Chapter Three
TADHG LOOKED DOWN at the woman. She wore silk, but it was frayed at the edges. She came to about the bridge of his nose, this plain little merchant in her dark green cape. The hood framed a face that was unremarkable in every way, from its brown hair and clear brown eyes to the faintly freckled nose and a small, anxious furrow between her eyes.
“I thank-you, sir. I do not know why you did it, but I am in your debt.”
He shrugged. “I’ve a soft spot for women telling off port reeves.”
Surprise lifted her eyebrows, then she laughed softly. “Port reeve assistant.”
“They are worse than the other.”
She laughed again. This laugh, it was good. Slow, with a throaty rasp at its base, like the wave that lifts ships. She seemed unaware that her slippers were in a puddle between the widely spaced cobbles. She was motionless but for the green silk of her headdress that danced in little shivers all along its hem. A lock of hair had broken free from its confinement. She reached up absently and pushed it back.
That’s when he noticed her hand was trembling.
It made him want to give her a moment to recover. It was a small enough thing. What harm could come from such a small kindness?
“The man is a fat fool,” he said, to comfort her. Calling people names often had that effect.
“You know Bayard?” She took a breath. “He may be fat and a fool, but he has resources I have not.”
“Well, you certainly threatened him quite convincingly,” he said.
That earned a faint smile. “Oh yes, I am fierce with my words. But I have nothing to back them up. The mayor is as corrupt as he. My threats mean nothing. I have no recourse. There is nothing to be done.” Her words grew softer and softer, until they became almost silvery.
“There is always something to be done,” he said bracingly.
Her eyes touched his. “I have not found that to be so, sir.”
He tipped a tiny bit closer. “Think small, lass, and you’ll find a way.”
She turned her face up, and in the last light of day, he stared down into eyes that were dark and, as it turned out, quite beautiful. “How small, sir? For my hopes are very small indeed, and no course of action has yet opened itself to me.”
“This small,” he said, and held up the little green bundle he’d picked off Bayard the fool while he was backing the man up, hand on his shoulder.
She stared at it swinging from the tips of his fingers.
“You stole that!” Shock filled her words, and accusation, yes, yes, all the expected things. But also the bright, excited note of glee.
He did like gleeful women.
He dropped the pouch into her hand.
She looked at it, then up at him. She had complicated eyes, he realized now, filled with color and deep emotion and, right now, shining at him as if he was some sort of hero. Ergo, eyes to be avoided.
Her mouth, on the other hand…one did not wish to avoid this mouth at all. One wanted to ravish it. The corners of it tilted upward, denting the creamy skin of her rounded cheeks. She was smiling at him, and it was quite a beautiful thing.
How had he ever thought her plain?
“Oh.” Softly, softly, the word came out as an exhale. “Oh.”
He regarded her grimly. Women should not be permitted to go about saying ‘oh’ in such low, breathy ways, not when escaped tendrils of amber-brown hair were being lifted in the breeze and tossed around what turned out to be a heart-shaped face, and certes not when those strands got caught on a lush and full bottom lip. There should be laws against this sort of innocent, powerful allure. One such as she could topple kingdoms of wise men.
Fools, of course, would pass her by
Which meant she was safe enough. Except from him.
Voices broke out from the other end of the quay. They turned. The reeve's assistant was coming back along the quay with an even more officious-looking man in his wake. On their heels stalked several armed men.