waved a hand at him, her cheeks coloring. “A state of undress on a public beach? I assure you, sir, I’ve seen far worse, and never succumbed to a swoon.”
“This is the gentleman’s beach, madam. If you don’t wish to be exposed to gentlemen in a state of undress, you’d do well to remain on the lady’s beach.”
She’d begun to walk away, but at that she turned around again, her brow pinched into the most delightful little furrow. “The gentleman’s beach? I don’t understand.”
“Ah, I see the problem. This is your first visit to Brighton, isn’t it?” He might have guessed. He’d have noticed her at once if he’d seen her on the promenade or in the pump room.
“It is, yes, but I don’t see what that has to do with?—”
“The men bathe on the west side of the beach. Being men, and thus rather savage, we tend to do our bathing without the encumbrance of clothing. The ladies bathe on the east side, nearer to the Royal Pavilion stables.”
She regarded him in suspicious silence for a moment, as if she didn’t quite believe him, then, “Do the ladies also bathe without the encumbrance of clothing?”
“God, no. We’d never get the gentlemen away from there if they did. The ladies wear bathing costumes and enter the water from bathing machines to protect their virtue.”
“I see.” She considered it for a moment, then shook her head. “It’s rather unfair to the ladies. Bathing costumes are wretched things. One can’t paddle about with any enthusiasm in a bathing costume. Why should the gentlemen be permitted to bathe without encumbrance, and not the ladies?”
It was the last thing he’d expected her to say, but she did have a point. “I confess I never thought of it that way.”
“No, I daresay you haven’t. Gentlemen rarely do think of things in the proper way. Good day, sir.” She offered him a stiff curtsey, turned on her heel and began marching back in the direction of the Old Steine.
“Wait!” Damnation, but he was one step away from chasing her across the beach. Why did she have him so transfixed? Did he have a weakness for mad redheads who attacked him? “You won’t let me escort you home, even after I’ve told you all of Brighton’s secrets?”
She eyed him. “Why would they be secrets? Surely the illustrious citizens don’t wish for ladies to be stumbling over unclothed gentlemen at every turn?”
“Well, no, but you can’t deny I’ve just saved you from making a rather embarrassing blunder.”
“The next one, perhaps.” She gave him a thin smile. “Alas, I seem to be still in the midst of my first embarrassing blunder.”
She didn’t wait for his reply, but strode off toward town, the sun lighting up the strands of gold in her hair and turning the thick locks into deep red flames.
He gazed after her, a strange humming in his chest. She’d interrupted his morning bathe, seen him without a scrap of clothing on him, all his bits exposed, and come uncomfortably close to concussing him with her parasol.
