Page 24 of Give Him a Chance

It was impressive he could speak at all, considering just how heavy his shoulders were. Weighted with the knowledge of his last assignment, burdened by the certainty that Hovell would be looking for him, not completely sure how he could keep up this ‘criminal’ façade with a daughter of an earl…

And speaking of his family to boot. Damn it.

“Do you swim?”

The question should not have gained such a violent response, but Bernard flinched, stepping back from the ocean, though it was several yards away. “No.”

“‘No’?” Lady Lucy, for all her insight, did not appear to have noticed his vehement reaction. “I often find—”

“I don’t swim. I never have and I never will.”Not after…

But Bernard was not going to permit himself to think about it. That was painful. He would not do it.

“You won’t?” She frowned. Why was it that such disappointment seared across her face—why was it that such disappointment mattered to him?

Fear thrummed through Bernard as his focus was pulled inexorably back to the waves. The all-consuming, the hungry waves. “No.”

He expected her to ask for more details. This was a woman who lived on curiosity, it seemed, who could not help but see anything but wish to know about it, to become involved in it. How else had she ended up in that courtroom?

But perhaps there was even more fiery intelligence in Lady Lucy than he had expected, for though Bernard braced himself for further questioning, none came.

No, instead, she stepped toward him, slipped her hand into his unrelenting arm, and said lightly, “Shall we return for breakfast, Dixon?”