His gaze held hers steady for more than a few beats of her heart while droplets of water fell from his hair to roll down his face and neck. He then stepped back so she could jump down. He didn’t offer his hand as he had when they had been in town. Not the gentleman then?
“Patrick started a fire for us right down the end of the barn if you’d like to get warm.”
“I’d actually like to change my clothes if you don’t mind.” Her “little scratch” was still on fire just above her hip, and her dress was stiff with the blood that had dried there.
“I still want to check your wound.”
“You really don’t need to and yours looks to be doing much better.” The rain had washed away the blood on his face, leaving only light bruises to show that he had been in a fight at all. His nose wasn’t any more crooked than it had been before and he was using his hand with the scabbed knuckles just fine.
“I’m not asking permission, Daniella.”
She huffed but he was deadly serious. She damned him again. “Very well. Bring me my bag and we’ll get this over with so you can get dry and I can get warm.”
She didn’t wait for arguments or acquiescence, just climbed back into the carriage.
“What are you doing?” Trelissick called after her.
“I’m not going to stand naked out there for the whole world to see.”
“You don’t have to be naked at all.”
She smiled to herself. He actually sounded as if he was going to grow prudish on her. “I am cold and filthy. I wish to change into something that will stop my teeth chattering all night long.”
Harsh mutters reached her ears but she couldn’t make out his words; she wondered if he was cursing her right back. The carriage dipped a little and then sprang upright again and he was back, standing in the doorway, a lantern in one hand, two bags in the other.
She raised her brow at the second bag. He better not be thinking of undressing as well. She gulped.
“This one has the medical supplies,” he said as though reading her mind. Or perhaps just her expression.
As Trelissick climbed back into the carriage and closed the door behind him, the small area seemed to shrink in size, sparking a small flame of hysteria in her chest. “Why don’t you wait outside until I am presentable and then I shall call you back in?”
“Why don’t you take off your things and I will close my eyes?”
“Can I trust you to keep them closed?”
He chuckled. She liked the sound of it.
“I give you my word but if I think you are hiding injuries from me, there will be consequences.”
She straightened up. After all, what could he do to her that hadn’t already been done? He really had no idea what she had been subjected to in her life aboard ship. Not one clue at all. He must think she’d embroidered below decks while the men played pirate. “Am I supposed to be scared?”
“Are you scared of anything?” he asked as he turned away from her and put his head in his hands.
She began to undo the buttons marching down the front of her gown as she considered her answer. “Well, I don’t much care for spiders. And there was this one time we were off the coast near India and… Well, you don’t actually need to hear about that.”
“You’ve seen much of the world, haven’t you, Daniella?”
“I have. Beautiful green coasts and deserted islands and towering cliffs and the bluest waters you couldn’t even dream up on a good day.”
“Is that what you miss the most?”
She wriggled the dress over her knees and then off her feet and sat back down in her underthings. He’d already seen her shift and stays. “I miss my father the most. I would have given it all up had he just kept me by him.”
“Did he not discuss it with you first?”
She laughed long and loud then. “There was no discussion. The captain has the final say aboard The Aurora.”
“If he’s not to be argued with then why are you being so defiant now? Is it for him or the ship? Or is there another reason entirely?”
Daniella pulled on the first dress she found in her bag, discarding the nightgown: it was far too cold for that. She was doing up the buttons when she remembered he was there for a reason other than annoying her. “Both,” she replied, beginning the task of undoing them again. “I do not belong in London. Hell, I am beginning to believe that no one belongs in London. There is no happiness, only order. No freedom, no contentment, no acceptance.”
“Are those the things you wish for then?”
She wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore, and even if she was, wishing wasn’t going to get it for her. If a body wanted something in life, she had to work hard to make it happen. “I tried to fit in when I first arrived. There were so many rules and I couldn’t keep them straight in my head. I had no help other than from Anthony and he was really no help at all. I was doomed from the first wobbly step I took.”
“Doomed in what way?” He was looking at her now. Her gown was undone and while she hadn’t managed to pull it all the way down to her waist, he kept contact with her eyes.
She cocked her head to one side and sighed. “I am undesirable.”
Chapter Thirteen
Trelissick choked and spluttered and at first Daniella thought he was laughing but it became clear from the way his eyes bulged that she had shocked him. “What did I say?” she asked.
“You are not undesirable.”
“I heard the men talking about me and that is exactly what they said.” She remembered that conversation because she had wanted the ground to open
