Page 45 of The Lord's Compass
“What do you suggest we do now?” he asked.
“We must solve this clue or find this treasure quickly and depart as soon as possible,” she said. “Otherwise, I fear we could be in danger.”
“I wish you had never come to Spain,” he muttered, causing Faith’s heart to drop, bitterness spreading through her veins like poison. She hated how much she allowed his words to affect her, for it showed just how much she cared.
"I apologize that you have to spend so much time with me," she said tersely. “Here I thought you might enjoy it.”
“Idoenjoy my time with you,” he said, pushing himself back up to a sitting position as his jaw tightened. “If you do not know that by now, then you do not understand me at all. It is more important to me, however, that you are alive and well than having a good time with me.”
“Is that not your main concern? Having a good time?”
He muttered something indiscernible before standing from the bed and walking back toward his room, bumping into furniture as he went. Faith’s breath hitched, and she called his name softly.
“Eric?”
He stopped, though he didn’t turn back around, his broad frame tense beneath the nightshirt that was draped around him.
“I am sorry,” she said, dipping her head. “I should never have said that. I just… I am afraid to let anyone too close, and I do not always consider that there is more behind the words than how they sound. The truth is…”
“The truth is you are scared. Scared that you might be hurt.”
She nodded, wishing she could lift the blanket and scurry beneath it to hide from his stare, but knowing that hiding was what had gotten her to this point.
He sighed as he turned, running a hand through his long, dark hair. “I hate that I am the one who caused you to feel such a way.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I was never a very nice person to start with,” she said with a humorless laugh.
“You have kindness within you,” he said. “You just do not allow many people to see it.”
She didn’t have much of a response to that. All she knew was that she enjoyed his company more than she would ever like to admit, and she didn’t want him to leave – not tonight, not when they returned to England, not forever.
But had she ruined everything?
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“Now, we find the clue and get the hell out of this place.” He winced. “Probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Faith laughed. “I think we are well past the point of tempering our words around one another. Besides, as we have established, I am not exactly a delicate young lady. I am beyond the age that I can be considered a young lady. Old spinster is more like it.”
“If you are an old spinster, what does that make me?” he asked, lifting a brow. “I believe I have a year or two on you.”
“Which is allowed for men,” she said wryly. “It is hardly fair. But, Eric?”
“Yes?”
“When I asked you where we go from here, I was not just referring to our actions regarding the treasure and our travel.”
“I know,” he said, taking a seat on the bed once more, except this time at the foot of it, farther from her. “I suppose we have gone about all of this the wrong way. We have taken twists and turns and done things all out of order.”
“So…”
“So why do we not start at the beginning?” he asked, his signature grin returning. “Pleasure to meet you. I am Lord Ferrington.”
She looked at him dubiously, just able to make out his shape with the moonlight through the window. “You do know we are still sitting in my bedchamber.”
“You are no young lady, however, so does it matter?” he asked with an expression that she knew was meant to challenge her. “So, tell me, who might you be?”
She decided it was best to play along.
