She Fled Her Wedding — Then Found the Duke Escaping on the Same Train
Chapter 9
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Piers arrived without flowers. She had not expected them until she felt relief at their absence. He came to the hotel sitting room in a light summer suit, carrying his hat as if he did not know where it belonged. The scar beside his eyebrow was more visible in daylight."You look rested," he said."I have been practicing successfully, almost professionally."Rowena gave them both tea and remained for the entire visit. Annora was grateful. The presence of a third person relieved them of the obligation to turn every sentence into an explanation of the past. They discussed the beach, the hotel, and a disagreement Rowena had had with Lucius over the purchase of an entirely unnecessary rug.Piers asked why it was unnecessary."Because we possess floors already," Rowena said."Surely the rug is intended to conceal them."Annora looked at him over her cup. He had made the remark so seriously that her sister had begun to explain the nature of the objection before catching herself."You have hidden a disposition to mischief," Annora said after Rowena went to fetch a letter from upstairs."Not successfully. My sisters used to find it intensely irritating."He had two married sisters, both living some distance away. She knew their names, the ages of their children, and almost nothing about the boy who had grown up with them."What else did you do?""Disappoint my dancing master.""That is not difficult.""And learn a number of tricks with coins."She set down her cup. "I beg your pardon?""My youngest sister was ill one summer. I had exhausted my conversation.""Show me."He looked toward the door."Now, unless you have an engagement to deceive somebody more important."He took a coin from his pocket. His hands were good, she noticed—capable and slightly scarred at the knuckles. He displayed the coin, closed one hand, tapped it with the other, and opened both palms. The coin fell out of his sleeve and struck the tea tray with a sharp little ring.Annora stared at it."I had rather more practice when I was 15," he said.Her laugh arrived before she could consider whether it was kind. Piers looked at her, then down at the coin, and began to laugh himself. When Rowena returned, they were both red-faced and trying to appear composed."What have I missed?""Nothing you would pay to see," Piers said.He stayed in Lynmouth for ten days. His house stood above the west end of the beach, small by the standards of his other properties, with windows that rattled when the wind came in from the sea. He had not visited it for years; now, for once, he had no urgent reason to leave.