Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [88]
Dominick gave her a flourishing bow. “Though the sun is so bright the shadows are hiding, and the sky so blue it makes the soul ache for heaven, your actions, my lady, have a clandestine appearance. Are you running away?”
“Or toward.” She peeked up at him from beneath the ridiculous hat.
“Hark, is this serious Miss Eckles flirting with me?” He slipped his hand beneath her chin and tilted her head back. “I do believe she is. Behold, the maiden blushes.”
“Dominick.” Her lips smiled, but her eyes were serious. “Patience worries about me spending the day with you. She says you’ll break my heart.”
“And what do you say?” He stroked his thumb along her lower lip.
She dropped her lashes over her eyes. “I say that she’s probably right, but it’s past time I stopped avoiding risk.”
“Oh, my dear.” Dominick feared she would break his heart. He brushed his lips across hers, then took one of the baskets from her. “If there is any way I can find, I will keep your heart safe.”
“But not from you.”
“Most definitely not from me.” He smiled into her eyes. “I want it with me.” He spoke the truth. He simply knew not how he would make desire become reality. “But on to fishing before the tide is wrong. Where are we going?” he asked.
“That jetty.” She gestured down the beach.
“Doesn’t that . . . er . . . belong to the Trowers?”
“Yes. That’s the Marianne moored there. His father must have brought her in last night.”
“We’re not going out on her, are we?”
“For crabs?” Tabitha laughed, warming the chill between them. “No, we’re going to work off the side of the jetty. The land shelves into deep water where the boat is moored. That’s where I find the best crabs.”
“Letty sent along some chicken innards for bait.”
“I wondered what was in that basket. I brought some too, as well as some chicken pieces for us and some bread rolls and water, in the event we don’t catch enough crabs to eat.”
“I have strawberries and lemonade.”
“Oooh.” She licked her lips.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then set out across the sand at an arduous pace.
She caught up with him, and they reached the jetty with little conversation and a bit of panting between them. From over the dune, he caught a glimpse of the Trower house, little more than a chimney puffing pale smoke into the cloudless sky.
“Is he well?” Dominick asked.
“I presume so. None of them have contacted me.” Tabitha walked onto the jetty, her footfalls ringing hollow beats against the wooden planks. She set her covered basket at the far end near the prow of the fishing boat. “Bring yours here too. The shadow of the Marianne will keep the food and bait cool.”
Dominick obeyed, then looked at the other basket with trepidation. “Why do we need bait?”
“To lure the crabs to us. Watch.” She drew a thin rope from her other basket, tied a slimy chicken liver to it, and lowered herself to the jetty so that she lay on her belly, her head and shoulders over the edge of the jetty. “Grab the net and join me.”
Dominick removed his coat first and rolled up his shirtsleeves, then did as she bade. Below them, the water was crystal blue over white sand. Flotsam from the incoming tide lay about—a bottle, pieces of wood, a hunk of glass the color of the sea. Amongst the litter, multiple-legged creatures roamed.
“They’re hunting for food,” Tabitha explained. “We’re going to lure them up to it. When one grabs it, you take the net and scoop it up.”
“That’s all there is to it?” He felt vaguely disappointed that he didn’t need to do something requiring more of a show of skill.
She laughed. “It’s not as easy as it looks. They wriggle to get away, and they have pincers that hurt if they catch a finger. And don’t forget the pilings. The barnacles on them will rip the skin right off you.”
“Charming.” He turned his head to look at her. “This is amusement for you Virginians?”
“It’s a good excuse for lying about in the sun.” She grinned at him, the earlier gravity gone, and his heart melted as though it were beeswax in the sun.
God, is this more punishment for my sins? To love a woman I can’t have?
But