Amelia’s heart stumbled like a drunk bridesmaid in heels.
For one second, Thomas went very still.
His eyes moved over her face, caught perhaps on her wide eyes, her parted lips, the veil slipping back from her hair, the tablet forgotten in her hand. Something shifted in his expression, a tiny fracture in the sternness. Surprise first. Then warmth. Then a rough, pleased look he smothered so quickly she almost doubted it had been there.
Almost.
Hob saw it too. The man seemed to have been carved out of old oak and gossip.
“Well,” Hob said.
Amelia didn’t look at him. “Don’t.”
“I said naught.”
“You saidwell.”
“A small word.”
“A dangerous one.”
Hob’s grin deepened inside his beard. “Aye.”
Thomas turned away, barked for the next man, and took up his stance as if he had not just been caught being watched and enjoyed it.
But the back of his neck had gone red.
A delighted little spark flared in her chest.
AMELIA
By the time the men paused for water, ale, and snacks, Amelia had been adopted.
There was no formal ceremony. No certificate or welcome packet, no awkward team-building exercise where everyone had to share a fun fact.
It happened in the old way, which meant Hob handed her a cup of small beer, Osbern asked if she wanted to see Hugh get knocked into the dust, and a wiry man named Martin declared that since she had made them all wash like monks, she must learn something useful in return.
“I already know many useful things,” Amelia said.
Martin grinned. He was missing one tooth on the side, and his brown hair stuck out from his head as if a bird had considered nesting in it and then thought better of the neighborhood. “Do you know how to curse a man so his ears curl?”
“I’ve worked corporate events.”
The men stared.
She reconsidered. “Not in words you would understand.”
“Then you need better words,” Osbern said.
Hob leaned against the rail, utterly delighted. “The lady requires instruction.”
“I do not require instruction in profanity.”
“Everyone requires instruction in profanity,” Hob said. “A man who says otherwise has only been poorly taught.”
Alyson clapped her hands. “I know a curse.”
“No,” Wat and Amelia said at the same time.
