Page 40 of Once an Angel
Emily watched, envying them their freedom and fighting a wistful sense of abandonment.
She felt a shy tug on her hand. Dani gazed up at her, grinning toothlessly. "Emmy," she said.
Her heart contracted.
Kawiri had spun around to jog backward. "Make haste, Emily. The day won't last forever."
"For a while it seemed like it might," she said softly.
Clinging to Dani's hand, she pelted after him, scattering sand in her wake.
* * *
Justin sat high atop the sandy bluff overlooking the beach. The wind raked his hair from his eyes, but
not even the ocean breeze could cool his fevered musings. His gaze was locked on the beach below, drawn like the tide to the enchanting child-woman dancing through the waves.
Who the hell was she?
Had women changed so much since he'd left England? Emily was so little like those he had known in London that she seemed to be some exotic species, both irresistible and mysterious. Her mercurial
moods both compelled and exhausted him. She was nothing like his addle-witted mother and even less like his vapid sisters. Their only concerns in life had been which gentlemen were going to sign their
dance cards for the next ball. His stunning fiancee, Suzanne, had slapped his face in the lobby of the Theatre Royal when he'd informed her he'd rejected his inheritance, but at least he had understood her motive— healthy greed.
As Justin watched, Emily lifted her skirts and frolicked through the shallow waves, tossing her head
with laughter as the children splashed her. Droplets of water caught in her hair, sparkled on her skin.
A flower nestled in her hair, a crimson splash against her chestnut locks.
Had some man wounded her? Justin wondered. His hands clenched into fists. He'd like to get his
hands on the wretch. The image of her being ill used at the hands of some scoundrel filled him with
both jealousy and rage. And grief—a wistful longing that he could have known her before the shadow touched her smile.
She knelt in the wet sand, cupping her hands around a castle tower while Kawiri dug a moat with his toe.
Had some wealthy rake seduced her? He knew only too well the morals of his London. Propriety and upright thinking were the false gods of society. What went on behind closed doors was another matter.
A man could do what he liked to a woman as long as he wasn't caught doing it. The sinking sun dipped behind a cloud, and Justin shivered. David's wealth had given him and Nicholas the means to escape London's stifling confines, but what means had Emily been forced to use? If left alone without the guidance of her guardian, would David's daughter be forced into similar straits?
The children took their leave in laughing clusters, leaving Emily alone on the beach. Justin stood,
hoping to slip away before she caught him spying on her. But at that moment the sun clipped away the edge of the cloud: its rays struck his chest with a fiery warmth. Emily shaded her eyes and he knew she had seen the sun glint off his watch case.
Their gazes locked and held for a long time before she turned her face away and stared out to sea.
Justin scrambled down the bluff, but the proud curve of her back warned him to silence. He was beset
by a terrible urge to touch her there. To lay his palm against the warm satin of her bare skin and draw
her into his arms. His breath caught in his throat, trapped by an unbearable wave of longing.
He swallowed his questions, hesitant to shatter anything as fragile as her pride. "I saw you in the village."
"Forgive me for intruding. I hope I didn't stop you from healing any lepers or raising any natives from
