Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [66]
“You know that’s what will happen to Dominick if you tell Mayor Kendall about Dominick’s morning excursions. Can you condemn a man to that?”
Raleigh’s silence was answer enough.
“I can’t either, which is why I didn’t make a scene over him kissing me. He was being impudent, is all.”
Raleigh’s jaw hardened. “What if he’s behind these abductions?”
“Then he’ll get caught. And if he’s not, this town may punish him, even find him guilty anyway, simply because he’s English.” Her stomach felt sour. “I myself hold being English against him, but I know men like Wilkins will do something foolish like hang him without a trial. I’m a healer, Raleigh. I can’t be responsible for something like that, whatever my suspicions—not without proof.”
“I don’t think getting proof will be difficult.”
Tabitha hoped not. She wanted things settled, and settled quickly.
“Then you won’t say anything until then?” she pressed.
“All right, just for you.” Raleigh smiled. “If you go to church with me next Sunday and the Midsummer Festival after that.”
“Raleigh, if I go to church with you, everyone will think we’re courting,” Tabitha protested.
“Why aren’t we?” He took a step closer to her. “You can’t know I’ve changed until you spend more time with me.”
“I know. It’s why I went fishing with you today. But not church. Not yet.” She gave him an encouraging smile, though at that moment, his nearness, with the odors of salt spray and perspiration she had once found manly and appealing, made her feel trapped in an airless room. “Please, don’t force me to trust you again. It’s not possible.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He didn’t move back, but his chin lost some of its forward thrust. “I’m just so anxious to be settled here at home.”
“As anxious as you were to leave?” She didn’t like the bitter taste of the words on her tongue. Even less did she like the hurt expression on his face. “Raleigh, I’m—”
“No, don’t apologize.” He bowed his head. “I deserve that. But will you at least come to the festival with me?”
Tabitha fumbled with the latch to the gate. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You offered me marriage after the last one we attended together. I don’t want people to think we’ve renewed our engagement.”
“We could—all right. I’ll leave it alone. But you’ll dance with me there, won’t you?”
“I’ll dance with you there. Now, I really need to go help make supper.”
“Thank you for today.” Raleigh’s face softened as he took her hand and kissed it. “I’ll do whatever I must to persuade you things will be different between us this time. I learned my lesson.”
“Give me time.” She reclaimed her hand. Completely unaffected by the warmth of his lips on her skin, she entered the gate and latched it behind her.
She didn’t need to look back to know he watched her all the way to the house. Instead of the tingle of excitement she’d received when knowing Dominick watched her, the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She felt like a cat petted the wrong way.
Never in the past had Raleigh been so jealous of other men, so possessive of her. She had made it clear since he returned that she would not easily renew her engagement to him. Right now she felt no more for him than the affection she felt for any of her other childhood friends. Affection. Exasperation. And something else that didn’t go along with friendship—apprehension.
Two years at sea had hardened him, not just physically, but in his demeanor. She read it in the pugnacious thrust of his chin, a certain missing warmth in his rich blue eyes. He was quick to judge.
But then, so was she. She’d judged Dominick guilty on nothing more than the grounds of his being a British subject. She could add his nighttime wanderings too, but he hadn’t been in the vicinity of the missing men.
He had, however, been on that sloop. It looked bad for him. As she stepped over the threshold and through the open kitchen doorway, she wondered if maybe Raleigh was right and she should tell Mayor Kendall about the incident. Yet Kendall would not be amused to have his bondsman, his precious butler, shown