“It is just Daire,” she said into his ear. “He flirts with every pretty girl. It means nothing.”
“Toby is more than just a pretty girl,” Graydon growled.
“I’m sure of it,” Lorcan said and tried not to sound patronizing. Prince Graydon might think of the American as someone unique, but it looked as though she didn’t feel the same about him. Obviously, she went from one man to another easily enough.
Maybe, Lorcan thought, she could get this flirting woman to show her true motives. If that happened, perhaps when Prince Graydon returned home he wouldn’t be so very unhappy.
While Lorcan wasn’t a fan of Lady Danna, she was certainly preferable to this girl, who seemed to like any man who crossed her path.
As for Daire, now with his head so close to the blonde woman’s that they were nearly touching, Lorcan had the idea that his motives might be the same. Perhaps he too wanted to show Prince Graydon what he was risking so much for.
When Toby looked up and saw the beautiful Lorcan with her hands on Graydon’s neck, she realized that Lorcan’s eyes were on Daire. How interesting, Toby thought. She smiled at Graydon and motioned to the chair beside her. “You must be starving. Come and eat.”
When he sat down by her, she could see by his eyes and his silence that he was quite upset. Was he worried about his father? she wondered. Or was his concern about Rory and what he could do to the country with no one there to guide him?
“Try this,” Toby said as she spread a pale yellow cheese on a rye cracker.
“No!” Lorcan said from across the table.
It was the first English word Toby had heard her say. “What’s wrong?”
Lorcan said something in Lanconian.
“She says Prince Graydon does not like that cheese,” Daire said.
“Oh. Sorry.” Toby looked from one face to the other and finally understanding came to her. Daire’s flirting, his questions about bedrooms and his obvious surprise, Lorcan’s sneering, and now Graydon’s silence had nothing to do with Lanconia. All of them had made assumptions about her, and they were showing the conclusions they’d reached. As far as she could tell, the two newcomers thought she was some sort of femme fatale who was trying to lure their beloved prince away from his country and his duties. While Graydon … It was hard to believe, but he looked as though he were jealous! Did he think she was about to run off to bed with the beautiful Daire?!
Toby put the cracker down and pushed her chair back. “You know, I think I’ve had enough to eat. I’ll leave the three of you to discuss business.” She got up and went to the front door.
When she left the house, she didn’t know where she was going. She just knew that she had to get out.
It had started to rain, a nice, quiet summer shower, which meant that no trees were coming down and no roofs were flying off. On Nantucket, “storm” was a relative term.
Toby stood outside the door for a few seconds, but when she heard a sound behind her, she hurried toward the lane. When she reached it, she saw that the door of the big old house across the road, the one Graydon’s relatives had under contract, was wide open. She didn’t think anyone was there, which meant that someone hadn’t closed the door properly. The wind and rain were sure to get inside. Besides, Toby wanted a place to go, somewhere where she could think.
The rain pounded at her as she ran toward the house and inside. The marble floor of the foyer was wet. Grabbing the door, she pushed it closed.
For a moment she leaned against it. Before her were doors to her right and left, with a wide staircase in the middle. She chose to go up.
At the top of the stairs were two open doors. A flash of lightning showed a bedroom to her right, so she went in there. The room was dirty, with cobwebs and thick dust, and in the center was a huge mahogany bed frame. The size of it made her think that to remove it, it would have to be sawn in half. A wide fireplace was on one side of the room, its wooden hearth carved with swags of roses and leaves.
At the end of the room were two doors and Toby instinctively went to the one on the left. She found herself in what looked to have been a library. It was a small room. Cozy.
There was a little fireplace against one wall and it was surrounded by bookshelves. The two flanking walls also had shelves, all of them empty and very dusty. In the fourth wall was a double window and beneath it was an old sofa with a curved back.
With the rain outside, it was dim in the room, but there was something about the place that made Toby feel calm. When she sat down on the old sofa a cloud of dust went up around her, but she didn’t mind.
She put her head back, and as she looked about her, she could almost imagine the room as it had once been. The shelves would be full of leather-bound books, the fireplace would have a cheerful little blaze in it, and she would wear a long dress of white cotton. In spite of the fire, it was cool in the room and she drew her shawl closer to her. She knew it was of red paisley and someone—Captain Caleb?—had brought it back from his last voyage to China. Smiling at the clarity of the image, Toby closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
She dreamed of someone touching her hand, kissing it, and holding it to his whisker-stubbled face. She smiled a bit, for she knew he was someone she loved very much.
“Toby,” said a deep voice.
She opened her eyes to see Graydon bending over her, his face full of concern. For a moment she couldn’t seem to clear her mind. Her dream had been so vivid she was surprised to see that there were no books on the shelves, no fire in the fireplace, and she didn’t have on a white dress with a beautiful red shawl over her shoulders.
She sat upright. “Go away.”
Graydon stepped back and his whole body stiffened. “If that is what you wish,” he said formally and turned toward the door, but he stopped and looked back at her. “Toby, I—”