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He couldn’t take solace in the look of relief on her face, not when she did not yet know the worst, so he just blurted it out. “Lady Alison.”

Emma looked as if he’d just slapped her. “Is here? At Clave?”

He nodded. “And her father too.”

“What are you saying?”

He couldn’t watch her face. Turning, he began to explain. “I didn’t know they were coming. I sent word to delay the wedding. Asked my mother to return to England. But yesterday—”

“How could you not have told me sooner?”

He went to her, eager to explain. The need for Emma compelled him to touch her, taste her. All else fell away. Lady Alison was an attractive young woman, but he’d felt absolutely nothing for her. When the shock of seeing Emma faded, he understood fully. The course he’d set in motion was the right one.

“Nay, do not.” She pushed him away. “You let me . . . you did that . . . with your betrothed just up there?”

“She’s not my betrothed. Not for much longer anyway.”

Her blue eyes turned to ice. “So you’ve told them?”

It was as if she already knew the answer.

“Nay, not yet. I—”

“Garrick? How could you? How could—”

“I need to speak to my mother first and haven’t had the opportunity to—”

“The opportunity? They’ve been here for more than a day. How could you not have had the opportunity?”

“I was as surprised as anyone,” he began. “And I will speak to her at once.”

Emma was far from mollified.

“So what do you plan to do with me?” she said, her words tumbling out. “That’s why we’re here and not in the keep, I take it? I can understand why you’ve said nothing. If Magnus was likely to be angry about the canceled betrothal before, what will he do now that he’s brought his daughter all the way to Clave?”

Garrick couldn’t bear the pain in her eyes. “Emma, I’m going to tell my mother today. I—”

“No.” Her lips pressed into a line so tight they were almost white. “I made the right decision, telling you to do what you felt was right. Coming here—” She shook her head. “This was foolish and wrong.”

“Emma, no—”

“Marry her,” she said. “’Tis the right decision, and obviously you know it to be true. Marry her, and forget about me.”

Before he could stop her, Emma ran from the building.

Nay, he could not let her run away from him again. Garrick went after her and was nearly upon her when a voice stopped him.

“Let her go.”

He stopped and turned. Conrad, of course, his self-appointed guard.

“Think of the consequences, Garrick,” Conrad said. “Especially before you’ve spoken to anyone first. If you have a mind to break the agreement, you must at least do it the right way.”

Garrick spun back and watched as Emma ran into the stables. “Conrad, I can’t let her leave like this.” And then he remembered. “The tide!”

He glanced out, and sure enough, wetness had begun to return to the sand around them.

“I have to get her.”