“Handsome and attractive mean the same thing.”
“Not always. Some of the most handsome men are quite repulsive.”
Harriet smiled. “No, I was thinking that everywhere I’ve gone in my life has been dictated by a man. Allowed or disallowed by him. And any places I may go? They’re all owned by men. The land, the houses, thehorses. I’ve never been this far east in London simplybecause no man has ever taken me here. It’s rather depressing, don’t you think?”
“I think you’re giving East London a bit too much credit.”
“Again, you’re only saying that because you’ve been! And you can go any time! You can go anywhere you want! I can only go if a man approves it!”
Alexander was quiet for a moment, contemplating this.
“All right, you may go anywhere you want.” He waited and then added, “As long as you have a proper chaperone for protection.”
Harriet rolled her eyes. “You’re proving my point, you git! I’m only able to go places if I am allowed so by a man. Even then, you’ll have me take a lady’s maid and an armed footman.”
“Iamrather beastly for not wanting you to be mugged or knifed or attacked.”
“By aman,” Harriet intoned testily.
A slow smile spread across his face, an odd response to her statement. “Of the two of us, I’m the only one who’s been kidnapped, actually. And … you might find this hard to believe … my abductor was a woman.”
Harriet’s face cracked open with laughter again, further easing her nerves. She hadn’t known how it might be with him after last night, and the uncertainty had made her feel like she was wearing a too-small and too-itchy gown. Laughing with him in a carriage felt normal. Odd, that. She’d only known him a couple of weeks.
The carriage slowed and Harriet looked out to see … a fish market.
“You brought me to a fish market?” she asked, trying not to sound too disappointed. “I must warn you, I sadly didn’t discover a latent love of kippers this morning.”
Alexander alighted from the carriage and then held out a hand to her.
“I know,” he said simply. He offered his arm and Harriet took it, trying to ignore the thrill she felt at the small touch. The smell of the river and rotting fish did a good deal to put romantic thoughts out of her head. She had her reservations about this surprise, but she followed him, his large stride proving a bit difficult to keep up with. Harriet glanced around again, waiting to see something … else. A regal ship they were to embark on. A hidden gem of a building. A bridge … to somewhere else. She opened her mouth to ask what they were doing, and without even glancing back, Alexander cut her off.
“Just be patient.”
He was enjoying himself rather a bit too much.
“Is this payback for kidnapping you?” she asked.
“You’ve turned quite prim all of a sudden. Wouldn’t have thought you a snob,” Alexander teased.
Under her breath Harriet mumbled, “I just hate fish.” She thought she heard him let out a snort of laughter, but she couldn’t be sure. He was keeping a quick pace as they cut across the market and toward the river. When they got to the dirty, brown banks of the Thames, he cut to the right and led Harriet onto a swaying, creaky dock toward a small ship. Identical, in Harriet’s eyes, to dozens ofothers.Do men have special eyes that let them differentiate ships and horses better?she wondered.
And then he led her right up to a delicately balanced wooden board, spanning the water between ship and safety. Harriet stopped short, jerking Alexander back.
“Is something wrong?”
“Are we meant to … walk on that?”
Alexander looked perplexed at the question. “You can skip or run if you’d like. Waltz if you prefer.”
Harriet would have rolled her eyes if she wasn’t so suddenly seized with fear. She looked down into the murky water below. A rather perilous drop.
“Is it safe?” she asked, swallowing as if that could make the lump of fear in her throat disappear.
“Not to worry, they have only a few deaths on this plank a year,” he answered, tapping the board with his foot. Harriet wasn’t keen on feeling like even more of a ninny than she already did, so she braced herself for a plunge into the Thames and followed him, teeth clenched in fear.
“I didn’t realize your distaste for kippers went this far,” Alexander joked after they arrived safely on the deck of the boat.
“I can’t swim,” Harriet gritted out. Alexander looked over the side of the boat.
