‘I may well have done,’ he conceded. ‘But the risk to you in this situation is too great. Bea, you might conceivably have died of the cruel injuries deliberately inflicted upon you the last time you were held prisoner,’ he added gruffly.
And instantly regretted it, as he saw the colour immediately leave her cheeks.
He stepped forward quickly to grasp her shoulders as she would have swayed. ‘I did not mean to upset you by reminding you of such things,’ he bit out. ‘Can you not understand, Bea—’ he attempted to temper his tone ‘—that I am concerned for your safety?’
Tears swam in her eyes. ‘It would indeed be a pity to undo all the good work you have done this past week by tending my cuts and bruises and feeding and clothing me.’
Griffin drew back as if Bea had struck him. Indeed, it felt as if she had just done so. ‘That was an unforgivable thing for you to say, Bea.’
It was, Bea knew that it was. It was just that she’d felt so disconnected from Griffin since Christian Seaton’s and Lord Maystone’s arrival. As if the closeness the two of them had shared this past week had been completely rent asunder by the arrival of his other visitors.
She missed Griffin.
As she missed their previous closeness. Their conversations. Their bantering and occasional laughter. Their lovemaking.
But that was still no reason for her to have been so mean to Griffin just now.
She bowed he
r head in shame. ‘I apologise, Griffin.’ She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision. ‘This is just such an awful situation for everyone, and I cannot bear the thought of that little boy being all alone, and suffering as I did. I want to do something to help him, Griffin.’
Griffin was well aware that she felt as impotent as he did over this situation. But, still, he could not bear the thought of her once again being placed in danger, and this time by a decision consciously made.
He knew he looked defeat in the face because of the depth of her determination. ‘I do not suppose I can stop you if you have made your mind up to help.’
‘Oh, thank you, Griffin!’ She beamed up at him as she reached out to clasp both of his hands in her own. ‘I will feel so much better about doing this if I have your blessing.’
Griffin was not sure she did have his blessing, but he did welcome the breaking of the tension that had existed between the two of them for most of today. As he welcomed her voluntarily touching him again.
He looked down at her gravely as his fingers tightened about hers. ‘You will be careful, Bea? And you will accept Seaton’s instructions in regard to your safety?’ He almost choked over the directive, still far from happy that Christian would be the one to accompany Bea to Latham Manor, but knowing that he now had no choice, in the face of Bea’s stubbornness, but to accept it with good grace.
Most especially so when he now held Bea’s hands in his own and knew himself bathed in the warmth of her smile.
‘I will do as you ask.’ Bea moved instinctively up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the cheek, her own cheeks immediately becoming flushed and warm as she looked up at him shyly. ‘I cannot thank you enough for being so very kind to me this past week, Griffin.’
A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘You are a woman whom it is easy to be kind to.’
The two of them remained looking at each other for several long moments, before Bea broke the connection as she sternly reminded herself of the conversation she had overheard last night between Griffin and his friend. She must not make the mistake again of thinking that his kindness towards her, his concern for her welfare, was anything deeper than that of a man who cared deeply for others—hence his work for the Crown these past years—even if he did not care to show it in the often stern exterior he presented to the world at large.
She released his hands before stepping away. ‘I shall need to go up to my bedchamber and pack what few belongings I now have. I shall have to give the excuse to my aunt and uncle that, having accepted the Duke of Sutherland’s protection for the journey, the rest of my luggage will be arriving later by carriage,’ she added with a frown.
Griffin still believed this whole concept, of Bea going to Latham Manor, was fraught with the possibility of mistakes being made, of someone getting hurt. Possibly Bea herself. Mistakes she, or Griffin, or even Christian, would not have any control over.
Which was not to say Griffin did not intend to find some way in which he might watch over her himself.
* * *
‘Do not scowl so, Griffin!’ Bea advised teasingly the following morning as she sat in the coach opposite Christian Seaton, prior to their departure for Latham Manor. She wore a pretty yellow bonnet over her curls to match her gown, with her hands and arms covered to the elbows by cream lace gloves.
She looked, in fact, to Griffin’s eyes at least, a picture of glowing health and happiness. All of the visible bruising had now faded from her creamy skin, and her eyes shone brightly with the excitement of what she was about to do.
As she stepped willingly—even eagerly—into a possible lion’s den.
Albeit with Christian at her side.
Griffin’s jaw tightened as he looked at his friend, seated across the carriage from Bea. ‘It is understood that at the first sign of danger you are to bring Bea away from there?’
The other man gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘Do not fear, Griffin,’ he drawled as he stretched his legs out across the carriage. ‘You may rest assured I shall take good care of our little Bea.’