Page 15 of The Captain’s Valentine (The “Other” Trents #3)

He was not here for friendship alone, but did he dare speak of what was on his mind? What if someone interrupted them? “Is your sister or Felding at home? Or your aunt and uncle?”

Perdita shrugged. “Everyone is gone and I do not know where they have gone.”

That brought some relief but that did not mean that they might not walk through the door at any moment and what he wanted to discuss with Perdita was private.

Beyond her were glass doors leading to a small terrace and beyond, gardens. Though they were not large, he was certain there was a place where they could be and not be seen but be able to hear if anyone was to return. “Would you care to stroll with me outside?”

“Is something on your mind?”

she asked. “You have grown serious.”

“There is much on my mind, Perdita.”

“Your crossroads?”

she asked as she stood and allowed him to escort her outside.

Harrison couldn’t help but chuckle. If she only knew that she was the very thing that stood in the way of any decision he may make.

“Yes,”

he finally answered then led her to a bench beneath a shade tree where they were not likely to be seen from any of the windows.

“What must you say to me out here that cannot be said inside?”

“I do not want to be interrupted or overheard.”

Perdita bit her bottom lip as her eyebrows drew together in concern. She was worried and that had not been his intention. Therefore, the turned toward her and took her hand in his.

He knew what he wanted to say but could not find the words.

It was not a declaration of love because it was too soon, but he wanted her to be assured that he would be thinking of her on his voyage. “I will miss you, Perdita, when I am gone.”

Her face relaxed as she smiled at him. “I will miss you as well.”

“I have also come to care for you, Perdita, though I am uncertain…”

he shook his head, not certain what to say. He did not want to make promises in this moment because what if he changed his mind? Or, what if she rejected him?

“I care for you as well,”

she returned.

He stared into her blue eyes. “I do not know what is between us, or what will be, or what could grow, or maybe we are simply destined to be friends.”

“I have had the same thoughts,”

she offered, much to his relief.

“If I were to be in London longer, then perhaps we would know, but unfortunately I leave soon and will not be back for months.”

She chuckled. “I am aware.”

“It is just that…I…well…I would like to ask you to wait for me so that I might court you when I return. Except, our emotions could be far different in five months.”

“As all my time will be spent at Westbrook House, it is unlikely I will be courted, fall in love and marry by the time you return.”

She chuckled.

“But you may,” he said.

“I will not.”

“But what if I find...that we decide…”

She lifted her hand and placed a finger to his lips. “You have a journey to take. You are uncertain what you want for your future. What we share is special, but also new,”

she said. “I have not cared for a gentleman before. Not like I care for you, but I am not certain what it all means either.”

He blew out a sigh, thankful that she understood.

“In your time away, you may come to realize that we are destined to be good friends and you wish to sail the world and will visit me every time you return.”

Her blue eyes sparkled as she started to grin. “However, if that is the case, I do insist on a gift from every place you visit.”

Harrison could not help but laugh. “That is a promise that I will keep. However, I may return and give up sailing so that I can court you.”

“It is something neither one of us will know until then, but I am glad that you have told me.”

Her smile faltered but it wasn’t sad. “I am truly glad that we had this conversation because I am certain that my feelings for you were growing beyond friendship as well.”

In that moment, he wanted to tell Patterson that he would be captaining the ship to Barbados so that Harrison could remain in London to court Perdita, but such a decision would be rash and one he might regret. He needed to stay with his original plan and when he returned, he would court Perdita until she was as much in love with him as he was her. Only then would he share the depth of his heart. Assuming he remained in love with her.

“Then there is only one thing left.”

“What would that be?”

Perdita asked with curiosity.

“This.”

Harrison leaned forward and cradled her face in his hands as he brought his lips to hers. It was a chaste, delicate kiss because he feared that if he fully kissed her in the manner that he wished that his passion and desire for Perdita would wrestle control from him.

When he pulled back, she sighed, which was his undoing and Harrison pressed forward again, taking advantage of her parted lips and delved. Perdita tilted her head, automatically allowing him better access, but when she attempted to mimic his kiss, he couldn’t help but groan then lifted her onto his lap, his lips never leaving hers as he devoured her.

By the time he pulled away, he was breathless and achy with need.

That alone should have convinced him of their future, but the one thing Harrison had always been cautious. Now was not the time to rush into any permanent situation, no matter how much he desired Perdita.

However, it was not a kiss he would soon forget and it would likely keep him not only warm but frustrated as he crossed the Atlantic and returned.

Perdita woke the following morning with a smile on her lips. She had gone to bed that way as well.

Goodness! She had no idea that the melding of mouths could be so enjoyable or heat a person’s body to nearly discomfort.

And he intended to court her when he returned!

Except, he would be gone for five months and Perdita cautioned herself not to become too hopeful. She knew well enough that similar promises were made between lovers before men went off to war and too often distance did not make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes it became forgetful. Therefore, she would remind herself that she had only known Harrison for a short time before he departed and that while she looked forward to his return, she would not pine for him.

Of course, such a lecture did not always control a heart but she would do her best to remain pragmatic.

After scurrying from her bed, Perdita quickly dressed for the day, had a quick breakfast then left to make her way to Westbrook House. She always enjoyed her days there but anticipated that this one may drag or move a little slower as Harrison had promised to walk her home at the end of the day and already, she was eager to see him again.

Would they have another opportunity to kiss?

Was it even wise to do so?

Oh, she did not care. They may be the only kisses she ever enjoyed and she was not going to refuse one if it was offered.

It was a glorious day. The sky was blue, the temperature warm. The perfect day for a walk. However, when she turned the corner, Perdita paused when she saw that woman walking toward her. All questions of whether it was a coincidence vanished when the woman looked right at Perdita and glared.

What had she done to make that woman dislike her so? They had never met. Further, what could cause her to follow Perdita and watch her?

As she neared, Perdita hesitated and took a step back when sunlight glinted off the knife in the strange woman’s hand.

Dr. Sinclair had warned her not to go anywhere alone, but Perdita had forgotten, she had also foolishly dismissed his concerns.

Certainly, the woman would not hurt her. But Perdita was also not going to wait and find out. She quickly lifted her skirts so that she could walk quicker then turned away from the woman, looking for a familiar face, or someone who could help her. She was in such a hurry that she wasn’t watching and tripped by a gate but caught herself before she fell to the ground. Unfortunately, her dress snagged and she had to rip it to disengage herself, but by the time she was free, the woman was before her, hate and rage in her brown eyes.

Fear filled Perdita’s being as the woman lifted the knife.

“Ya should not be alive. Yar supposed to die. Ya and dat boy. Evil ya are.”

“Who are you?”

Perdita cried. “Why have you been following me?”

“I needed to know…be certain…but yar her. I know ya are.”

With that, the woman brought the knife higher, hand gripped so tightly that her knuckles were turning white, wrist turned so that she could bring it down and into her body with enough force to likely kill Perdita. “All would be well if ya had died.”

Perdita was stuck between this woman and the fence, unable to escape. Her only option was to fight because standing here would see her dead.

Determination lit in the mad woman’s eyes and Perdita took that opportunity to push back at her, hoping that it was enough force that she could slip by the woman and run. Except, even using all her strength, the woman barely moved, which left Perdita even more vulnerable if the woman decided to stab her now.

Heart racing and panic filling her body, Perdita tried to push her back again. She didn’t care if the woman fell into the busy street, she had to get away.

Instead, the woman used her free hand and pressed it against Perdita with far more strength than Perdita possessed using both of hers.

She was going to die and as her back connected with the fence once again, she looked up at the knife as it began its descent. On instinct, she lifted her arm to protect her face and body and cried out as the sharp blade cut through her arm. That made the woman drew back again, dropping her arm, with every intention of this time stabbing Perdita in the stomach. Once again, she shifted so that her arm would protect her midriff.

She tensed and waited but the sharp pain never came and when she looked out of the corner of her eye, saw that the woman was being lifted away by a man with his arm about her waist.

The relief of being saved was so strong that her knees nearly gave out and she had to grasp the fence for support. Only then did she look up and into the face of her rescuer to find that it was Harrison.

Perdita wanted to ask where he had come from but she did not care. She was just happy that he was there, especially when she had received no help from anyone else.

“Let me go!”

the woman yelled.

“Send for Bow Street,”

he ordered to those who were passing by as he kept one arm around her and used his other hand to force the knife from hers until it clattered to the ground.

Why didn’t any of them try to stop this woman? Were they simply going to mildly observe while she was stabbed?

“Did she harm you?”

Harrison asked.

“No.”

“There is blood on your arm. A lot of it.”

Perdita lifted her forearm and winced. It was a deep gash, which was bleeding rather profusely. “I suppose I was cut.”

Goodness, darkness invaded her vision. This must be what fainting was like, but Perdita was determined to fight it.

“Deep breaths,”

Harrison said. “Focus on me.”

She looked up and into his green eyes.

“Stay with me.”

Somehow Perdita managed to nod, but she did lower herself to the ground, her legs no longer strong enough to hold her.

“Let me go!”

the woman kept screaming and fighting against Harrison but he was too strong for her.

“Ya should be dead. The boy should be dead. Ya should have both died! I should have killed ya before now. I should have never waited.”

What she was saying made no sense. What boy?

“You have mistaken me for someone else,”

Perdita tried to offer with a calm even tone, but it came out more as a whisper. She didn’t have the strength to argue with her.

Why was she so weak? She only cut her arm. It’s not like the woman stabbed her someplace that was fatal.

Nobody had ever tried to kill her before and it was very unsettling.

“Yar the evil one and so is he. Twins ya both are. The second to arrive, always the evil one and should die.”

“Do you know what she is talking about?”

Harrison asked.

“No.”

“Is she the woman that you kept seeing?”

“Yes.”

A carriage pulled up beside them and the door opened. “What has happened?”

Lady Sinclair asked.

“This woman tried to kill Perdita.”

“Why?”

“We do not know. She is talking nonsense,”

Harrison answered.

“She is evil! Second born evil lives.”

the woman yelled again.

“Let me see your arm.”

Perdita blinked to find Dr. Sinclair kneeling beside her.

“That is a nasty gash,”

Dr. Sinclair said as he untied his cravat, removed it from his neck, shook out the folds then wrapped it around her arm, though it did little good. It was stained with fresh blood within moments.

“We will take her back to my offices to treat her wound,”

Dr. Sinclair said.

“Yes,”

Perdita murmured. Orlando would be there. He would take care of her arm. “What about her?”

She couldn’t leave Harrison with a deranged woman. What if she hurt him? “Help Harrison,”

she ordered Dr. Sinclair, though there was no force in her words.

Why was she so weak and tired?

“He does not need my help. You do.”

“Where did you come from?”

Perdita asked Harrison.

“I was passing when I happened to glance out the window of the hackney.”

All she could do was nod. If he hadn’t stopped that woman…

Perdita closed her eyes. She did not want to think about what could have happened.

Why hadn’t anyone else helped her?

Dr. Sinclair wrapped an arm about her waist to help her stand. “Let’s get you back to the office.”

“What is the meaning of this?”

a man demanded as he pushed through a crowd that had gathered. The very crowd that had not existed when she was about to be stabbed.

“Who are you?”

Harrison demanded.

“Matthias Strotham. Bow Street.”

“This woman tried to kill Miss Perdita Valentine.”

Strotham looked over the woman and Harrison.

“She is evil!”

The woman screamed again.

“Where do you want to take her?”

Harrison asked. “Newgate or Bedlam?”

“Bow Street. We investigate before punishment.”

Harrison nodded. “I will assist you.”

“Evil!”

the mad woman yelled at her again. “Second born begins in sin and bringer of ill. Evil she is.”

What could she have possibly done to make this woman think she was such? Evil enough to die?

“Miss, can you tell me what happened?”

Perdita stared at the Bow Street investigator and tried to tell him, but none of the words came to her.

“She is evil. She should have died. Her and the boy,”

the woman screamed again. “All will be destroyed if they are not taken from this earth.”

“That,”

Perdita managed to say. “Then she tried to stab me.”

“Do you know her?”

“No. I…”

“Can you ask her questions later?”

Dr. Sinclair demanded. “She needs medical attention.”

“Only then did Strotham look below her face and must have noted the blood before he nodded. “I will call on you when you are better recovered.”

“Into the carriage Miss Perdita,”

Dr. Sinclair insisted.

She searched for Harrison. He kept a tight hold on the woman, but his green eyes were darker than normal. A chill rushed own her spine. He looked almost…deadly.