Page 3 of Miss Debenham's Secret
He waited until they reached the end of the street.Ahead he could see a square brick building that had the look of a school house.When the bell in its wooden crate began to ring solemnly, the rope pulled by a man with a handsome face, wearing a sombre jacket, he knew he was right.
“Lack of opportunity,” he admitted wryly.“When you are at sea so much there is little time for romance, and then if you find someone and attempt to write letters, they are always going astray.In my experience, Miss Debenham, girls do not forgive letters going astray.They soon find someone with a nice safe occupation on shore, who comes home every night for his supper and isn’t sailing to the other side of the world.”
She was searching his face, reading far more than he wanted her to, and now he was the one who felt he was on the back foot.
“This is my school,” she said.“Thank you for taking the trouble to walk with me, Lieutenant McKay.”
“My pleasure,” he assured her.
She would have walked away then, but the gentleman who’d rung the school bell approached them.“Mr.Marly,” she said, “I hope I am not late.”
Mr.Marly took out his pocket watch and checked.“I assume your father is not well again,” he said in answer to her question.He shot Alistair a curious and not entirely approving glance.
Clarissa felt herself feeling rather cross about that.Naval officers were to be admired, surely?They were gallantly fighting for England.
“This is Lieutenant McKay.Lieutenant, this is Mr.Marly, the headmaster of our school.”
The two men gave perfunctory bows.Alistair understood now why Clarissa had blushed when she said Mr.Marly’s name.He was very handsome, the sort of man many women would probably day dream about, but Alistair thought him stiff and joyless, just the sort of fellow Clarissa should not fall in love with.Good Gad, it would be like marrying her father!
“I must go now,” he said, speaking to Clarissa.“Shall I see you tomorrow as we arranged?At ten o’clock on the Cobb?”
Clarissa’s blue eyes widened at his lie but she managed to retain her composure.“Oh, um, I ...that is, Mr.Marly sometimes requires me to come in on Saturdays, to set out lessons for the following week.”
“I’m sure Mr.Marly won’t mind this once,” Alistair said with such authority that even Mr.Marly found himself agreeing that yes, this once, he could spare Miss Debenham.
Clarissa set off after the headmaster and soon there were children running around her, vying for her attention.But she turned her head to look back, just before she reached the door, and he saw her smile.Just a small smile, but it was there.
With a grin of his own, Alistair McKay strode back the way he had come, back to his lonely cottage and pleasant thoughts of Miss Clarissa Debenham.
Chapter three
CHAPTERTHREE
The Cobb was a stone breakwater that had been first built hundreds of years earlier.It was vital for Lyme’s harbour and to protect the town from storms.When the sea was rough sometimes the waves would wash right over the top of it and there had been some tragic drownings over the years.
Today the sun was shining and the sea was smooth and Clarissa hurried down to meet Alistair McKay, her heart thumping, not quite knowing why she was doing this.
Was it because she knew she was going against her father’s wishes?Well she would be, if he knew.Or was it because Mr.Marly had seemed to look at her with new interest after Alistair McKay walked with her to school?Probably a little of both.Clarissa rarely asserted herself.She was eighteen and nearly always did as she was told.Doing what she wanted to do instead felt very liberating.
Alistair McKay was standing by the Cobb, the sharp breeze tugging at his dark hair.He wasn’t wearing his naval uniform today but brown trousers and a green jacket, with his white cravat tied loosely about his tanned throat.He looked big and strong and Clarissa had the oddest sensation when she looked at him, as if she wanted to throw herself into his arms and burrow in.
No, not burrow in, that would be cowardly or the actions of one of those weak females Clarissa was determined never to be.No, she wanted to be held by him, his hard body against her softer one, his smiling mouth dipping to cover hers ...
“Stop it,” she murmured to herself, knowing she was flushed now.“That is just silly.”
But today, just for a moment, she wanted to be silly.She wanted to enjoy herself and forget the weight constantly upon her young shoulders.She wanted to be with Alistair McKay.
He had seen her.“Miss Debenham,” he said, with a bow, and his dark eyes were alight.
She looked up at him.She’d forgotten how tall he was.How on earth did he walk about below decks in his ship without bumping his head?She opened her mouth to ask him and then changed her mind.He’d think her rude, or worse ignorant.
“Shall we walk along the wall?”he asked, holding out his arm.
With a smile she took it and they set off.The breeze wasn’t overly strong but it tugged at her skirts and her bonnet, so that she had to put her hand up to hold it on.Out to sea there were small fishing boats, all surrounded by flocks of seagulls hoping for scraps.
“Do you expect to return to your ship soon?”she asked.
A couple were coming toward them and she recognised them and nodded, smiling, aware of the rampant curiosity in their eyes.That was the trouble when you lived in a small place, everyone knew your business.It had never bothered Clarissa before but suddenly she wanted Alistair to be her own secret, and not a subject for gossip.
