Page 87 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks
Cass bowed. “Lord Eaden.”
“You!” the man bellowed. “Look what you’ve done. This evening was for my daughters.” His fists looked huge, like hammers.
Cass felt no fear of them, though. “Sir, I would like to marry your daughter. The eldest one. Ada. But I’ve been told she’s left for France.”
One of Lord Eaden’s hammers unfurled, and he pushed his too-long hair back and out of his face. “Zeus. She’s on the boat, but it doesn’t leave until tomorrow. Decided she didn’t want to come to the ball this morning. Spent all day preparing for the journey. Not sure she wants to marry you. If she did, she wouldn’t be leaving the country.”
“You may be right. But I think I should ask her first.”
“Logical.”
“Will you deny my suit?”
“Are you asking permission to marry my daughter?”
Cass nodded.
The baron laughed. “I don’t give permission for those girls. They give it for themselves. You’d better run if you don’t want to miss her.”
He turned to find his way to the door but stopped, whirled back around. “The, ah, docks are quite large, if I remember. But the last time I visited them, I was not, ah, at my best, and my memory is a bit foggy. Is there a particular ship I should be looking for?”
The baron laughed, a booming, echoing sound that, drew the attention of every guest. “Why don’t I show you myself?” He popped his head up high, searching. “Sarah!”
“Yes?” a soft, feminine voice called out from… somewhere.
“I’ll return.”
“Be safe!”
The baron turned to Cass. “Follow me.”
Cass did. He might as well, since he meant to follow the man’s daughter across the Channel, around the world, and into the future. If she let him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Adastood on the deck of theDon Johnand peered up at the navy-blue night sky. The stars danced above like candles in a ballroom, but so much more vast, so much more mysterious. She shivered in the cool night air, and it was better than crying. She’d done too much of that last night. The lonely sobs she’d kept to herself so she would not disturb her sister’s slumber might not be her last. She could not imagine exorcising Cass from her soul. She hoped he’d publish that book. She’d carry it about with her, read it when she needed a laugh, when she wanted to imagine him right next to her.
She took a deep breath, inhaling the sharp river air. She coughed and sputtered. “Oh. One imagines the air on a boat to be more bracing and less…”
“Sour?” Jackson supplied.
“Rancid,” Gwendolyn suggested.
“Just so,” Ada said. Nothing ever quite turned out as she expected it to. She could only make do and hope for the best. She turned and leaned her back on the ship railing, offering a large smile to her traveling companions. “This can’t be quite proper. A young unmarried man traveling with two unmarried women.”
Gwendolyn pointed below deck. “The chaperone your father always hires for me is down below. She’s accompanied us on all of our travels so far. Lends something of an air of propriety to the whole thing. Pretends to be my mother. And Jack and I usually pretend to be siblings. And since you are his cousin, everyone will think everything is above board. And why shouldn’t they? Because it is.” She grumbled the last bit. “Not a single nefarious thing will happen. Your father runs a tight ship. It’s all work and no play, and much the better for it.”
“So says you,” said Jackson.
“And just how would we get anything done if we were all scandaling about?”
“Scandaling about?” Jackson granted. “You wish.”
“I don’t wish. That’s precisely the point,” Gwendolyn said, her tone rising.
“Children,” Ada said raising her voice to its lecture tone. “Do you always squabble so?”
“Of course not,” Gwendolyn snapped.
