Chapter 14
Edith had gone to take two more steps back when he moved.
Only it wasn’t rushed or clumsy. Just a smooth movement letting him be visible to the fullest. One second partially behind the rock, the next, stepping out into full view like he had always been part of the scene and she had simply failed to notice him sooner.
Her breath caught and her pulse kicked hard against her ribs. She watched as he held his hands up immediately, palms open, non-threatening.
Which somehow made him feel more dangerous. He was dressed in black, of course he was. A long coat; fitted, practical. Everything about him screamed efficiency.
“Fantastic,” she muttered under her breath. His garb was a that of a bounty hunter, it was one of the very twins that were in the Ferrett’s Mott. How had he found his way to the hidden cove? It was all well and good him hunting her, but he better not be after the babies.
Edith dropped the fear, or at the very least she buried it. Deep down, in a wooden box which she locked and then threw the key away. Instead of going full tilt into a fight, Edith decided to try a different tactic.
“Can I help you?” she asked, tone cautious but not panicked, smiling a little and playing a little coy. As if she hadn’t just clocked exactly what he was. As if her heart wasn’t trying to punch its way out of her chest.
As if she wasn’t calculating the distance between them and how long it would take her to turn and run if she had to. Her fingers curled slightly at her sides, hidden by the casual angle of her stance.
He didn’t move closer and didn’t lower his hands immediately either. Instead he Just… watched her. Assessing.
Edith held his gaze. Forced herself to, even though every instinct she had was screaming at her to look away, to shrink, to make herself smaller. Definitely not. Not this time.
“You’re a bit far off the main path,” she added, gesturing vaguely behind him, like this was just a mildly inconvenient encounter between two strangers on a quiet morning. “Easy to get lost out here.” Still no answer, she smiled again. “Are you lost?” she asked.
Her expression tilted slightly, concerned, curious, entirely normal. Just a woman on a beach feeling a little annoyed at being interrupted.
“Because if you are,” she continued lightly, “you’re not the first. This place has a habit of…
” Her words almost faltered, because he hadn’t looked away.
Not even once, plus there was something in his gaze, pointed and knowing, something that made her skin prickle.
Edith pushed through anyway. “Of pulling people off course,” she finished.
The silence stretched on as the waves rolled in, hitting the beach gently.
A simple sentence and yet it changed her world slightly. His deep voice, carried by the wind, reached her. “Apologies if I scared you, I was wandering and somehow ended up here.”
Edith’s heart reacted for a completely different reason and she wanted to stop it, his voice was full of timber and slightly gravelly.
“I apologise again for disturbing you, I will return the way I came.” He smiled, showcasing an annoyingly handsome set of dimples before he turned around and vanished behind the rock.
Edith waited, not believing that he had just left. Why had he just left if he was hunting her? Seconds turned to minutes and still she waited, lying to herself that she was protecting the babies in the nursery.
When he didn’t return, Edith finally moved away from the shore and headed back to the grotto. Although she couldn’t help smiling. Hunter or not, he was a good looking one at that.