toward him with a glass in each hand. Another sight Graham had seen more times than he cared to admit. William handed him a goblet of port.
“Needed some air.” Graham considered downing the drink, but instead swirled the tawny liquid in his glass and watched it splash against the sides.
“Why are you wet?”
“You would not believe me if I told you. What’s going on in here?”
William leaned back and balanced himself on the arm of the sofa. “Billiards. You play?”
“Of course.”
“Join us.” With a chuckle, he pushed himself off the furniture. “If you think you can beat me, that is.”
Graham slouched to the left and caught a glimpse through the open door of the drawing room where the ladies had gathered. The pale blue silk of Miss Barrett’s skirts swirled past the threshold. He found it difficult to tear his eyes away. Like it or not, he was bound to the woman. Bound by grief. Bound by the love of a child. And now that he knew the full extent of the service she had done his wife, bound by honor. That connection posed no small amount of difficulty, since it was clear to him that Miss Barrett had no business marrying a man like Littleton.
“Graham!” William’s voice carried above the laughter. “Get over here.”
Rising from his chair, Graham headed toward the table to stand next to Littleton, whose height matched his own. He didn’t speak to the man, nor did the man speak to him. Right or wrong, Graham judged character quickly. He had to. One such misjudgment on board his ship could spell disaster.
His instincts screamed for him to watch this one. And watch him he would.
The morning following the engagement dinner dawned overcast. Settled at a small writing desk in the library, Amelia sought distraction. Her fingers traced the printed words in her father’s worn Bible. She tried to concentrate, but the letters swirled on the page.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
If only she found it as easy to believe the words as to read them. As much as she hungered for the truths in them, her fear-laden heart and mind stubbornly refused to give them credence. She leaned her elbows on the desk and stared through the window’s wavy glass at a vista of wide lawns, manicured gardens, and the moors beyond, still tinged with a remnant of fall’s rich color.
The sun peeked golden from behind the waning clouds, bathing the page in sunlight. Whose hope the Lord is. The words called out to her. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to trust them. Not after all the sadness she had known—growing up motherless, losing her father, watching Katherine die, fearing that Lucy might be taken. In truth, Amelia was beginning to believe that those words were for people like Katherine and Jane. Not her.
Amelia sensed Edward’s presence before she saw him. The fine hairs on her arm prickled as his footsteps approached. After their daunting interaction on the terrace the previous evening, she wondered what to expect in his demeanor.
A finger traced the back of her bare neck, the touch shooting shivers through her body. He rested his large hands on her shoulders, and his lips grazed the top of her head. “Good day, my darling.”
Amelia tensed. His voice sounded as it always did: confident and agreeable. She kept her eyes fixed on the Bible’s page. “Good afternoon, Edward. I trust you slept well?”
He swung around to lean against the desk. His leg, dressed in fine gray pantaloons, rested dangerously close to her arm. “I’ll sleep better when I don’t have to sleep alone.”
She winced at his suggestive remark but decided to ignore it. She had other things to worry about.
Edward drew a deep breath and stretched. “What to do today.” He said it more as a statement than a question. His tone of voice suggested that he either did not remember their curt interaction or did not care to discuss it.
So be it. Regardless of how she felt about Edward’s behavior last night, she was plighted to marry this man in just a few weeks. She must make every effort to be civil.
“Care to take the