His dark eyes narrowed. She wasn’t certain if he was furious with her, or just plain shocked out of his shiny black boots.
The man with the ax swung again and the sound of splitting wood cut through the silence. Madeline kept her eyes on Adam.
“What are we to do, then?” he asked, his tone finally softening a bit.
“I don’t know, Mr. Coates. As you said earlier, this is indeed awkward.”
“Well, I can’t just leave you here.”
Good God, if he thought he was going to make her feel like a helpless orphan who had been flung upon him against his will, he was mistaken. She was a grown woman and she was innocent in all this. She had not asked him to write that letter to her father and she would find her own way out of this. With or without his help.
“Your father trusted me with your safety,” he added, “and I know for a fact that this schooner isn’t returning to England. It’s going to Boston, and God knows when the next ship will arrive.” She heard him whisper, “What a bloody mess.”
Madeline took a deep breath and counted to ten, fighting the urge to poke Adam not just with a knitting needle, but with anything she could get her hands on.
“You needn’t worry about me, Mr. Coates. I’m sure the Ripleys would be pleased to have me stay with them. I’ve been teaching their children to read the past few weeks.”
He considered that a moment. “Do they have land yet?”
“No, but Mr. Ripley plans to purchase something as soon as he finds a—”
“It’ll take the man some time to familiarize himself with the area. A few weeks at least before he finds what he’s looking for.”
A tattered-looking tradesman walked by, the barrel of his musket resting on his shoulder. He tipped his hat and smiled admiringly at Madeline. Adam watched the man’s back as he crossed the courtyard.
“Well, you can’t stay here,” he said flatly, turning to face her again.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re practically a child and you’re alone and it would be unthinkable for me to leave you here.”
“I’m not a child,” she reminded him again.
He sighed and shook his head at her argument, and once more, she felt like a burden. An insolent one, too, this time around. She had thought, when she’d said goodbye to her father, that she was finally escaping those wretched feelings.
“You’ll stay in my home until we decide what to do. You’ll be good company for my daughter-in-law. She’s nearing the end of her confinement.”
All this was happening too fast—the confusion, the humiliation, the collapse of Madeline’s dreams. She wasn’t about to be shuffled off anywhere before she had a chance to think about whatshewanted. “I willnotcome and stay with you, Mr. Coates.”
“Why not?” he asked, as if her refusal were completely inconceivable.
“Because…because I don’t want to.” Oh, why couldn’t she come up with something better than that? She sounded like the child he believed her to be.
“What we want isn’t always what’s best for us,” he told her. “Or what we get.”
Madeline bristled at his paternal tone. He sounded like her father—lecturing her, pointing out her constant rebellion. She hadn’t liked hearing it from her father and she certainly didn’t wish to hear it from the man who had just publicly rejected her.
Then she wondered if there was a double meaning to Adam’s words. Perhaps he was referring to Diana breakinghisheart all those years ago to marry a baronet.
Madeline wet her parched lips. “As I said before, I’ll stay with the Ripleys.”
“You will do no such thing. You’re my responsibility now. You’re Diana’s sister, for pity’s sake, and I will not leave you here.”
Madeline could feel the frustration building up inside of her like a rising tide about to overflow.
All at once, an image of Adam’s first visit to her home in Yorkshire years ago flooded back. She remembered how he had ruffled her hair like a puppy and shown her a magic trick. Good God, what had she been dreaming of? He was four times her age then, and he was twice her age now. She’d been so foolish!
She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling rankled all over again. She didn’t want to spend any more time with Adam Coates. She didn’t want to look at his irritatingly handsome face and relive this embarrassing stupidity over and over in her mind.
