Page 10 of Moonstone Landing
If only he could lie beside her and wrap her in his arms.
Were he still alive, he might have done something about getting her into his bed and keeping her beside him always.
Yes, he might have married a girl like Hen.
He watched her toss her robe over her thin, white nightgown before sitting down in the chair beside the hearth. She had a brush in her hand and began to brush her magnificent curls.
These summer nights were too warm for a fire, so she had lit the lamp on his desk to provide the room with illumination. It now cast a warm, amber glow about his bedchamber.
He could stare at her all night like this, her face soft and glowing in the gentle light.
Not wanting to startle her, he waited for her to look around the room for him and call out his name before he showed himself. “I was wondering where you were,” she said as he strode toward her and took his usual seat beside her on the ottoman.
“I want answers, Hen.”
She set aside her brush and frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“How many times must I ask the question before I get a straight answer out of you? Why are you here?”
“Why should I not be here?”
“Don’t give me that indignant look. I will not be put off this time.” He leaned toward her, wishing he could take hold of her hands. “You have a brother who loves you. A sister-in-law who thinks of you as a sister. Nieces you obviously adore. Do they live in London?”
She nodded.
“Yet, you have left them to come all this way across the south of England to Moonstone Landing and settle here,alone, in my cottage. Cornwall is an awfully long way from London. Why, Hen?”
“I do not wish to talk about it.”
“I am a ghost. I shall haunt you until you do. So you may as well spare yourself the ordeal and talk to me. Is there a scandal attached to you?”
She snorted. “No.”
He believed her.
She obviously knew nothing about men.
He loved that innocence about her.
“Why will you not believe that I fell in love with this cottage and wanted it for my own? It is beautiful here, a paradise on earth. I can see why you loved it, too. The formal rooms are elegant but not too large. The bedchambers are beautifully appointed. Yours has a stunning view of the garden and sea. The town of Moonstone Landing is charming. The sea air is bracing. The weather is warm and inviting. Why should I not want to be here?”
“You are still dissembling, Hen. Why will you not trust me with the truth? I will find out eventually, just as you are determined to find out the reason why I am still bound here even though I am dead.”
She had been clutching her robe as they spoke, but he suddenly realized that it was her heart she was clutching. She did that a lot. Perhaps it was just a mannerism. He supposed genteel, young ladies often clutched their hearts when faced with indelicate matters.
But this wasn’t Hen.
Yes, she was sweet and delicate in some ways. But she was not frail in spirit. It frustrated him not to understand what was going on with her. “Perhaps I ought to pay a call on your brother and learn the truth from him.”
She cast him a doubtful look. “Ha! How can you?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Ghosts can travel wherever they like.”
She pursed her lips. “Is this some ghostly lore? I don’t believe you. I think you are making it up.”
“As you wish. Care to call my bluff? I can be in London visiting your brother within the hour. That’s another advantage to being a ghost. We can travel faster than you.”
She sighed in dismay. “No, don’t go. Why can you not leave me and my circumstances alone? I came here to avoid having to answer to anyone or face their pitying looks.”
