“I haven’t yet. I often bring Amelia outside for walks but this is too far for me to bring her. She’s sleeping now and I needed to get away…”
“How is he?” They couldn’t pretend Arthur didn’t exist.
“He is… different.” Which wasn’t what Luke had been asking but he was inclined to agree.
“Walk with me?” He crossed half the distance between them and offered her his arm. Surely, he could control himself enough to walk a lady through the wilderness?
She only hesitated a moment before stepping forward and sliding her hand into the crook of his elbow.
Even through his shirt and coat, her touch affected him. And her nearness. Her scent hadn’t changed.
“This is my favorite part of the property.” He led her to the Blackheart side of the bridge and when he turned to walk her farther up the hill along the water, he adjusted his gait to match hers.
It reminded him of when he’d met her last spring. When she’d been tentative and innocent. When she’d flirted and neither of them had any other worries beyond the scope of the Season.
He pointed out a few of the flowers that had been his mother’s favorite and in return, she described the garden she’d enjoyed growing up in her parents’ home. His heart beat at a normal pace and for the first time in ages, he felt… whole.
“Do you hear it?” He drew her to a halt. A dull roar could be heard in the distance against the splashing of the brook.
Her brows rose and she grinned. “The infamous waterfall.”
She tugged at him to keep going, and within moments, it came into sight, and with it, the roaring of waves, tumbling from the cliff above and crashing into an otherwise placid pool. Greenery climbed the banks and rays of sunlight caught and revealed mists of spray at the base. It was exhilarating, breathtaking, and… terrifying to imagine a boy of just six and ten rowing a boat—
“It’s no wonder your parents didn’t lock you in your room for life.”
“It doesn’t seem nearly as daunting toward the end of the summer.” He provided her with more details of the harrowing experience he’d entertained her with before but fell silent when they stopped at the edge. The roar of the falls thrummed with life.
Squeezing his arm, she leaned into him. After a moment, she closed her eyes, tipped her head back, and allowed the gentle mist to land on her face.
Luke clenched his jaw to keep himself from kissing her.
He wouldn’t ruin this. He needed this. Just to be with her.
“You are right, you know.” She spoke without opening her eyes.
“I am always right, but to which of those occasions are you referring to?” He bent down so he could hear her over the water.
She slid her gaze in his direction. “The day you brought Arthur back I wanted nothing more than to walk into your arms and never let you go. I didn’t care that his mother or the butler or his brother could interrupt us. I’d feared for your life and needed only to reacquaint myself with your safety.”
“I felt the same.”
“But it is not our time.” She locked her gaze with his and then narrowed her eyes almost ferociously. “Yet. But it will come.”
“It will.” He squeezed her hand in agreement. He’d always considered himself a reasonable person before knowing her. “It damn near killed me not to claim you.” Each day she dwelled in Arthur’s home seemed to move her farther away from him.
“Until then, we can be friends?” She tilted her head.
Being only friends with this woman was almost laughable. But he understood what she was asking. Could they be civil to one another and not cut each other completely in the interim? Would he write to her? Would he continue to be a presence in her life until he could be more than that?”
He would be shipping out soon regardless. He couldn’t deny her this. “Of course.”
He needed her in his life. If Arthur lingered for years and it became too difficult… They would revisit it then.
She raised a hand to her breast. “I need to feed Amelia.” She smiled sheepishly.
These were the moments he wanted with her. The everyday occurrences that made up a life.
He turned them both and led her slowly back down to the bridge. “I didn’t expect to be away from the house for so long,” Naomi admitted ruefully.
Luke absorbed the simple act of walking with her, the feel of her presence, the sound of her voice. Another memory he would draw on while he was away. They took several steps in silence.
“Arthur held her yesterday. It was odd. I wonder if it’s the fever, but he seems like two separate people now. One moment, I see a flash of who he was before and then the next…”
Luke felt her shiver beside him and stopped. “Do you fear him?”
“He’s too weak for me to fear him in a physical sense. But there is something… He is angry with you. He mentioned wanting the two of us to start anew, at Milton Cottage, and when I told him I would never—when I brought up the lesions—he asked if you had been telling me lies? What on earth does he mean by that? Is he delusional?”
Luke exhaled slowly. As of yet, he had no proof. What purpose would it serve for Naomi to know that her daughter’s father had possibly betrayed their country?
Other than that of being honest with one another. He would tell her what he could.
“You know about the ambush.”
“Yes. And that it had been Arthur’s duty to assure the safety of that stretch of road.”
Ah, his sweet, smart girl. Of course, she wouldn’t forget such an important detail of her husband’s reported death.
“The pirates didn’t wait even a few hours before killing off the other five who had been captured. These men were committing acts of treason against England and if anyone lived to identify them, it’s almost a certainty that they would face the gallows. When I returned in December, our sole mission was to recover the munitions that had been stolen. From us and from other divisions. They had one hell of a stockpile…”
Luke met her gaze. “Our unit’s defeat last October wasn’t the first. They’d been occurring for over three years. And none of the prisoners were ever allowed to live. Because if they did, and if they escaped, they could identify their captors.”
They had reached the bridge by now. He didn’t want talk of the ambush to take up their last moments alone together. “I feel guilty for keeping you from Amelia, when she has need of you.” He memorized her profile, so elegant and fragile. “But this time has been a gift.”
She turned in time to catch him studying her. “It has been a gift for me too.”
He swallowed hard. He would wait—he had no choice. “I’ll escort you to the edge of the gardens.”
As they stepped onto the path on Tempest property, she asked the same damn question that had been haunting Luke for weeks now. “Why didn’t they kill Arthur?”
Luke sighed. “I asked him that very thing. I wanted to believe he’d struck a bargain with them in exchange for his life, but rather than give me any sort of explanation, he flew into a rage—as much of a rage as a man in his condition could.”
“Was he imprisoned when you found him?”
“He was in a hut, being… tended to—”