Page 79 of A Potion for Passion

A tragedy. Not an uncommon one in a nation which subjected itself continually to the will of the sea. Lawrence admired anyone who dared take to the waves. He wasn’t looking forward to the long passage to America.

“I’m so sorry,” he said gently.

“Frank owned the cottage and left it to me in his will. So, even though we never made it to the altar, he left me with a roof over my head. No child resulted from our union, for which I sorrowed, as I would have still had a piece of Frank remaining to me. But I don’t know if I could ever have borne the shame.”

“So, you left your parents and set up home for yourself until your sister came to join you. I presume your parents are no longer with us?”

“They died of dysentery two and a half years ago. Lucinda and I didn’t have a great deal in common. She is much older than I and had left our family home in Portsmouth to marry when I was barely out of the schoolroom.”

“From what you’ve told me, she treated your home as if it were hers,” he said. “I wonder you could put up with it.”

How did one share one’s life with others in such proximity? Yes, the caravan in which he’d been brought up was small, but he only stayed in it when they went on the road. The whole world had been his playground, and he’d never felt confined. But Flora…well, Flora’s roots went deep in this part of the world, and anywhere north of Salisbury would probably seem as foreign to her as America was going to be to him.

Their upbringing, their experiences, were so far apart, there might as well be an endless desert between them. He would have to accept the stolen moments they’d shared for what they were—precious delights, memories to treasure as they both followed their separate paths.

At least he no longer had anything about which to be jealous. You couldn’t envy a dead man.

“I don’t want to talk about Frank, anymore,” said Flora, pressing her cheek against Lawrence’s shoulder.

“You have been very brave, my love. I’m sorry such misfortune overtook you. You don’t deserve it.”

“My heart mended in time. After all, there’s no use in pining over something that’s lost forever. We never even had a body to bury…”

He clasped her close, the heavy thud of his heart beating high in his chest. He wondered if she could hear it, too. Was the pounding from fear that he must now unburden himself of his secrets? Fear of what he might lose when he did?

“So, is that your only secret?” he inquired.

“The only big secret, yes. So, what of yours?”

He grimaced. Where to start? She already knew about the wreckers. She knew he’d saved Wilberforce from them. But she didn’t know about the aborted raid on Oakwood Grange. Would there be any harm in confessing that? She’d never give him up to the authorities.

Would she?

A sudden spurt of birdsong erupted from the copse beside them. She eased away from him and cocked her head to one side to listen. “A nightingale,” she said with a sigh.

He looked at her. And couldn’t tear his eyes away.

“Lawrence?”

“Hmm?”

“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me blush.”

“Sorry,” he said, shaking away the unwelcome onslaught of feeling that embattled his heart. “I was just dreaming.”

“Your secret now,” she said, giving him all her attention.

She looked so young, with her hair falling loosely about her shoulders, and that soft, sated look in her eyes.

“My secret,” he said resignedly, “is that I nearly got Major Wilberforce killed yesterday. I went with one of the wreckers who was bent on capturing and interrogating him.”

Her gasp and her look of horror were not unexpected. She frowned. “But I saw him yesterday. He told me about your family crest. He’s all right, isn’t he? No harm’s come to him?”

“No. I managed to put the wreckers off. But that doesn’t mean they won’t try again.”

“You’ve saved his life twice now, Lawrence! You’re so courageous!”

Courage had nothing to do with it. “Oh, Flora.” He hung his head. How could her sweet words make him feel so damn guilty? He seized her by the shoulders. “No. I only acted out of self-interest. If the wreckers capture and question the major, he’ll reveal the fact that I saved him after the shipwreck. My life will be in danger. Possibly yours, too. I couldn’t let that happen.”