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“Easy,” he said. “The cutter moves with the waves. You have to trust it.”

“And if I don’t trust the waves? They can be rather vicious.”

“Then trust yourself,” he said simply. “You got onto the boat, didn’t you? Trust my experience at least.”

That she did. “Speaking of experience, how old are you?” she asked, changing the subject. Such a wise old man in such a handsome young body.

“How old do I look?” he asked, his grin still in place, even though she could just see half of it.

Hmm, she considered that for a moment. He was built like a man, muscular with broad shoulders, veins popping out of his lower arms when he held that mast or whatever it was called.

And yet, there was boyish mischief to his expression that made him seem so much younger than the experience and skill he showed with anything related to boats, water, and—Sera gulped—the open sea.

“Five-and—thirty?” she guessed but instantly knew it was too much.

“What? Really? You think I look eleven years older than I am?”

She laughed, enjoying the stunned look on his face. “So, you are four-and-twenty?”

“Cunning minx.”

Cunning… But then, she was, wasn’t she? Like the tiger she claimed she’d be if she were an animal, ready to carve her own path no matter what the consequences to her family.

If she couldn’t, in the future, she’d be on a larger boat than this.

“That’s me, all nineteen years of age,” she muttered almost bitterly. “Cunning.”

Suddenly, he was there, crouching before her on one knee, the wind tousling his hair. “Why do you look as though I’ve sent you to your doom?”

She hesitated, then shook her head. She couldn’t lay bare her internal struggles to this man—not when he was offering her the gift of a sunrise shared with him. “I’ve never been this far from England. That’s all. It doesn’t feel… safe.”

His brow furrowed, and then he laughed, the sound a warm burst of humor against all the turmoil she fought in her heart.

“Safe? Sera, if you think this is far, I must tell you—I’ve crossed the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and I’ve sailed around the Aegean Seas.

Boston is leagues farther, and believe me, the sea carried me right back again, safe and sound. ”

Because you, Alex, are so very capable.

She tried to laugh, a weak attempt that turned into a grimace as the boat pitched slightly to one side. “Well, I’ve never been farther than Bath, so forgive me if the sea and I aren’t on intimate terms. I’ve never been unchaperoned for this long either.”

There’s so much you don’t know about me.

And yet, somehow, it felt as though he knew everything about her that mattered.

He smiled, steadying himself as the boat rocked. “I’ll make a sailor out of you yet.”

“I should think not,” she countered quickly, her voice breathy as the nausea threatened again.

“The rocking… It doesn’t feel like Earth.

It’s as if we’re floating nowhere at all.

Or about to sink. It doesn’t make any sense now that I say it aloud—it’s just all too… unsteady. Like I don’t belong in it.”

“Then don’t think of the boat or the water beneath us,” he murmured. “Think of the horizon. The wide-open space of it all—not just Cornwall behind us but all the places beyond it. You stand at the edge of something vast, Sera. It’s magnificent.”

She glanced sideways at him, her nausea momentarily eclipsed by how he spoke about the sea, as if he and it shared old stories she couldn’t understand. “Why are your words suddenly so charming?”

He laughed. “Weren’t they always?”

She scoffed, but despite the queasiness in her stomach, her heart filled with a different kind of ache, one born of love and the impending separation she dreaded.

It made her feel even more out of place, as though he belonged to something she could never claim.

Her affection—or was it love? Whatever it was, what she felt for Alex was a deep, swelling tide, and the thought of leaving him felt like a storm brewing inside her.

“And yet,” she said, her voice quiet and laced with emotion, “it only makes me realize I don’t fit in your world. ”

He pinched the bridge of her nose. “The smuggling world? Sailing the seas?”

She slapped at his hand. “Exactly! However, I won’t deny it sounds thoroughly intriguing. I just… Don’t know where I belong.”

His fingers tightened around hers, pulling her focus sharply back to him.

“My world is a bit different than you may imagine. And trust me, you fit,” he said firmly.

“Anywhere you decide to fit. The sea may not be for you, but I—” he hesitated, glancing toward the distant shore, “I’ll be in London soon. Duty calls me there.”

Sera’s lips parted in a small gasp. “London? I—our family will be in London, too. Perhaps not tomorrow, but soon. Within the next week.” The words tumbled out quickly, as though she wanted to catch this lifeline before the rift between them widened any further. What are you even thinking, Sera!

A spark lit in his eyes, and a small smile tilted his lips. “Then, shall we meet there?”

She blinked, caught between surprise and relief. “Perhaps. Where?”

He cocked his head, considering. “I’ve never been, so I wouldn’t know.”

Never. Been. To London.

How smuggler of him!

And yet, how was it possible that Alex was so worldly and yet had never been to London? The man was as mysterious as ever!

“Vauxhall, let’s meet at Vauxhall.”

The nausea threatened again, but it didn’t matter quite as much anymore. For the first time since stepping aboard the vessel, she reached for the horizon and saw possibility instead of dread.

There was hope, right?