“Well, I’m infinitely grateful for your intervention. How did you even know to be here?” Eleanor asked.
Barnaby grinned and slid a bold admiring look at his black-robed companion. “My friend is extremely adept at finding those who’d rather stay hidden.”
When Drishti smiled back at the Scotsman, Aadesh made a rough sound. “We should go.”
“I wish I could stick around for a wee bit, mate, enjoy some of your prized brandy. But it looks like I’ll be taking back to the seas.”
“I can’t convince you to stay just a day or two?” Phin asked.
Barnaby glanced at Drishti. “That’ll be up to the will of the Protectors. I’m committed to righting my error in judgment.” He slid his gaze back to Eleanor. “Though I do hope to be seein’ you again, my lady, in the near future, mayhap.”
Eleanor smiled. “That would be lovely.”
Phin stepped forward then and the two men clasped hands thenembraced with a few heavy claps on the back.
“Another scrape successfully parried, aye?” Barnaby joked as they stepped apart.
“Let’s not have another, shall we?” Phin replied with a wide grin. “At least not for a little while.”
“No promises, mate.”
Phin laughed before his expression shifted to one of quiet earnest. “You had me worried, old friend.”
“Ach, you ken better than to count me out of the game.”
“True, indeed.”
“Now,” Barnaby said with a gesture toward Ackerly. “I reckon we should get this problem cleaned up.”
“Won’t people wonder what happened to him?” Eleanor asked. “His family?”
“No doubt he advised people of his plans to relocate to India for a time,” Phin noted. “The only difference is that instead of a palace he’ll be in prison.”
As he deserved.
Iago hauled Ackerly to his feet as Drishti nodded to both Eleanor and Phin before turning to make her way toward the ship, assumedly to convince the remaining crew to make the prepared journey with a slightly different passenger list. Aadesh took Phin’s hand in a firm grasp and nodded. “Thank you,” he said simply before turning to Eleanor with a bow. “And thank you, Kumari.”
Without another word, he began urging the conscious crew members to their feet, instructing them to gather their mates and make their way back to the ship. Eleanor could hear his baritone voice instructing them that they were under new direction. After transferring Ackerly to Aadesh’s hands, Iago gave a nod to Phin and headed back toward the carriage in which they’d arrived.
Now that it was just the two of them, Eleanor acknowledged the subtle trembling that had persisted beneath the surface of her control.She suddenly felt on the verge of falling apart and the only thing she wanted to do in that moment was step into the circle of Phin’s arms until everything else disappeared. She needed him. But when she tried to meet his gaze, he glanced away.
A heavy weight dropped through her stomach, weighing her feet to the ground. The trembling was choked by a greater sensation of deepening dread.
“Come, my lady,” he said stiffly. “We need to get you safely returned.”
She almost refused, feeling an urge to confront whatever was going on with him that made him suddenly feel so distant. But then she thought of Lydia and Bridget still at the Smithsons’ ball, no doubt worried sick about what had happened to her.
How long had she been gone? Nearly an hour, at least.
Struggling to contain the trepidation seeping into her bloodstream, she lifted her chin and walked past him to the carriage where Iago was waiting in the driver’s seat. Phin followed, but didn’t touch her beyond offering a hand into the vehicle.
Her heart clenched and old fears resurfaced.
Had it all been about the necklace after all? And now that it was done, did he decide he had no further use for her?
She flicked a glanced toward him as he settled in the seat across from her. His gaze focused out the window.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
