Anna turned back to him. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I have come to know Mrs. Pembroke.” Nathaniel set the cup aside. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For not saying the wrong truth when you were interrogated.”
Anna folded her arms. “You mean for not telling them what you spoke to me.”
His face sobered. “Yes.”
“You’re lucky there was only the one interrogation. Had there been another of late, I should be angry enough to have done it.”
“You’re angry now,” he pointed out.
“Yes,” she said. “I am. You frightened me on the lane.”
His gaze lowered. “I know.”
She let her arms drop. “And… you hurt me.”
That struck him. She saw it before he hid it, and some unhappy part of her was glad. Not because she wanted to wound him, but because she needed to know the words reached him.
He looked at her again. “I am sorry.”
Anna had expected many things. Explanation. Defense. Some calm, useful answer about soldiers in the lane and what had been necessary. She hadn’t expected the apology to come so simply.
Her anger lost a little of its footing. “I trusted you for one foolish moment,” she said.
His face softened a notch. “It wasn’t foolish.”
“It felt foolish when you looked at me as though I was nothing.” The words came out in a rush.
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened. “You were never nothing.”
Anna swallowed. He stepped closer, then stopped, as though even that much nearness had to be considered. “If those soldiers believed you mattered to me, if they thought for one moment that taking you would move me, then you would have been in more danger than the message.”
Anna’s throat ached. “So you made me believe I didn’t matter.”
“Yes.”
She stared at the floor. “That was cruel or you.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his voice softer.
“And effective, I might add.” She gave him a hint of a smile.
He let go a small, humorless laugh. “Unfortunately.”
Anna looked toward the window. Men moved near the stables. Red Coats. Still searching for Bell no doubt. And angry, and certain that order could be restored if they shouted loud enough.
“You helped Bell escape,” she finally said.
He stepped closer. “I helped warn the men who could.”
She could feel the heat coming off his body. “You carried the message.” Heavens, why had her voice become so soft?
“Yes.” He took another small step.
