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‘No.’ I shook my head and gave him a demure smile. ‘I think I’ve been lazing about long enough. Time to end the holiday and get back home. I will be leaving on the next ship.’
If he is still here. If he waited for me.
In all probability, he and his ship had left long ago. Knowledge is power is time is money, after all. The marriage sham was over, and he no longer needed to pretend. He wouldn’t waste any time for me.
‘And your grandmother?’
It took me a moment to understand what the captain was talking about. Then, I remembered the little deaf old lady and the web of lies I had come up with.
‘Um… well, she will be coming home with me, of course.’
He frowned. ‘Nobody else?’
‘No.’
His gaze grew more intense, and he took an abrupt step forward. ‘What? The two of you don’t seriously intend to travel all the way back home to London alone, do you?’
No, I was actually thinking of travelling in the company of a ruthless financier and three hundred bought cutthroats.
I raised my chin. ‘Yes, of course we do!’
‘Miss Linton, please! I know your independent views, but I can’t let you do this! Two women travelling alone on a ship, one of them an old lady who can’t hear and is hardly able to stand? You don’t even know whether you can trust the captain, and even if he is an honourable man, anyone else could take advantage of you easily.’
I opened my mouth to protest but, in a totally unexpected gesture, he reached up and cupped my face in his hands. I was so taken aback, my mouth remained open, unprotesting. His hands on my face felt so soft, so strong, and as he looked at me, his warm eyes shone like polished mahogany. ‘No sense in arguing, Miss Linton! You are coming back with me.’
‘With you?’
‘Certainly.’ His grip tightened, tenderly. ‘Since the bandits are dead-’ he sent me a searching gaze, which I chose to completely ignore, ‘my mission here is complete. I’ll be returning to England in any case. There’s a Royal Navy vessel, the HMS Morning Star, anchored at Alexandria, and there is more than enough room on board for you and your grandmother.’
What could I say?
I’m sorry, but I can’t, because that old lady isn’t really my grandmother, and besides, I’m not really here with her but with a man who is pretending to be my husband but really is my lecherous, miserly employer, and he is going to go all frosty on me if I don’t get back to him presto!
Yes, that would probably go over really well.
So I said nothing. Captain Carter dragged me to the hotel where the old lady was staying, and with the authority born of years of military command, simply packed her up and loaded her on his ship. The old girl’s only comment to having her vacation abruptly cut short was ‘What? What did you say, dearie?’ Apparently, her hearing hadn’t improved since we last met.
It was the evening of the same day we had arrived at Alexandria. The HMS Morning Star was preparing to cast off. I had taken a last walk around the harbour, in the hope of seeing a certain familiar ship somewhere, but to no avail. I was just about to step aboard the Royal Navy vessel, when I saw something that froze me in place.
There he was!
His ship was nowhere in sight. But he stood not ten yards away at the edge of the wharf: Mr Rikkard Ambrose, his black tailcoat fluttering around him like torn bat’s wings.
He looked just the same as ever: hard, distant, towering in his cold splendour over all passers-by like the Colossus of Rhodes over ordinary humans. Our eyes met. Neither of us moved, neither of us said a word. We just stood there and stared into each other’s eyes. Could it be that just a short while ago, I went around pretending that this perfect, god-like granite statue was my husband? That I, Lilly Linton, convicted feminist, had actually come dangerously close to showing emotion for one of the most detestably chauvinistic members of the male species?
I suppose there were unlikelier things in the world but, offhand, I couldn’t think of one. Still… for some reason, it had happened. And, for some reason, I couldn’t stop looking now. And neither could he.
Why don’t you go to him, you dolt? Why just stand here like an idiot?
Yes… why not? I could go to him! I could-
‘Miss Linton?’
The voice from beside me made me jump. I hadn’t noticed the sailor’s approach. He saluted, and gestured to HMS Morning Star.
‘We’re ready to set sail, miss. Would you please come aboard?’
‘I… well…’ Licking my lips uncertainly, I glanced again in the direction where I had seen him. But Mr Ambrose was gone - vanished into thin air. Maybe he had never been there at all, and I had simply been dreaming.
