“How can I possibly use greater caution, I already stay here as it is—”
“I know, but I have a grinding feeling that somehow something will go wrong and you’ll be caught. Just be careful.”
“Of course,” Thomas said.
“I will continue to check on all of you regularly, as I have been, and help you with what you need. But as the rally draws near you must not—must not—come to town.”
“I won’t.” Thomas answered with a small laugh. “Don’t worry.”
The chairs squeaked again and footsteps moved around the room. “I’ll get on my way,” Nathaniel said. “Since the girls don’t know to whom the praise must honestly be directed, let me thank you, Thomas, for a most satisfying and shall I say, enlightening evening.”
The blood in Eliza’s arms and legs surged faster. This whole celebration had indeed been Thomas’s doing all along?
The door opened and she imagined Nathaniel putting his hat over his head as he walked out the door.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, old friend. And thank you for keeping my secret.” Thomas replied.
“I always keep your secrets, Thomas.”
The door closed and the lock flipped in place.
Eliza looked up to the room she shared with Kitty. The candle still glowed, but she heard no movement. Kitty must already be out of her gown and readying for bed. Eliza’s curiosity and desire to speak with Thomas pooled in her legs and before any sense of reason could stop her, she emerged from her safe spot in the stairway into the dimly lit main room.
“Thomas?”
Thomas straightened from his crouched position by the fire.
“Eliza. I thought you’d retired for the evening?” The shadows from the fire caressed his chiseled face. His enchanting eyes reached out and drew her to him.
“I did, but . . .” She didn’t want to admit to listening in on their conversation but she had to thank him. The words she’d tried to hold back stumbled out of her mouth. “Why didn’t you want us to know this was all your doing?”
Thomas folded his arms around his muscular chest gifting her with a teasing half-smile. “You were eavesdropping.”
Eliza’s face heated. She licked her lips and lowered her gaze to the floor.
“Forgive me,” she said gathering enough courage to
look at him.
Eyes twinkling, Thomas’s lips rose and his shoulders straightened. “I have nothing to say that you cannot hear, Eliza.”
He motioned for her to join him in front of the fireplace. Her heart leapt to her throat and she stopped breathing. If she went anywhere near him, she feared the remaining waters in her reservoir of resistance would run dry.
His hand remained outstretched but she couldn’t move. “I’ll explain to you, if you come stand by the fire. It’s warmer over here.”
It’s true. It is warmer over there. That was her only reason for failing to listen to the warning that thundered in her ears—wasn’t it?
Eliza neared and stationed herself by the fire, a safe distance from him. Thomas placed one hand on the mantel, and the other behind his back as he stared into the flames.
“I’ve put you and your sister through so much, Eliza. I wanted to do something for you—something as a way to thank you for your temperance, but I didn’t want you to think you must repay me for any of it.” He paused and turned to face her. “When it comes time for you to go, I want you to keep these gowns and the others. It’s my penance, I suppose.”
“You bought these gowns as well?” Eliza breathed. “Thomas, they must have cost you a fortune.”
“Not in the least.”
He moved forward and Eliza’s stomach flipped upside down. She moved back a step, afraid of what she might do if he stood any closer.
Thomas must have seen the apprehension in her eyes, for his face softened and a tiny smile lifted his lips. “And even if I had spent a fortune, Eliza, I would have considered it an honor to do so.”