Page 31 of To Know Miss May

She peered up at him, only then noting how very different he appeared than the night before, not only in his clothes, but in the way he held himself. Gone was his focused gaze and comfortable stance, replaced with flitting eyes and tense shoulders, his gloved hands fidgeting as his fingers tapped against his thighs.

He could merely be chilled due to the rain. But then, something within her told her he was anxious, though she couldn’t begin to understand why. August was never anxious.

“Were ye on your way ’ome?” he asked, his smile tight, as if it felt foreign on his own lips.

She nodded. “And ye?”

“Yes.” He hesitated. “Well, no. I was to meet Nicholas at the Sugar Loaf ’fore dinner.”

His eyes shifted about them. Was he looking for someone? If he was, he would be disappointed, as the pathway was vacant, everyone having taken shelter in their homes and nearby shops.

Or was he ensuring that no one was there to happen upon him speaking with the Hermit of the Mount?

Her heart twisted. No, that couldn’t be true. He’d spoken with her that first time in Marazion and then in his home. Both times, he’d been surrounded by his family and friends. Surely he wouldn’t be embarrassed to speak with her now.

Unless, of course, her words last night had been incriminating after all, pushing August to the edge where he no longer wished to speak with her.

“Would ye like me to see ye ’ome?” August asked next. “Then ye can get out o’ this rain.”

Livvy hesitated. “If ye wish to.”

He nodded, and together, they walked side-by-side. Instead of looking about them any longer, August’s eyes now focused on the ground.

Livvy released a stifled sigh. She couldn’t carry on with this any longer. She despised assuming things about people—especially when others did the very same to her. So she needed to practice what she preached and simply focus on what she did know. August was walking with her. He had asked to walk with her. That meant that he wanted to, so she would take that and run with it.

“’Ave ye started readin’ Don Quixote yet?” she asked, determining to carry on the conversation.

She didn’t really expect him to read the entire book in a week, let alone to ever finish it. It had not been an easy read for her in the slightest, and while she was glad she read it—like any book—she could not say it had made her list of favorites.

She’d just been unable to help herself from challenging August to read it.

To her relief and delight, a shred of the August from the night before appeared, his shoulders lowering a fraction and his eyes focusing on her. “As a matter o’ fact, I ’ave. I managed three whole pages ’fore I fell asleep last night.”

“Excellent. At this rate, ye’ll be finished by next year.”

He chuckled, his laughter rumbling harmoniously with the rain and the sea’s waves. “I’m beginnin’ to think ye set me up for failure, Miss May. I’d have to stay awake ’til well past eleven o’clock to make any progress.”

Livvy clamped her mouth shut. There was no need to tell August that she’d stayed up until two in the morning for the last three days. “Are ye at least enjoyin’ the story?”

He nodded, then paused. “I would be enjoyin’ it far more if I ’ad the slightest idea what I’d read.”

She laughed. She’d forgotten how good it felt to do so aloud.

“I be certain ye’ll understand it soon enough,” she encouraged.

“I do ’ope so.”

He looked down at her with a kind smile, but as their eyes met, that same strange expression crossed over his features. Worry clouded his eyes, his smile disappeared, and his lips tightened. What had she said? What had she done to make him behave so unlike himself?

He peered down at the ground, rain dripping from the tip of his cap. “Terrible weather, ain’t it?”

His words were stinted, as if pulled from his recesses of politeness rather than the natural feeling they’d held yesterday. Was she truly making him that uncomfortable? Or was it something else?

“I suppose,” she replied.

He tipped his head to the side. “Ye suppose it be terrible weather?”

Instead of meeting his gaze, which had seemed to upset him before, she cast her eyes around them. The grey skies and falling rain caused the world around them to deepen with greens in every shade, and without the glare of the bright sun, a calmness settled around the land like a cool blanket.