some of the bolder villagers even called out greetings. Predictably-oh, utterly so, she thought, half in exasperation, half in a grudging admiration-Joshua was down off his horse at the first opportunity and tossing the reins to Alleyne before shaking hands and clasping shoulders and even kissing a few withered female cheeks.
His face was alight with merriment and affection.
It was the moment at which Freyja realized fully what grave peril she was in. Every minute was revealing more and more of his humanity to her. This morning at breakfast he had been bold and forthright, a hint of ruthlessness behind his courtesy and his smile. She might have been able to resist that man. Now he was full of warmth and laughter and concern for the friendship of people Freyja did not normally consider worthy of notice-it was a strangely shameful realization. This man was altogether harder to resist. He was so very different from any other man of her class and acquaintance.
Of course, she might have been forewarned and have avoided all this. He had gone rushing to the rescue of a servant girl who had been frightened by a squirrel, had he not?
But he did not neglect the relatives and guests he had brought to the village for an outing. They stabled their horses at the village inn and went inside for tea or ale and muffins. They sat in the public taproom, and he proceeded to point out various details of the view from the window and to describe other attractions they might find of interest. Eve and Aidan did not stay long. They took the children back outside and down onto the beach Joshua had indicated-not as wide as the private beach of Penhallow on the other side of the river, but just as picturesque in its own way with its several jetties and numerous boats bobbing on the sea or stranded on the sand, the water being at half-tide. Chastity took Prue with them. Calvin invited Constance to stroll along the front street with him, and after a while Morgan and Alleyne went to explore the narrow, sloping streets and to look in the few shops the village offered.
Joshua introduced Freyja to Isaac Perrie, the innkeeper-a novel experience for her. He was a bald-headed, gap-toothed, florid-faced giant of a man.
'A fine lady you have found for yourself, lad,' he said, pumping Joshua's hand, which looked lost in his huge paw. 'And right glad we all will be in Lydmere here when you marry her and come home to Penhallow to stay.'
He settled in for a chat, standing wide-legged before them, wiping his hands on his large apron. Freyja could not decide whether to feel amused or outraged but decided upon the former. Life with Joshua was never dull.
'And Hugh Garnett,' Joshua was saying when she brought her attention back to the conversation. 'He is doing well, I hear.'
The innkeeper tutted and tossed his glance ceilingward. 'Aye, well enough,' he said. 'On ill-gotten gains, no doubt. But live and let live is my motto, lad, as you well know.'
'He seems not quite prepared to let me live, though,' Joshua said with a chuckle. 'In fact, he has been to my aunt recently claiming to have seen me kill my cousin five years ago.'
'No!' Mr. Perrie stopped wiping his hands for a moment. 'Is he daft?'
'He is from home,' Joshua said, 'and so I cannot pay him a social call yet. I daresay he has been wise enough to go to round up a few other witnesses. Any wagers on who they will be?'
'I am not daft enough to make any wager,' the man said. 'There would be no one to bet against me. Leave the matter in my hands, lad. You take your lady out to see the sights. An honor and a privilege to make your acquaintance, ma'am.'
The fresh sea breeze caught at Freyja's hat as they stepped out of the inn, and she raised an arm to hold it in place.
'What was that all about?' she asked.
'Hugh Garnett,' he explained, 'attempted to set up a smuggling business here a number of years ago. There was nothing in that to get excited about-smuggling is big business all along the south coast of England. But his underlings were an imported gang of thugs, and they attempted to rule the trade with an iron fist. They were persuaded of their mistake and took themselves off to other parts.'
'I take it,' she said, 'that you were one of the people who did the persuading. And that Isaac Perrie was another?'
He chuckled and took her elbow.
'There is someone I want you to meet,' he said.
He took her to a pretty whitewashed cottage close to the harbor and knocked on the door. It was the home of Richard Allwright, the elderly carpenter who had trained and employed Joshua. He and his wife invited them in and insisted upon their drinking another cup of tea before Mrs. Allwright proudly displayed a small, beautifully carved wooden table that Joshua had made under her husband's tutelage and given her when he finished his apprenticeship.
'It is one of my treasures,' she told Freyja.
'You had real talent, Josh,' Freyja said, running her hand over the smooth surface of the wood and trying to picture him as he must have been in those days.
'Have, ma'am, not had,' Mr. Allwright assured her. 'Carpentry is a talent that does not die even when it is not practiced. And so now, lad, you are going to waste your time being a marquess instead of earning an honest living, are you?' But he laughed heartily and dug Joshua in the ribs with his elbow. 'It is good to see you home. I never could understand why you felt you had to leave. You will like it here, ma'am.'
'I believe I will,' Freyja said, feeling, strangely, that she spoke the truth. Or that it would be the truth if she had any intention of staying. She had not expected to like Cornwall, but there was something about this particular part of it that grabbed at her heart.
'There is someone I want you to meet,' Joshua said after they had left the carpenter's house.
'Again?' Freyja said.
He looked at her and grinned.
'This is not quite your idea of an exciting morning, I suppose,' he said.
He was like a boy, exuberant with happiness. She tipped her head to one side and regarded him through eyes
