12. Jonto #3
Turning away, she announced her presence by loudly clearing her throat.
A small gasp told her that Isla had heard and was presumably covering herself again.
Pity. “I’m sorry to interrupt, My Lady. I was simply checking our mutual property line before heading into town.
” When Isla didn’t answer, Jonto turned to see her standing behind the flat rock.
She was facing her now, and it was impossible to know if the flush rising up her neck was from the sun’s heat or something else entirely.
Isla had hastily pulled her shawl up around her shoulders, and only then did Jonto remember she’d worn old work clothes for her impromptu trip into town.
She belatedly removed her hat and held it down at her side.
“Forgive my appearance. I have a meeting in an unsavory part of town and have discovered it’s far better to blend in than to go dressed as a peer of the realm. ”
“Of which you are not.” It seemed as though the lady had regained both her composure and her sharp tongue.
Jonto grinned and bowed slightly to acknowledge her point.
“Perhaps not in this realm, as that hadn’t been part of my bargain with your King.
Unfortunately, I’m considered a peer in the kingdom I was born into.
” She rolled her eyes. “God keep me from the pompous asses who sit and rule from on high. I attended one legislative vote in the House of Lords and swore I’d never attend another. ”
“My King? Is Jaydon not your King as well, now that you hold a significant piece of land in his kingdom?”
“I suppose he is, in a way. However, I made it clear that my ships remain my ships, and when I’m on the sea, I’m King, not him.
” She shrugged, “It makes for an interesting relationship.” She closed her eyes and pulled in a breath of salty air.
“I love the smell of the sea.” With the breeze rustling the loose strands of hair about her face, a stray bit of trivia floated into Jonto’s restlessly active mind.
Reopening her eyes, she cocked her head and asked, “Do you know why the breeze blows inward?”
“Something it only does during the day.”
Jonto raised her brows. “You come out here at night? Alone?”
Isla caught and held her gaze. “Does that shock your sensibilities, My Lord?”
“Jonto. Remember?” A soft smile played around her lips. “And to answer your question, not my sensibilities, no, but I would think there might be some danger in a lone woman walking the cliffs at night?”
An unexpected stiff breeze shoved Isla forward. She gasped, reflexively took a step to steady herself, and caught the toe of her button-up ankle boots on a small rock, propelling her toward a startled Jonto, who automatically offered her hand.
Isla didn’t have a choice. It was either grasp the proffered hand or ignominiously fall onto the larger rock separating them. She chose the former and blushed slightly as Jonto’s fingers curled around hers.
While still holding her steady, Jonto skirted the boulder and indicated the place where Isla had been seated before she’d arrived.
She enjoyed the caress of the silky soft skin against her own calloused offering but, with great effort, suppressed the urge to run her thumb over the back of Isla’s hand.
Once again, that barely discernable scent of gardenia wafted off this enigmatic woman.
“Please, have a seat. I won’t be staying since, as I mentioned, I have a meeting I need to attend.
But I do look forward to perhaps seeing you here in the future.
Good day, My Lady.” After making sure Isla was safely seated, Jonto bowed and turned to leave.
“You never said why the wind blows in from the sea.” Isla looked over her shoulder and cocked her head to the side. “When I was a child, my mother said the Sea Goddess was blowing her blessings over me.”
With raised brows, Jonto considered the idea. “First, may I reiterate that I think your mother and I would have been great friends. And second, I like her explanation better than mine, so I’ll exchange my scientific reasoning for that of your mother.”
She hesitated before repeating her salutation because there was something in the lady’s eyes that told her she wanted her to stay. Instead of leaving, Jonto stepped forward a pace and indicated a rock a respectable distance away from the one where Isla sat. “May I?”
Isla considered her request. “Well, since I’m sitting on your side of the cave, I suppose it’s only fair that I allow you to sit on mine.”
As Jonto sat, she set her woolen sailor’s hat on her lap.
“Yes, I saw that we share this beautiful rock formation. When we sailed into the bay, I hadn’t dared hope the opening in the cliffside might, indeed, be on my land.
” She looked out over the white tops of the nearly invisible waves rolling gently in with the tide.
“What an amazing, hidden gem. Well, not hidden since it can clearly be seen from the water, but a gem all the same.”
Isla’s voice was soft when she replied, “It’s my favorite place to come when I need to think or simply be alone. My great-grandmother named these estates after this tunnel.”
“Windsong Hall.” Jonto nodded absently. “That’s perfect.” She guessed that Isla had something on her mind and silently waited to see whether she’d open up about what was troubling her. When nothing was forthcoming, she chanced a glance out of the corner of her eye.
Isla’s hands were busy brushing imaginary dust from her skirt one moment and plucking lint off her shawl the next. Jonto wondered if idle conversation might get her to open up. “I hear the more respectable ladies in town are scandalized by the mermaid adorning my prow.”
Isla shaded her eyes and looked out at the man-of-war anchored outside the bay. “I think she’s wonderful. I’m jealous of the distant lands she’s visited that I’ll never see.”
“Never say never, My Lady.”
With a brief shake of her head, Isla turned to study Jonto’s aristocratic features. “I think that when we’re scandalously alone like this, Lord Jonto, you may call me by my Christian name.”
“Then please, as I mentioned before, I’d be honored if you’d call me Jonto.”
“Surely that’s not your Christian name?”
Not wanting to mislead Isla any more than she already had, Jonto answered with what might be called an illusory truth. “I haven’t answered to Morgan since my eighteenth birthday. All the lords of the Jontoreaux family line going back hundreds if not thousands of years have simply gone by Jonto.”
With a sigh, Isla tossed a small rock out of the tunnel and watched it fall to the restless waves below. “You don’t know how very lucky you were to have been born a man.”
There was utter despair in her tone that caught Jonto’s attention. “I have a feeling you’re not simply saying that as a matter of course. Has something happened since we last spoke?”
Isla turned to Jonto, who held her gaze with polite inquiry, nothing more. “I would have thought you’d have heard the talk down at the Enigma Club.”
“I haven’t visited there since before your welcome dinner. Things have kept me rather busy of late. What are they saying?”