Page 74 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“No.”
“You are.”
“Perhaps a bit.”
She leaned in toward him. “I can do anything I put my mind to, Matthew. Never forget that.”
His eyes were locked on her as he took a spoonful of the soup, then continued with the rest of his plate.
“I hope you do not miss the meat,” she said as she tentatively tried a bite herself. “Your sisters said you were not eating it anymore.”
“Maybe not.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Because—because I read your pamphlet. And I listened at your meetings. And I discovered that there is much validity in your opinions.”
“Did you, now?”
“Yes,” he mumbled.
They ate the rest of the dinner in silence, although Juliana could see that his mind was working by the expressions that flitted across his face, knew that she had made a dent in his stubborn opinion on the matter of the two of them.
Finally, she brought out the dessert and he began to ask the questions he had been holding in.
“What could have happened to you tonight, alone out there?”
“I defended myself,” she said. “And you know something? I needed to. I needed to know that I was strong enough to be able to stay safe without relying on you. Yes, it was your teaching that helped, but I fought that man off on my own.”
“What if I hadn’t come?”
“I would have found help. I would have kept running until I had found someone – anyone. If that wasn’t an option, I would have fought him. I had my knife.” She paused. “There is something you should know. That man was after me again for the same reason as before — for who I was. But I do not think it was the same man. I didn’t recognize anything about him.
Matthew sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. “Well, one thing is for certain, then. It wasn’t Lewis.”
“No. Of that we can be certain.”
“Good. Well, if that is all, I think it is time for me to go,” she said, her heart breaking within her chest. She hated this polite, let’s-be-friends attitude that Matthew seemed to have adopted. She would have all of him, or none of him at all. “I do nothing halfway, Matthew. You should know that. I’m leaving. Please clean the dishes so your mother doesn’t have to.”
She knew she should stay and help, but she supposed after all she had done and Matthew’s apparent dismissal of it, the least he could do was wash the few remaining dishes. She was halfway out the door when she heard a shout from behind her. She turned to find Matthew hurrying toward her, and she wondered just what else he had to say.
“Juliana, stop,” he called, and she couldn’t help but do so. “Please.”
She turned around, and a bit of hope sprang in her chest.
For if she wasn’t mistaken, there was pleading in his eyes.
CHAPTER27
Matthew’s heart was thudding so hard he wondered if Juliana could hear it.
He was a man who planned. Who gathered all of the information available to him – and that he had to search for – before coming to a decision. But with Juliana, he continued to act on instinct, which more than unsettled him. It terrified him.
But he knew, without a doubt, what he had to do.
