stronger men than he would have flinched. “I imagine you do,” he said, walking into the grass, still holding on to Jacmel’s reins.
“Be careful, you’ll trample everything and we’ll never find the dratted thing.”
“Don’t concern yourself, Julia. I hereby vow to remain here until the dratted thing is found. Hours, days, weeks. But only if you promise you’ll wear the ring once it is found. Otherwise? It is only a ring. Next time I’ll toss it into the Channel. Goodness, that sounds almost romantic, doesn’t it? The spurned lover and all of that.”
Julia, bent over as she spread the grass and looked down, mumbled something she hoped he wouldn’t hear and kept searching, feeling the damp penetrating her fabric half boots.
“Shame on you, if I heard what I thought I heard. And I really would rather not visit Hades, let alone live there. I, for one, consider this to be a grand adventure of sorts,” Chance said, pushing deeper into the grass, as he had a fairly good idea of how far he’d thrown the ring. As he stepped forward, he thought he saw something glinting in the sunlight.
And he had. He bent down and picked up a brass button much like that worn by Lieutenant Diamond when he’d visited Becket Hall. Now what could he suppose the dragoons were doing there, on Becket land? Court had told him that the beaches there weren’t used by the smugglers he and the crew protected.
Still, the track, as Julia had said, was obviously in use. “Damn it, Court, don’t you know well enough never to soil your own nest,” he muttered angrily.
“What did you say? Did you find it?”
Chance closed his hand around the button. “No, I’m afraid not, Julia. Wouldn’t it be interesting if one of those gulls spied it from the sky, then swooped down and carried it off?”
Julia pulled a face at him and went back to poking through the grasses. Foolishness. That’s what Odette had called it when she’d spoken about Chance’s ridiculous behavior. “I’ll have to tell Odette I was wrong to question her choice of words,” she grumbled, using a thin dead branch she’d found to poke her way.
This was useless, impossible. On a par with finding a needle in a haystack. And the ring was gorgeous. How she’d itched to slip it on, see how it looked on her hand. She’d done the right thing to refuse it, she knew that. But she could at least have tried it on….
“Got it!”
Julia stood up straight, a hand going to the small of her back, as she’d been bending down for longer than she thought, and looked toward Chance, who was holding up the ring so that it glinted in the sun…and looking odiously pleased with himself. “And I presume you’re now feeling quite proud of yourself?”
“You know, as a matter of fact, I am. But did you know you’re speaking to me without really opening your clenched teeth? It seems to me that only females can do that.”
Julia did her best not to throw the stick at him, then shot back, “Possibly, just as it’s only males who can make perfect asses of themselves without growing a tail.”
“Touché.” Chance made his way toward her, Jacmel following, then escorted her back onto the path. “Your hem is damp, and I’m fairly certain your feet are wet. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to linger here a little longer.”
“Until I take either a chill or the ring,” Julia said, then sighed. “Oh, very well. As long as we both agree that I’m only taking it to placate your family and that once this is over—whatever is going on here—that I will not hold you to the betrothal and once we leave here, the ring goes back to you. Oh, and that you explain everything to Alice.”
Chance frowned. “Alice? Oh, Christ. My list of sins with that child just grows and grows. Well that settles it. Now we’ll simply have to marry.”
Julia went so far as to give him a push in the chest. “You’re impossible! We’ll…we’ll figure out some hum to tell her once this charade is over. That I must go care for an ailing aunt or something. Once I’m gone and she’s happy here, you can come to visit and tell her we just didn’t suit or something. Tell her…tell her I’ve run off with my aunt’s butcher for all I care. For now just…just give me that dratted ring and let’s be done with this nonsense.”
“The butcher, is it? How lowering for me. Would you consider the local squire? I mean, I do have my reputation to think of here.”
When Julia sort of growled, he hurried on, “Very well, very well. Agreed.” He then handed over the ring, inwardly believing himself to be quite brilliant, for it would appear that he’d truly unsettled Julia. Which only seemed fair, as she certainly unsettled him with that talk about his daughter. “Although you may want to wash the thing before slipping it on your finger. It’s rather sandy at the moment.”
He wasn’t even going to put it on her finger? Julia felt her heart plummet to her feet as she slipped the ring into the pocket of her gown, a reaction she didn’t prefer to study. “And you agree to my terms. Just like that?”
“That is what you want, isn’t it, Julia?”
“Well…yes, but—but what about that nonsense you were spouting about compromising me?”
Chance was enjoying himself again, probably too much. Seeing Miss Julia Carruthers flustered was a sight to remember, hug close to his heart. “Yes, I remember, but you already said you wouldn’t hold me to it. I believe you mentioned love and not wishing to marry without it. Or did I misunderstand you?”
“No,” Julia said quietly. “You didn’t misunderstand me.”
“So it’s settled. Because you see too much, you know too much and have unfortunately said too much and because you couldn’t safely leave here unless you were under my protection and I’m, alas, not going anywhere for a while, we are now betrothed.”
“But you won’t…you won’t come to my bedchamber again, will you?” Had she sounded at all sad about that? She sincerely hoped she hadn’t sounded in the least disappointed. Certainly he hadn’t sounded in the least romantic. Which was what she wanted. Really. Maybe…
“I’m not a monster, Julia. I won’t be invading your bedchamber unless I’m invited.”
“Well…well that’s good, thank you,” Julia said as they began walking once more. “Would you really have thrown the ring into the sea?”
Chance smiled down at her, and she thought she could see the devil peeking out of his eyes. “Only a woman would believe that, my dear. That stone is worth a small fortune. Even so, our agreement stands.”
Julia refused to answer him other than to pull her arm free of his and walk faster.
He caught up easily. “Julia? Our agreement stands?”
“Yes, yes, it stands. And you…you’re the most foolish man I’ve ever met.”
“Foolish, is it?” Behind her, Chance grinned, his mood improving by leaps and bounds as he admired Julia’s straight, slim form as she walked ahead of him. He still wasn’t certain exactly where he wanted to go with Julia Carruthers, but that was no reason not to enjoy the journey. “That can’t be the word you were searching for.”
“Really? Only a man would
