Page 86 of Miss Vincent’s Vow

Jethro secured her arm within his own again as they walked further along the Nothe toward the barracks. “I’m uneasy about this man watching you. When I’m occupied with business, I cannot be there to protect you. I hope you won’t find it too irksome, but I intend to hire a man to keep you safe, and I must insist that he accompanies you about town.”

Her husband’s concern for her welfare touched Cassandra, but she feared that being followed around by a stranger would keep her on edge. She wouldn’t be able to forget the fact that someone was watching her, even when he wasn’t there.

An idea came to her. Perhaps there was a way to satisfy Jethro’s need to protect her in a manner that would not be irksome, and might, indeed, prove beneficial.

“Thank you for your concern. It would make me feel safer, now I know you aren’t employing the spy, but could I persuade you to hire a butler rather than a bodyguard, and assign a footman to go about with me instead?”

“Hmm. Hiring a butler was one of your brother’s ideas, wasn’t it?”

“Xander suggested it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a poor notion, does it? I would prefer to be accompanied by someone familiar, and a butler would add consequence to our household—just as a liveried footman would add consequence to your wife.”

“A liveried footman, Mrs Hunt? Isn’t that rather pretentious?”

Cassandra shot him a nervous smile. “Do you object to the idea so much?”

“Not if that is what you want, though I suspect you of trying to spend all my money—new dresses, new servants, and now livery as well.”

Cassandra could hardly believe her ears—her husband was teasing her. “You forget the redecorations and all the new furniture—”

Jethro laughed, a warm throaty chuckle she had never heard before, that brought a wide smile to her lips. He laid his free hand on her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I will make enquiries about hiring a butler tomorrow. The livery I leave up to you.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Of course. What is my dislike of pretension compared with my wife’s wishes? You may have your liveried footmen, provided all I am required to do is foot the bill.”

Whether it was the sincerity in his voice, or the intimacy of the touch on her arm, a deep sense of wellbeing filled her body.

This was the kindness she’d hoped for in her marriage. She felt cherished—and that was only a short step away from feeling loved.

Chapter 46

Jethro did not want this afternoon to end. He had not felt this close to Cassandra since… Never.

If only they could continue to grow closer, instead of repeatedly pushing away from each other.

His eyes lighted on a small building a short distance from where they stood. The Camera Obscura. A way to view the town beneath them differently. In an enclosed space. In the dark. Just the two of them.

“Would you be interested in visiting the Camera Obscura?” he asked, trying to slow his pulse, which raced at the thought of being alone in the hut with Cassandra.

“I’d like that.”

They entered the small room and stood arm in arm in the gloom.

“It never ceases to amaze me,” said Cassandra, staring at the picture before them. “To see the world outside, moving silently in front of us, seems little short of a miracle.”

Jethro watched the shifting image, but found it hard to concentrate on anything except how close he was standing to Cassandra.

The movement outside was not as great as in the height of the season. Only a few people wandered along the harbourside beneath them as birds flew overhead. A soundless world, they were observing in secret. The experience was strangely intimate.

Two figures caught his eye. Images of the people on the path below. “Look—our very dear friends, Mr and Mrs Frampton.”

Cassandra chortled. “I didn’t know you had a gift for wit.”

“Perhaps there is more to me than you have yet discovered.”

“Perhaps there is,” she said, giving his arm a squeeze, which did nothing to still the tumultuous racing of his pulse.