Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Anna
A piercing wail jolted me awake.
Slowly, I found my bearings, tangled as I was in my covers with feet still half numb from dancing. I fumbled to light the candle on my bedside table. Another wail sounded, quieter this time, but loud. It sounded like a nightmare. Tabs?
A door opened from down the hall, followed by quiet whisperings, then another door closed.
“I’m frightened,” called her little voice. “Please, help me!”
Without thought, I ripped off my covers, my bare feet aching and sore, and hurried to don my dressing gown. With candle in hand, I swung open my door. “Tabs?” I called, my foggy mind still trying to fully wake up. Her room was two down from mine. I took a few steps through the dimly lit space in front of me.
“Anna?”
Tabs was sitting up in her bed, a candle burning beside her on the little table by her bed. Her hair was a mess, like she’d tossed and turned all night while we were away, and her little pout and tear-stained cheeks nearly tore my heart to shreds. I stepped through her doorway, stopping suddenly when I noticed a figure kneeling by her bedside.
Graham. In a banyan and breeches and bare feet.
“Forgive me,” I said, stepping back. I did not wish to intrude where I had no right to be. “I thought—”
“Don’t go,” Tabs whimpered. “Please, Anna.”
“It’s the middle of the night, Tabs.” Graham’s voice was hoarse from sleep, and my heart leaped forward, wanting to be near him. His hair was still ruffled, cheeks creased and eyes puffy.
Beautiful, he’d called me during our waltz. And he’d said it with such conviction. Not to please, but to admire. My skin prickled, remembering his hand at my waist. Such tenderness in his eyes like I’d never seen from a man before. Those same eyes that had arrogantly teased and frustrated me over and over again were now warm and full of care.
“He came for me again.” Tabs sniffed. “The dark monster of the sea.”
“There is no dark monster of the sea,” Graham said as he rubbed her leg. “You’ve nothing to fear.”
Tabs turned my way, and the fear on her face beckoned me closer. “He has horrible claws and scales for skin. He’s as tall as a house, Anna. I cannot outrun him.” She choked on the last word.
I deposited my candle near Graham’s and sat beside her on her bed, just in time to catch her little body as she crumbled into a fresh sob. Graham shifted near my feet, and my eyes caught on the thin, loose nightshirt beneath his open banyan, the line of his neck, and each shadow along his bare chest, which rose and fell with one—two—breaths.
I cleared my throat before saying into Tabs’s hair, “If such a thing as a sea monster existed, your brother would take care of him, I am sure. There is no need to fear.”
“Graham?” Tabs cried. “He cannot even hold a sword properly.”
“I beg your pardon?” Graham’s tired voice came out affronted. His brows knit together at the assumption of his weakness against Tabs’s imaginary foe. “I could fight off any sea monster ten times the size of Highcliffe House.”
“Ten times?” I blurted in disbelief, and Graham’s eyes flicked up to mine. I clapped my hand to my mouth to cover the humor, but he’d seen it. His face split into a grin.
“A hundred times,” he exaggerated. “Indeed, the next time the dark monster of the sea comes, send him straight to my room. Five minutes against my sword should send him diving back into the depths.”
Tabs’s lips twitched as she wiped tears from her cheeks. “His eyes are so dark, and his teeth are so scary,” she whined. “Once you see him, I know you’ll be too afraid.”
“Graham Everett?” I countered. “He has the fiercest glare on this side of the sea. Show her, Graham.”
“Show her?”
“Your fierceglare,” I enunciated, nodding my head to Tabs.
“Right. Of course,” he said, straightening. He ruffled his already fluffy hair—a nervous habit, perhaps? Then he formed his fists into claws, scrunched up his face, and bared his teeth. He growled, low and menacing.
A thrill shot up my spine, and Tabs shrunk into my side. She smelled like strawberries and cream, her favorite after-dinner dessert. “Graham!” she laughed. “I do not like you doing that.”
“See?” I squeezed her tight, grinning at Graham over her head. “Ferocious.”
Tabs yawned and gave me more of her weight. I rubbed her arm, while Graham reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Your brother is right,” I said. “It is very late, and you will be tired tomorrow if you do not sleep tonight.”
“I want to come sleep in your bed,” Tabs whined to Graham, reaching out for his arms. Her nightdress was trimmed with ruffles and lace. Clearly, the baby of the family.
Graham reached forward to wipe her wet cheeks dry with his sleeve, his arm brushing mine. I felt sparks of warmth all through me. “You are brave enough to sleep in your own bed.”
“Pleeease, Graham. Only one night more. I swear it.”
“She’s had quite the day,” I reminded him. Urged, more like. And for once, we felt like partners. A united front.
“Very well.” He sighed, and Tabs threw her arms around his neck. His shoulders relaxed under her weight, and together, we stood.
Tabs’s already tiny room seemed to shrink, especially with the three of us crowded between her bed and the doorway. I retrieved my candle and started to turn but could not fit around Graham holding Tabs.
“Ah, sorry,” he muttered, trying to retreat but bumping into a chair behind him, stumbling sideways.
I reached out to steady him as Tabs slid down from his hold to land on her feet.
She led out of the door first, stumbling down the hall toward her brother’s room, and I handed Graham her candle.
Slowly, he sidestepped out the door, then turned and leaned against the doorframe, boxing me inside. Our two candles flickered between us, casting him in gold and shadow, and the depths of his eyes searched mine. “Thank you,” he said, lingering. “For coming. She settled much faster than usual.”
“All she needed was a less ferocious face,” I teased.
Surprise and another sleepy grin brightened his features. “Well, then, lucky for us, your face is the opposite of ferocious.”
“Oh?” I smirked, then poked his chest.
I poked his chest.My bare finger. On his bare, rather firm, chest.
He raised his arm against the doorframe and leaned in, as though my mortification pulled him to me. His shirt fell open with another breath, revealing lines of definition and strength, and my gaze clung to the spot I’d touched like a fly to honey. His voice came out husky as he said, “Thank you for tonight, and for earlier this evening. Yesterday evening as well.”
“Hmm?” My eyes found his lips. Graham Everett’s full, inviting lips.
He rubbed his jaw, and I slowly dragged my gaze up to meet his. They were uncertain, hesitant, but I could swear they bore a similar wanting.
“I enjoyed your company,” he said. “Dancing. Playing together instead of tempting each other’s wrath.”
Sleep beguiled me, my fuzzy mind blurring the lines of propriety. I pulled my own dressing gown tight, crossing my arms for some semblance of modesty, then lazily leaned toward him. My shoulder hit the inner doorframe. We were much, much too close. So close I heard the hitch in his breath.
“That sounds dangerously like kindness, Graham,” I whispered on a breath.
He shrugged, giving me a half grin. Then his gaze dropped to my lips. “That’s how I meant it, Anna.”
I smiled, laughing softly under my breath. I felt like a girl in a dream, all fluttery and floating, like a queen in her nightdress.
“I want to take you to the Marine Pavilion tomorrow. For that second look.” Graham swallowed hard. “In the morning, perhaps?”
“I daresay everyone will want to sleep well into the afternoon.”
He lifted his other shoulder, unperturbed. “Just us, then.”
My heart danced wildly in my chest, sending sparks throughout my stomach. How simply he’d said it. Just us.
I bit my lip, and his eyes watched the motion. I nodded once.
“Hurry, Graham,” Tabs whisper-shouted from down the hall. “Anna, won’t you come and tuck us in?”
Graham’s lips quirked, his eyes laughing into mine as he straightened. “Yes, won’t you, Anna?”
I dropped my jaw dramatically. “You scoundrel,” I seethed, laughing as I pushed him out of my way. “Good night, my darling,” I said to Tabs as I stepped toward my room.
Graham lingered, walking backward a few steps as if in a trance. Then he turned, and, like a dream, vanished into the night.