She burst out laughing. “Are you ill?”
“I must be. I just climbed down the face of a cliff and through a pitch-black cave because I thought you might require protecting.” His limbs still shuddered. “As it turns out, I shall require you to carry me back up.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Fortunately for you, there’s a slightly more viscount-friendly route on the other side of the beach. If you are a gentleman, I may show you how to find it.”
“I shall worship at your feet,” he promised fervently.
She gazed back at him with pursed lips. Probably because the last time they’d spoken, he’d finally spoken aloud what they had both always known to be true: they could never be more than friends.
Even that much might be out of their reach.
No matter how much he might wish otherwise, their worlds were too different.Theywere too different. Rebecca would find London a living hell. And he could not be away from his responsibilities for much longer.
Stolen moments could not last forever.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “What are you doing out here?”
“This isn’t just the prettiest beach in Delmouth… it’s the most private. Only I know the path.” She gestured toward a small linen towel left at a safe distance from the lapping waves. “Since I know I won’t be disturbed, I like to come here to swim.”
Daniel clenched his jaw at the irony. Of course. He hadn’t been protecting her after all. He was invading her secluded sanctum.
“My apologies,” he said quietly. “I had no desire to disturb your privacy. If you’ll point me in the direction of the path back to the village, I will leave you to your bath.”
“Path…is putting it rather strongly,” she admitted. “The route is traversable, but unmarked. If I don’t accompany you, you’re just as likely to wander into a smuggler’s den as you are to find the village.”
Marvelous. He wasn’t only interrupting her solitude. He had become a liability. So much for his gallant rescue.
“Well…you’re here,” she said. “Whether you meant to be or not.”
He lifted his palms in apology.
“And I’m here,” she continued. “Desperately in need of a distraction… or at least a bit of exercise.”
Hope fluttered in his belly. Perhaps he hadn’t pushed her further away after all.
With a sigh, she peeled off her pelisse and dropped it onto the sand, revealing a long flannel bathing dress beneath. “Fancy a swim, Daniel?”
He had never removed a greatcoat faster in his life. “Absolutely.”
She raced him to the shore.
The water was bollocks-shrinking cold, but he quickly forgot about the temperature in the joy of splashing around with Rebecca. She was a strong swimmer, even with lead weights for modesty sewn in the seams of her bathing dress, and she led him on a merry chase through the turquoise-blue sea before they finally swam back to the shore in exhaustion.
To say that the sight of her bathing dress clinging to every curve of her body managed to obliterate Daniel’s fatigue would be a gross understatement. But her teeth were chattering in the chill October wind, and as much as Daniel would have liked to personally be the one to heat her in his embrace, the only shelter from the cold were the jagged walls of the narrow cave.
More importantly, Rebecca deserved far more than a thoughtless tup at the base of a cliff. She deserved a future. A husband. Someone who cherished her as deeply as Daniel did.
As he helped ease Rebecca’s trembling arms back into the warmth of her pelisse, he couldn’t help but acknowledge how much Delmouth meant to her. Now, more than ever, he realized her life was here. She wasn’t some missish chit who swooned in ballrooms or spent weeks debating which color of feather would best suit her bonnet.
Rebecca was wide open spaces. Secret paths down soaring cliffs. Jaw-dropping views. Clever labyrinths. Sunrise strolls. The majestic sea.
She was a vivid wildflower amid an ocean of identical roses. Her fearlessness and unpredictable nature were what he appreciated about her the most. He loved her too much to want to change her… or try to tame her.
She smiled up at him through dark lashes as they hiked side-by-side up a winding trail. “I’m glad you were here today,” she admitted softly. “This is my favorite place. After you leave, we’ll still have that memory.”
He stumbled. The last thing he was thinking about was leaving. He’d just realized he was in love with her, damn it. And she was already moving on.
Daniel looked away. She was wise to carry on without him.
