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The fire had actually caught, to his surprise, and was giving off enough of a glow they could see each other easily enough. He looked down at himself since she appeared to be having trouble looking at him, wondering what was the matter. His ivory waistcoat and the fine linen of his shirt were soaked through, clinging to his body, but he did not…
Oh.Oh.
As a debutante, Miss Davies had likely rarely, if ever, seen a man without his coat on, certainly not one she did not know. Something he had forgotten. Nathan did not spend time with debutantes outside of the required social gatherings and would not even do that had he been given the option.
“I need to dry my coat,” he said awkwardly by way of explanation.
How did one talk to a debutante? Especially when they were alone? He had never been alone with one. While he still needed to question her, he was thrown by the realization, if she was innocent of treachery, this situation would be extremely scandalous. It would be if she was not innocent as well, but in that scenario, he would not feel obligated to care.
Blast.
With her maidenly demeanor as she avoided looking at him, he could not take off his waistcoat. The wet fabric was clinging to him uncomfortably, though taking off his coat had been an improvement.
“Ah, might I approach the fire?” he asked hesitantly. There were no social norms for a situation such as this for him to draw on. When he was forced to interact with debutantes in the ballrooms, he could rely upon the usual subjects to get him through menial conversation—the weather, their families, any recent gossip. The few times he’d interacted with Miss Davies… well, he had mostly watched as she interacted with her friends and the Camdens. Partly because she was beautiful and partly because he found her suspicious.
“Oh, yes, certainly.”
Interesting. This was the first time he’d seen her flustered. Even right after he’d rescued her, when her captor had run out the door, she had not seemed this disconcerted.
Passing by her, he noted the blush on her cheeks as she ran her gaze over him again before turning her head away. Going to the table, she sat down, angling the chair away from him. Since he was no longer in her view, Nathan decided he might as well take off the waistcoat. He would dry faster.
Draping his coat and waistcoat to dry as best he could, Nathan stood close to the fire, letting the heat soak into his chilled skin and dry his shirt and pants. Those he would keep on. They were uncomfortable, soaked as they were, but much less so than if he took them off while Miss Davies was present.
“What happened to the highwayman?” If her voice was a little higher than before, Nathan had no desire to mention it.
“Scampered, I believe. His horse was gone when I went to check. I have stabled my horse in the shelter he was using. Once the rain clears, we will return to London.”
* * *
Lily
Once the rain cleared. So far, it showed no sign of slowing, though she fervently hoped that would soon change. Her reaction to the coatless captain had been both unexpected and unnerving.
She had seen men without their coats, of course. She spent most of her time in the country, and a good bit of that time had been spent with Evie and Evie’s cousins. However, Lily had never been as distracted by Elijah, Joseph, or Adam as she was by Captain Jones.
Perhaps she had been too young to properly understand the appeal of the male physique when she had seen them. Or perhaps she had always thought of them as brothers more than anything else. Whereas Captain Jones was practically a stranger.
A very attractive stranger.
Donotlook at him again.
Lily did not understand her own fascination. The temptation to take another peek was almost overwhelming, so she distracted herself by asking a question.
“How did you find me?”
It turned out to be a good question, though his answer made it even more difficult to keep her eyes averted from him. She gasped as he ran down the events of the morning from his point of view—the attempted assassination, finding the Marquess of Camden wounded and on the floor of his study. She gripped the edge of the table when he spoke of that, worry for her honorary uncle flooding her. It had not occurred to her that her kidnapping might have been part of a larger plot.
Evie and her cousins must be going out of their minds with worry. If she could have, Lily would have jumped up and demanded they return to London immediately, but the storm was only slowing a little. The rain was still coming down in a hard, steady downpour, though the initial fury had decreased.
When he finally got to the part where he came upon Chastity on the road, she sat up a little straighter—and groaned when he mentioned the Hatchets.
“Please tell me Chastity did not tell them my name.”
Captain Jones hesitated, which made her groan again. London had its share of vicious gossips, so the fact the Hatchets were among the worst of them was truly an accomplishment.
“I do not know. She may have. I cannot remember exactly what she said to me or what she said to them prior to my arrival.”
That kind of succinct but comprehensive summation was typical of Captain Jones, she was beginning to realize. He did not want to impart incomplete information, a fact which she appreciated.
