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At the touch of her skin on his, their eyes caught, and a pleasant prickling slid across his hand, just as it had when he’d helped her home from the cliffside.

But such a feeling did not bode well. The woman was going to be living with his family, for heaven’s sake. He would be wise to rid his system of any reaction to the woman’s touch.

Pulling away, he cleared his throat. “Just ’old the reins steady and she’ll remain calm.”

He leaned over the side of the bench, bending over to unhook the satchel that had become stuck beside him. Only a moment later, he pulled up the bag and delivered it to his mother, gingerly taking the reins from Miss Hollow without a touch.

Mother and Poppy’s soft chatter reached Trevik’s ears as he sat beside Miss Hollow in silence. He ought to say something else, but his questions for her had fled from his mind the moment he’d touched her.

He didn’t have to worry for too long, however, when Miss Hollow spoke instead, her voice soft. “I be sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused ye, Mr. Honeysett. I’ll not stay with your family for long, as I don’t wish to be a burden. And I…I know ye must despise me, but…I really do be sorry.”

Shame rose up behind Trevik in a dark shadow. The woman had gone through enough. She shouldn’t be made to feel worse because Trevik’s pride had been wounded by her secrecy. “I don’t despise ye, Miss ’Ollow.”

“Well, ye certainly don’t like me.”

“Do ye like me?”

“I think I’d like ye a lot more if ye’d stop scowlin’.” That playful lilt to her voice had finally made its way back to her tone, and he found his spirits brightening at the knowledge.

“Per’aps I’d stop scowlin’ if ye’d stop criticizin’ me fishin’ ability,” he returned.

She opened her mouth then paused, a smile spreading across her lips. “Very well. Per’aps I will stop, now that ye didn’t leave me in Sennen.”

“I wouldn’t ’ave been able to if I’d tried. Mother and Poppy wouldn’t ’ave allowed it.” His lip twitched as he fought his smile.

“Do ye regret bringin’ me back, then?” Her playful tone continued, though he knew the question held a heavy weight.

He straightened, facing forward as he struggled to maintain the balance between them, though his desire to share the truth outweighed everything else. “I did regret it ’fore. But now I can see why ye kept the past to yourself.” He turned to face her. “My family and I really do wish to ’elp ye.”

She didn’t respond for a moment, her brows tipped up. “I don’t deserve your family’s kindness. Ye all be too good to me.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Finally, a genuine smile spread across her lips, lighting her eyes as small lines stretched out to the side of them. “I ne’er thought I’d see the day that we’d agree upon somethin’,” she said. “What next, admittin’ that we might become friends?”

She’d meant her words as a joke, of course. But his smile vanished and the light mood around them departed.

Friends. How could they be friends when he was supposed to have left her in Sennen? He’d given Edern his word that she’d be gone. What would happen now that he had, essentially, broken his trust with the man?

The rest of the journey was met mostly in silence, Miss Hollow watching the sea as Trevik worried over how he’d defend his actions to his crew.

When they reached Tristwick, he helped the women down from the wagon on the cliffside just above their home, dropping them off before climbing back into the wagon himself, intent on taking it back to the Kendrickses without the others.

“Mr. Honeysett?”

He paused, looking down from the wagon. Miss Hollow stood nearby, Poppy and Mother already crossing the cliffside. “Yes?”

“I just…I wanted to thank ye again. For everythin’.”

He dipped his head. “It be no trouble, Miss ’Ollow.”

She made to leave, though she turned back to him with a hesitant expression. “Ye…ye may call me Morvoren, if ye like. We will be livin’ with each other, after all.”

Trevik stared, his throat tightening. He couldn’t call her by her given name. Doing so would only prove to bring the two of them closer together.

Still, her expectant look pulled the next words from his mouth before he had time to stop them. “Trevik to ye, then,” he returned.

A small smile tipped up the corner of her lips, and the sight nearly pushed him to offer his room to her next, or perhaps his place at the dinner table—anything to bring forth another smile.