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“When I consider,” she added, in a yet more agitated voice, “thatImight have prevented it!I,who knew what he was. Had I but explained some part of it only—some part of what I learnt, to my own family! Had his character been known, this could not have happened. But it is all—all too late now.”

—Pride and Prejudice

THOMAS WAS STANDING at the bottom of the stairs when Lydia walked down in her shabby pelisse that hid her bathing suit. He wasn’t wearing his wig, nor was his mouth smiling, but his countenance seemed happy.

“I thought that you might be too weary after the party.”

Lydia took his arm and grinned. “Parties give me more energy.”

Thomas led her from the house and locked the door behind them.

They walked silently to the beach. Lydia used to be afraid of the quiet, but with Thomas, it felt comfortable.

She didn’t need words to fill up the air or polite conversation.

He led Lydia to her favorite part of the beach, and she set down her towel and began to take off her boots and stockings.

Unbuttoning her pelisse, Lydia couldn’t help but break the silence. “Come with me into the water and wade your feet.”

Thomas tugged at his cravat. “I don’t like getting wet.”

She dropped her pelisse on the rocky beach.

“But I promise you that it will be great fun,” Lydia said and then kissed him hard on the lips. “I promise more enthusiastic embraces if you come into the English Channel with me.”

“If you insist,” Thomas said formally, causing Lydia to gurgle with laughter.

She watched as he took off his coat and his boots and stockings. “Shall we?”

“Yes!” Lydia said, taking his hand and tugging him toward the water at a run. The beach was rocky and pebbled, unlike the glorious white sand of the Caribbean, but she didn’t mind. She didn’t release Thomas’s hand until they were knee-deep in the English Channel. “Isn’t this refreshing?”

His teeth chattered. “If by refreshing, you mean freezing.”

Lydia put her arms around his neck and pressed her full body against his.

She could feel his heart beating against hers, the hardness of his torso and the warmth radiating from him.

She kissed his neck and made a trail of kisses to his lips.

They were cold at first, but they warmed quickly.

His hands made a slow burn from her shoulders to the dip of her waist. Lydia shivered, not from the cold, but out of the sheer pleasure of being in his arms. Thomas’s mouth moved over and over hers.

Lydia met each kiss with all her heart and all her passion.

This was not the infatuation of a girl but the love of a woman. And unlike George Wickham, Thomas Holden was worthy of the highest of devotions.

All too soon they broke apart, but Lydia was loath to leave the strength and circle of his arms. “Now that was refreshing!”

Thomas chuckled, a low sort of rumble from his chest. Lydia laughed, too, and couldn’t help splashing him a little.

She had previously believed Thomas to be proper and decorous at all times, but then he hit both of his fists into the water and soaked her.

All wet, Lydia gave him a playful shove, and he landed on his behind in the water with a splash.

Covering her mouth with her hand, she couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to fall.”

Lydia offered him her hand, and Thomas accepted her assistance to stand up.

He shivered. “Cold and wet.”

Another laugh escaped her lips. Lydia took one of his wet, cold hands into both of hers. “Then, we can sit together on the beach.”

Hand-in-hand they walked out of the water.

Lydia stooped down and took the solitary towel first. She dried her face and hands before giving it to Thomas to do the same.

Then, she took the towel back and spread it on the pebbles of the beach.

Lydia sat down first. She watched Thomas hesitate before sitting down beside her.

Shoulder to shoulder. A cool breeze swept over her, and Lydia couldn’t resist moving Thomas’s arm and putting it around her, snuggling her head against his chest.

“I always look for the North Star first,” Lydia said, easily finding the brightest star in the night sky.

“In my past life, nothing was permanent. We were always moving from lodgings or cities, even countries and continents. But no matter where life took me, I could always find the North Star or the Southern Cross. I even used to wish on them.”

“What did you wish for?”

A family.

You.

She rubbed her face against his hard chest. “A second chance.”