Page 47 of The Sea Siren of Broadwater Bottom
“And I’m worried I won’t be able to do it,” he said in a rush. “I haven’t opened a lexicon in six years. And even if I had…” He reluctantly met her eyes. “This mystery translator—he’sbrilliant. He captures the spirit of the work in a way I’ve never seen. Even if I were in practice, I don’t know if I—” He broke off, looking down. “My brother came to me. He asked me for my help. And I’m going to let him down. I know I am.”
Elissa wasn’t sure how to respond. Her heart broke for Edward. She was sympathetic to his predicament, to his desire to help his brother. And yet…
Sheneeded to be the one to win this contest. He had his reasons, and they were good ones, but she had her own reasons that were just as good.
No. That wasn’t right.
Her reasons were better. Harrington was a man grown. He didn’thaveto go to India. He could buck his father and strike out on his own. A man could make his own way in the world.
Her mother and sisters, on the other hand, could very well starve if Elissa could not support them. And it could happen sooner than she had supposed.
“I can’t believe I told you all that,” Edward said ruefully. “I didn’t mean to burden you—”
“It’s not a burden,” she hastened to reassure him. “It’s important to have someone in whom you can confide.”
She meant it. She wasn’t sorry Edward had told her about his problems, even if they made the faint hope that they could emerge from the contest with their budding affection unscathed even more untenable.
Beside her, Edward chuckled. “How did I veer so far off course? This is not what I came out here to talk about.”
“What did you want to discuss?”
He lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. “Allow me to rephrase myself. I didn’t come out here with adiscussionin mind.”
He threaded his fingers into the hair at the nape of Elissa’s neck and slowly began tipping his head down to hers. She started to lean in, too, her own head tilting up, but then she froze.
He had just confided in her.
Should she confide in him, too? Thatshewas the mysterious translator?
The very person he was so terrified to compete against?
He was likely to learn the truth at some point, either when she won the contest, or when one of the editors who had ultimately rejected her unveiled her identity.
She had always assumed that Edward learning her secret would be accompanied by his disdain.
But… Edward seemed tolikethe fact that she was clever. When she peppered her conversation with the perfect classical quotation, he would close his eyes, as if he were savoring it. He had extolled every one of her own translations she had shared with him.
He had even called herbrilliant, and here he was, longing to kiss her in the moonlight.
What if she was wrong? What if he wouldn’t despise her?
And yet… she could not help but recall his stilted response when she first told him she would be entering the contest.
You know better, Elissa.No man could abide a girl who was more intelligent than him.
Not even a man as wonderful as Edward.
“Elissa? Is everything all right, darling?”
What did it even matter? Here she was, worried her lie of omission would ruin her future with Edward.
But she had no future with Edward. Nothing she did or did not tell him tonight would change the fact that, although he might want to kiss her in the moonlight, she was not the type of woman he would ever marry.
She should enjoy tonight for what it was, should create a memory she would always treasure, even if she wound up old and gray and alone. There was no point in distressing herself over a future that had always been out of reach.
“Elissa?” His eyes were full of consternation. “You’re distressed. I apologize. I should not have come out here. I would never want to put you in a compromising position.”
“No.” She grabbed his hand before he could rise. “This is what I want. To be here. With you.”
