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Which was a very unconvincing lie.
Nick already missed her.
They would all miss her.
When he reached the front door, he saw Berthold walking down the pathway from the conservatory.
Bill came running downstairs behind Nick.
“Forgot I was supposed to give you this,” he said, handing an envelope to Nick. “It’s from the captain.”
“Open it,” March urged. “What does it say?”
Berthold joined them on the front steps, and the three men crowded around, closer and closer, waiting for him to open the letter.
Nick lifted the sheet into the sunlight.
Maybe Alice had been right. Maybe he needed spectacles.
Because he thought it said: There’s a special chamber for orchids on my new ship, The Huntress. And the duke’s already in it. If you want him back you’ll have to come and fetch him, you stubborn arse.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Nick asked after he read it out loud to the group. “The duke’s in the conservatory, isn’t he?”
Berthold gave him a guilty look.
“Isn’t he?” Nick repeated.
Lear kidnapped the duke?
March grinned widely. “Bully for the captain!”
Nick couldn’t believe it. “Are you smiling, March?”
“I might be,” March replied sheepishly, the grin never leaving his face.
Then Bill’s lips curved upward slightly.
Now Nick had seen everything.
Berthold joined in the group mania, chuckling loudly.
“You’re all mad,” Nick said.
“That’s right,” March said proudly. “And you’re in love with that daft lady.”
He was in love with her. And he’d let her go. Why had he let her go?
Would she have him? The one thing that he never could have planned for in this convenient arrangement was Alice.
No one could plan for Alice.
She was so completely and utterly her own person, you never knew what she would do or say. And if he laid his heart at her feet, she could tell him that she didn’t want him with her on her voyage.
But he meant to convince her that he had his uses on long sea voyages.
“I have to pack,” Nick said urgently.
Bill indicated a small trunk sitting on the steps. “Here you are, my lord. All packed and ready to go.”
