Chapter 16 #2
“I tell you what,” Hart offered. “We’ll beg some blankets and you can bed down in the cart while we do the digging. It won’t be any fun, I promise you. But the moment we find anything, we’ll call for you. Fair?”
“I s’pose,” the lad said grudgingly.
“But don’t you want something to drink and a rest?” Angel suggested, and the concern that lingered in her dark eyes warmed him. Oh, she was not immune to him. He still had a chance—a good chance, he hoped.
“You must think me a niffy naffy sort of fellow,” he said, shaking his head indignantly. “Indeed, I do not. Come, my wicked Angel, let us see what treasures lie hidden in the dark.”
Her eyes flashed at his addressing her so intimately, but whether it was out of annoyance or delight, he wasn’t certain. But he would find out soon enough.
Angel studied Leo’s broad shoulders in the moonlight as he negotiated the muddy track that would lead them back to the heath.
He was ahead of them, driving the cart again, the shovels and pickaxe stowed with the refilled lamps safely stashed behind him.
Toby sat at his side, wrapped in a thick blanket and speaking earnestly to Leo, his face tilted up to regard his hero.
Her heart squeezed in her chest, a sweet, painful ache as she knew Leo was listening intently, giving Toby his attention, his time, without an iota of impatience or resentment. He would make a wonderful father one day.
Not for you, she reminded herself. He was a good man, a kind one.
But no matter how good or kind, he would not want a woman like her for a wife.
His wicked Angel would never be respectable enough—and she could not bear to be second best. The idea of being his mistress might not be so terrible, but that someone else would always come first with him, would always have a greater claim upon him…
that would eat her up and make her bitter and resentful.
She could not do that to either of them. They both deserved better.
“What do you reckon you’ll find then, miss?”
Angel shook herself from her thoughts, only too glad to be distracted. “I don’t know. Spanish gold, jewellery. It could be anything.”
“Exciting, ain’t it?” Milly said, and Angel heard the grin in her voice.
“It is,” she agreed, and it was, but despite everything, she was finding it hard to summon the triumph she had expected to feel at this moment.
Not when she had the strangest notion that she had already found the most valuable treasure she would ever come close to in her life but was powerless to claim it.
The gallows came back into view, its stark simplicity more dreadful than ever in the moonlight.
Angel jumped down from the gig and tied up the pony before going to the cart where Leo was unloading the shovels.
“Light the lanterns, Angel, love,” Leo said, the easy endearment making her throat tighten.
Angel reached into her pocket and drew out the tinderbox. “You do it, please,” she said, thrusting it into Milly’s hand. “The wretched thing doesn’t like me.”
Milly laughed but didn’t argue and set about her task.
Once the lamps were lit and the shovels in hand, Leo turned back to Toby.
“Right, my lad. You get some shuteye, and we’ll shout you the moment we find anything.”
Toby swallowed and looked around him, pulling the blanket tighter.
“How about if I stay with you?” Milly offered, before the young man could admit he was scared to death at the idea of being left alone in the dark. “I’m a bit worn out myself,” she added, smiling at Angel and giving her a surreptitious wink.
“Oh. Well. If you like,” Toby replied with a shrug, though his relief was palpable.
“Good luck!” Milly called out to them as they took the lamps and trudged back across the heath.
It took them a deal of marching up and down and cursing before they found the rose bush again, but finally they set down the lamps.
“I’ll start,” Leo offered.
“I can dig,” Angel retorted, somewhat indignant at being left out.
He laughed at that and regarded her, leaning on the shovel, his hazel eyes glinting with affection.
Oh, Lord, how could she stand it? How could she endure the next minutes, hours, knowing she must make him go away, when he stood there, looking so handsome and strong, and so wonderfully near and—and she would run mad.
“My darling girl. I believe you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Angel swallowed down a surge of misery so overwhelming that for a moment she could not speak.
“Don’t,” she managed, forcing the tide of sorrow down where it sat like a lump of ice in her belly. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, all innocence.
“Don’t make out like—like I mean something to you,” she said, reaching for anger, for it was the only thing that might give her the strength to get through this.
“Why not?” he asked, his expression so open and guileless it hurt to look at him. “When you mean everything.”
Angel gasped, her shock so intense she almost dropped the shovel.
“I’ll not be your mistress,” she said, putting up her chin. There. She’d said it. No more beating about the bush. “I kn-know I’ve not acted like a-a proper lady, but I’m no lightskirt. So, if you’re thinking of offering me a slip on the shoulder, you can just—”
“Marry me.”
“—think again. What did you say?”
“Marry me.”
The words hung in the air between them, too extraordinary for her to take in. Angel could do nothing but stare, open-mouthed. She couldn’t believe it. Why? Why would he—?
“Are you mad? Do you need money? Is that it? Are you running from a debt collector?” she demanded suspiciously. Perhaps, after all, he wanted the treasure. It didn’t mean he didn’t like her too, but she’d rather know the truth.
He laughed and shook his head. “Good lord, Angel. If you knew how many women have tried to get me to say those words, through fair means or foul, and here you are acting like I’m a fortune hunter.
I don’t need the money, love. I’m rather plump in the pocket if you want the truth.
But I appreciate your appalling candour more than you will ever know.
If I wasn’t already besotted, I think that would do it. ”
“Besotted,” Angel repeated the word as if uncertain of its meaning. She was uncertain of its meaning.
Leo set the shovel aside, leaning it against the tangled stems of the rosebush, and reached for her. Despite having promised herself she would not be such a fool as to let him touch her again, Angel went without a murmur of protest.
His big hands spanned her waist, his gaze earnest as he stared down at her.
“I’ve never had a better time in my whole life than during these past days with you.
You are simply the most remarkable woman I’ve ever met.
There’s no one else like you in the whole wide world, Angelica Everdene, and I’ve seen a fair bit of it, and known a lot of women.
” He paused, considering this. “A lot of women.”
Angel hit him in protest. “All right, I didn’t need you to underline it.”
He grinned at her, wickedness and mirth glittering in his eyes, and there was the devil lurking there, the same reckless spirit that burned in her breast, that flowed in her black pirate’s blood.
“I don’t need you to answer me now, Angel. But I want you to think on it, to let me court you. I might have waited a bit, for I know it’s all a bit sudden, but I had the nasty suspicion you’d got some maggot in your brain about not being good enough after Mercy stuck her oar in.”
She let out a sound of frustration and tugged at his lapels.
“I’m not good enough, you great twit. I never believed you were Mr Cleaver, nor understood why you lied, but I’m not a fool, Leo.
I can tell you’re a gentleman, and not like my papa either.
You’re highborn, and the idea that your family would welcome me is hard to swallow. ”
“Welcome you?” Leo pondered her remark. “Well, my mother died many years ago, so you’ll have no trouble with her.
My grandmother will adore you, however. She’s a dreadful creature who caused more scandal in her day than you could possibly imagine.
My father—ah, well, my father will do his best to tie you up and smuggle you abroad.
Possibly he’ll sell you as a slave to some rich pasha, so look out for sly tricks from that quarter.
In fact, don’t eat anything while in his company—just in case. ”
Angel gaped at him and then let out a strangled laugh. “Oh, my goodness! You’re serious.”
“I’m afraid so,” he admitted ruefully. “But we can talk about all this later. There’s plenty of time. There’re not so many hours of darkness, however. We’d best set to.”
With that, he flashed her a wicked grin and picked up his shovel.
Angel could only stare at him in stunned silence, at his powerful shoulders while he plied the shovel, lifting the heavy, wet soil with ease.
“Surely, you don’t want to cause a rift with your father, Leo?”
He let out a grunt, throwing a heavy clod of soil to the side. “Love, there’s never anything but a rift between me and the old man. I’m a disappointment to him, a fool, a joke. I really couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss what he thinks about anything, and I’m certainly not about to marry to please him.”
“Well, perhaps not, but do you really want to marry to displease him?” she asked, still unable to believe they were having this conversation. Perhaps Mercy had hit her on the head harder than she’d realised and she was actually out of her senses.
Leo threw another clump of earth and paused, leaning on his shovel to consider the question.
“Yes,” he said frankly, and carried on digging.
Catching her worried expression, he stopped again.
“I’m not asking you to marry me in order to fuel some vendetta, Angel.
I’m asking you for the reasons I already gave, because you’re unique and wonderful, and as far from boring as any young lady I’ve ever met.
But I can’t deny that knowing it will make the old man wild gives me a good deal of satisfaction. ”