Page 134 of A Modest Independence

“A friend?” Giles didn’t look convinced.

“A dear friend.”

“At the very least, I trust he’s kept you safe from other nefarious types you might have encountered.”

“He has.”

“And what about from himself?”

“I’ve nothing to fear from Tom Finchley.”

“Tom.”

Indignation rose in her breast. “I don’t know what you think you’re implying.”

“If you were my sister—”

“I’m not your sister, thank heaven. And you have no room to criticize any gentleman when you yourself treated me in the most disrespectful manner when you were last home on leave.”

Giles flushed. “As to that—”

“Judging from your letter of apology, I assume you believed I was pining away of love for you. Either that or waiting for you to come home from the wars and marry me.” She lifted her chin. “For your information, my lord, your kiss was not at all the sort to make a female weak at the knees. If it was an example of your best efforts, your future wife has my profound sympathies.”

Giles gave a sudden laugh. “Good God, did I kiss you that day in the library? I’m amazed I survived the experience.”

“It’s no laughing matter. For a time, I thought that—if you were alive—it might have been that very incident that kept you from coming home.”

His expression sobered. “Were it as simple as that.”

Jenny took his arm as he slowly turned to walk back to the bungalow. Despite her irritation with the man, she still felt a profound sense of relief to have found him.

Now all that was left was to get him home.

“We’ll sort everything out,” she promised. “There’s no problem so complicated it can’t be solved given a bit of feminine ingenuity.”

Time moved slowly on Senchal Ridge. That’s what Giles had told her. And he’d been right. The next three days passed at a glacial pace. Jenny could sense Tom becoming restless. She didn’t wonder. It must take an enormous amount of energy to exhibit the forbearance he’d shown since their arrival. He never rose to Giles’s bait. Never spoke sharply to him or put him in his place, even when he most deserved it.

Jenny knew why. Despite the reputation Tom had cultivated for being in possession of a rather ruthless legal brain, he was, at his heart, a compassionate man. She esteemed him all the more for it.

On their fourth day in residence at the tea estate, she found him alone on the verandah watching the sun rise over the mountains. She came to stand at his side, her shawl wrapped firmly around herself against the morning chill.

They hadn’t breakfasted yet. Giles had yet to emerge from his room and Hossein was in the kitchen with Ahmad and Mira preparing she knew not what. It was the first moment she’d had alone with Tom since their arrival. She didn’t wish to squander it.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” she asked.

He looked at her, smiling slightly. “Good morning. Did you just wake up?”

She touched a self-conscious hand to her hastily pinned tresses. “Do I look as if I did?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you look.” Tom dropped a glance at his own attire. “Would that I could say the same about myself.” He was clad in trousers, a plain waistcoat, and loose-fitting linen shirt. His sleeves were rolled unevenly, exposing leanly muscled forearms. “I thought myself quite alone at this hour, else I would have finished dressing.”

“You’re dressed well enough for my purposes.” She extended her hand to him. “Come, let’s be off. If we leave now, we might avoid the others.”

His hand engulfed hers. “To where?”

“To anywhere, so long as I get you to myself.”

“Ah, well. When you put it that way, how I can I refuse?”