Who Will Take This Man?

Fifteen

The following morning, Philip left his bedchamber and started down the stairs toward the dining room, intending to eat quickly, then depart for the warehouse. He hoped Andrew would be present to update him on his progress with his investigations. Bakari stood in the foyer, and Philip noted that his face bore subtle signs of a sleepless night.

“Bad night?” he asked, studying Bakari’s face.

Something flashed in Bakari’s obsidian eyes, but vanished so quickly Philip decided he’d imagined it. “Sleep hard to find.”

“Yes, I know exactly what you mean,” Philip murmured. Actually, sleep had been impossible to find. “I want to thank you again for all your hard work in planning and executing last night’s dinner.” He laid his hand on Bakari’s shoulder, a gesture of thanks and friendship, but the smaller man winced.

Philip immediately removed his hand. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Sore from hanging material in study.”

“Oh, well, yes, I imagine you would be, which is why I wanted to again express my appreciation. I meant to say so last night when I returned from escorting Miss Chilton-Grizedale home, but you weren’t about.” He offered Bakari a smile. “Was odd not having you awaiting my return, but with all the extra work you did, I deduced you’d retired due to exhaustion.”

Again, something flashed in Bakari’s eyes. Then he inclined his head. “As you say, extra work exhausting. Did she like?”

“Yes. It was a most enjoyable evening.” Until he’d allowed his passions to overwhelm him and thus scare her like a mouse cornered by a cobra. Until they’d shared a silent, uncomfortable journey back to her home.

Bakari’s sharp gaze studied him. “You marry her?”

“I hope so.”

“What she say when you ask?”

“I didn’t ask her. But I plan to. The next time I see her.”

“Next time might be too late.”

Philip considered asking him to explain his cryptic comment, but he knew from the stubborn set of Bakari’s lips that his friend would say nothing further. Besides, Bakari, in his reticent way, had merely voiced the concern that Philip hadn’t been able to erase from his mind. He’d honored Meredith’s request to postpone asking her to be his wife, but he’d begun to fear that her time spent thinking would be used for coming up with excuses not to marry him, instead of reasons why they were well suited.

He suspected he knew why she’d balked at him asking her. The information he’d inadvertently discovered about her past while questioning one of the tavern keeps about Taggert would certainly give her pause. Perhaps he should have told her that he knew. But he wanted to give her the chance to tell him. To trust him with the truth. He’d tried to draw her out about her past last evening, but she’d sidestepped his efforts. Perhaps now that he’d told her of his own painful past, she’d be more willing to confide in him.

Bakari handed him a note. “This just arrived.”

Philip took the folded vellum, broke the wax seal, then scanned the brief missive. “The Sea Raven has been spotted off the coast. It is expected to dock this evening. Starting tomorrow, the search for the missing piece of the Stone of Tears can be expanded to the artifacts aboard the Sea Raven.” He tucked the vellum into his waistcoat pocket. “Is Andrew about?”

“Dining room.”

Nodding his thanks, Philip proceeded down the corridor. He entered the dining room and halted at the sight of Andrew, whose normally amiable countenance bore a bruised jaw and swollen lip.

“Does that hurt as much as it appears to?” he asked.

Andrew winced. “Makes eating rather unpleasant, but my ribs hurt enough so that I barely notice.”

“Is this a result of your investigations?”

“I’m not certain. I’ll tell you once you’re seated across from me. It requires too much effort to talk across the room.”

Frowning, Philip crossed to the sideboard, where he helped himself to some eggs and thinly sliced ham, then settled himself across from his friend. “I’m listening.”

“First tell me how your evening with Miss Chilton-Grizedale fared.” Andrew made a great show of examining Philip’s face. “Doesn’t look as if she bruised you.”

“Well, she didn’t cosh me.” At least not physically.

“A good sign, that. Is that as good as the news gets?”

“I’m afraid so. After a bit of a bumpy start, things were going along quite well-until she realized I planned to propose. Then she all but panicked. Asked me to please not ask her then, to give her time to think first.”

Andrew raised his brows. “A curious reaction, don’t you think?”

Not anxious to pursue that line of conversation, Philip gave a noncommittal shrug. “She is cautious. And with this bloody curse over my head, not to mention my alleged inability to… perform-which is still being alluded to in The Times-I’m not precisely the most eligible man about. Unlike you.”

An inexorably sad expression passed over Andrew’s features, and guilt tweaked Philip that his attempt at levity had clearly caused his friend distress. “Yet I would gladly relinquish my bachelor status if I could have the woman I love,” Andrew said softly.

Love. It was a topic that, along with many others, had plagued Philip through the long, sleepless night. And Andrew was just the man to help him. “You say you love this woman,” he said. “How do you know?”

Andrew studied him through serious eyes. “You know because your heart pounds at the sight of her, at the sound of her voice. Your thoughts become jumbled when she’s close to you. No matter where you are, what you’re doing, she’s in your mind. Whether you’re together or apart, you’re completely aware of her. You know because you’d do anything to have her. Anything to be with her. And when you contemplate your life without her, the years just stretch before you like a dark, empty void.”

Philip leaned back in his chair, absorbing Andrew’s words with a dawning sense of amazement. By God, he felt all those things, and so many more, for Meredith. This didn’t simply fall into the category of “she appealed to him” or “they were well suited” or “he enjoyed her company.” No, this was-

“Bloody hell. I’m in love. ”

Andrew laughed. “Well, of course you are. Surely that cannot surprise you.”

Philip stared at him. “You knew? Before me?”

“God, yes. Your love for her is so obvious, I don’t know how you can see, for all the little arrow-bearing cupids circling about your head, obscuring your vision. It’s been obvious from the first time I saw you and Miss Chilton- Grizedale together.”

Damn. When had he become so transparent? And when had Andrew become so bloody perceptive? “I see. And Meredith… does she have these little vision-obscuring, arrow-bearing cupids flitting about her head as well?”

Andrew stroked his chin, wincing when he touched his bruised jaw. “Miss Chilton-Grizedale is not an easy woman to read. She is clearly attracted to you, and it is my guess that she cares for you deeply. Whether or not she will allow herself to act upon her feelings is difficult to predict. However, if she is like most people, given the correct enticements, she can be persuaded.” A muscle ticked in Andrew’s jaw. “I envy you, Philip. You’re free to pursue the woman you love.”

“I’m free to pursue her, but to what end? Unless I rid myself of this curse, I am not free to marry her.” His words settled upon him like a dark shroud of gloom. If he didn’t find a way to get rid of the curse, Meredith would be lost to him. Bad enough that he’d break his word to Father-that would cost him his honor and integrity. Now he stood to lose his heart as well.

“Regarding the curse-I’ve some good news about the Sea Raven,” Philip said. Withdrawing the note from his waistcoat pocket, he handed it to Andrew, who scanned the few lines. “I’m planning to go to the docks this evening to supervise the unloading and transporting of the crates. We can start searching through them tomorrow.”

Andrew nodded his agreement, then passed back the note. Tucking the missive away again, Philip said, “Now,