The Fearless Miss Dinah by Laura Rollins
Chapter Thirty
Dinah’s head rolled forward, and she snapped it back up. Good heavens, she was falling asleep where she sat.
Henry, who sat behind the large desk in his office talking with Mr. Harding, glanced her way. She smiled at him to let him know she was fine. Their trip back from the coast had been blessedly uneventful, and that afternoon, they had finally arrived at Angleside Court. It was amazing to be home once more.
Amazing, too, how much this place felt like home.
“Come, dear,” Uncle Jeffrey said, taking her hand. “Your father and Lady Blackmore just left, and I think you ought to retire. I’ll see you to your chambers.”
“Thank you.” Dinah stood, stifling a yawn. She was exhausted. Even though she and Henry had swum free of that cave yesterday, Dinah felt she was still recovering. Walking beside Uncle Jeffrey, she left Henry’s office, glancing back to smile at him once more.
He looked so handsome sitting there, in full command of the room.
And that kiss they’d shared in the cave.
Good heavens.
It was enough to make every other aspect of life pale in comparison. They’d hardly spoken with one another since. They’d spent plenty of time in one another’s company, but there had always been one of the other men with them. So, while Henry wasn’t shy about taking her hand, or sitting close to her, he hadn’t truly held her and there hadn’t been any more earth-shaking kisses.
But Dinah didn’t mind. They would come. She was sure of it now.
She turned the corner with Uncle Jeffrey, and they started up the stairs.
“Did I ever tell you about the time,” he said suddenly, “when I stopped a group of smugglers trying to escape justice?”
Dinah lifted a brow. “You mean . . . yesterday?”
He laughed but didn’t hesitate. “There I was, hiding behind the smallest bramble bushes a man has ever seen, when what do I hear but the sound of oars hitting the water? I looked down, and there was a man matching the description of the infamous Spade.” He said the man’s name with awe and trembling, quite as though Dinah didn’t know exactly who he was talking about. “Then a gunshot went off. The men aboard the boat all crouched low and lifted their guns, aiming for the beach. Several more rounds went off, some aimed at my associates, some aimed at them. But no one, it seemed, had seen me. So I crawled toward the edge of the cliff and waited . . . and waited . . . until, as luck would have it, they rowed directly beneath me.”
They reached the door to Dinah’s bedchamber, and she turned, silently allowing him to finish.
“Then,” he said, his voice growing suddenly in volume and speed, “I took one giant leap off the edge”—he acted it out as he spoke—“and landed directly in the middle of their boat. Scared the living daylights out of them, I did. I put an elbow in one man’s face. Kicked a second out of the boat completely. Yanked a rifle from a third and used the butt of it on the fourth. Needless to say, they were all incapacitated before they could yell Jack Robinson.”
“Thank you for the delightful tale, Uncle.” Dinah laughed softly, but it morphed into a yawn. “Now, if you will excuse me, I think I’d best lay down as you suggested.”
Uncle nodded and turned to leave, then he turned back and pulled her quickly into a hug.
Surprised, Dinah took a moment before returning the embrace.
“I thank the heavens every day for your part in our lives,” he said. “Henry’s needed a woman like you for a long time.”
Dinah teared up and hugged him all the harder. “I’m thankful to be here too.” And not just here instead of still tied up in that cave. But here, where she’d found a home and more people to call family.
Uncle Jeffrey pulled back with a cough. He stuck his hands in his pockets, suddenly appearing shy at his outburst. “Sleep well, Dinah.”
“Sleep well, Uncle.”
He walked down the hall, and she placed a hand on the doorknob. She hesitated. She glanced over her shoulder and confirmed that Uncle was out of sight. She left her own door and instead opened the door that led to the sitting room she and Henry shared.
The fire in the hearth was low, as always for this time of night. It cast a bit of light, but not much. She didn’t need more, though, as she’d memorized this room long ago. She slowly weaved her way through, letting her fingertips brush against chairs and tables as she moved.
Nothing would ever compare to the feeling she’d had of hugging her father after swimming out of that cave. Well, that and the feeling of seeing Spade and all his men tied up and on the beach. Her brow dropped; she wasn’t sure if she believed Uncle’s retelling of events. Whatever had actually happened, she was happy that Mr. Jacobsen’s killer would finally face justice.
Dinah reached the courting bench. Such a small little bench that held so very many memories. Circling around it, she took the seat facing the hearth. Her sight blurred over, and she smiled. It was good to be home.
The door opened, and Henry moved into the room. She didn’t have to turn around to know it was him—she just knew.
“Is everything finally settled?” she asked.
“For the time being,” he said, sitting down heavily in the seat beside her. “Mr. Harding said he may need my testimony again later, but for now, the ordeal is over.”
Her smile grew at that. “What a blessing.”
“Indeed.” Henry grew pensive, his fingers strumming against his knee. “I did as you suggested. I told David about our mother’s passing.”
He had? “How did he take it?”
“He was surprised. But . . . I think grateful to have the knowledge, all the same.”
She nudged his shoulder with her own. “This is the part where you tell me I was right all along,” she whispered.
Henry chuckled. “Very well. You were right. Happy now?”
She answered more sincerely. “Only if you are.”
Henry smiled at her and then nodded. “I think I’m finally coming to terms with what she did.” They sat in silence for a minute, and then Henry turned in his seat and faced her more fully, clearly ready to change the topic. “Did my uncle ever mention to you what happened on that beach?”
Dinah rested an elbow on the bit of bench back that snaked between them. “He told me an outlandish tale about him leaping off a cliff.”
Henry’s lips pulled to the side—an act she found incredibly distracting. “He told me the same tale. So I asked both Mr. Harding and your father about it. They confirmed his facts.”
“No.” Dinah sat up straight. “You don’t mean he actually did all that?”
Henry chuckled softly. “Makes one wonder which of his other outlandish tales are actually factual.”
Dinah’s mind swam with the idea. “Good heavens,” she muttered.
“It’s enough to give one pause.”
“Most assuredly.”
Henry placed a hand against the back of her seat. With the way their seats curved one into another, Dinah felt cocooned into him.
“You are enough to give one pause,” he said in a low, husky voice.
“Is that so?” Her gaze jumped to his lips once again.
“I have a confession.”
She leaned in. “Do tell.”
“I was wrong when I said I’d never fall in love with you.”
Dinah’s heart leapt within her, and for a moment, she believed she knew how it had felt for Uncle when he’d jumped off the cliff, sailing down through gunfire.
“You were?” she whispered.
“Most certainly. For, you see,” he dropped his head, his lips trailing whispered kissed across her jaw, “I have most decidedly fallen in love with you.”
Dinah’s eyes fluttered shut. “I always knew you would.”
Henry laughed, his breath heating her neck. “You are a remarkable woman, Dinah.” He pulled back just enough for their eyes to meet. “I love your spirit and persistence. I love the fearless fire coursing through you.” His voice slowed. “I love that you never gave up on me.”
Dinah cupped his face in both her hands. “And I never will, no matter what.”
They kissed again, only the thin railing of the courting bench keeping them apart. This kiss left Dinah completely breathless. She felt it through her whole body: the tingles, the heat, the coursing desire. She’d not known a kiss could affect one so wholly.
“You know,” Dinah said when they’d finally pulled apart, “I just realized there is one more very convenient aspect to our marriage.”
“Oh?”
“Now that we’ve come to love one another, we don’t have to wait during a long, drawn-out engagement.” She placed a quick kiss on his lips.
Henry’s eyes lit up, and he nuzzled a few kisses along her neck in response. “And here I thought I might need to claim a rat had been spotted in your room.”
Dinah pushed him away and shook her finger. “Don’t you ever even joke about that.”
Henry kissed the tip of her finger. “Very well. And just so you know, I have ordered two footmen to inspect your room every week to be sure no rodents even think about visiting you.”
However had the stars aligned in such a way that she would end up married to him? “You are a good man, Henry, despite all your moods and bluster.”
“My moods and bluster are half of what attracted you to me in the first place.”
“True.”
Henry stood, circled the bench, and took her hand. “Come now. I know you are exhausted. We should get you to bed.”
Dinah walked beside him toward his bedchamber door. “I like the idea of going to bed,” she went up on tiptoe and whispered, “but I’m suddenly not very tired.”
Henry waggled his eyebrows then kissed her temple. Dinah passed over the threshold into his room and into her new life. One filled with family and love. One where she felt cherished and important. One she shared with a thoughtful and passionate man.
One she adored and was never going to leave.