“Excellent. Then you won’t object to sneaking off at this expedition tomorrow so we can talk.”
“We’re talking now.”
“Not for long. Too risky. Quick, tell me why you sent for Piers? How did you do so?”
Delia cast a glance towards the end of the library where the gentlemen present were situated. None were paying them the least attention. There was time yet. “I accosted the fellow Barney.”
“Deuce take it! They’re still watching you?”
“I believe so. And I’ve not seen Captain Rhoades or his men about.”
Giff’s gaze narrowed once more. “Him again? Just as well.”
An exasperated sigh escaped Delia. “Will you stop being nonsensical, Giff?”
“I’ll not have him sniffing around you, so don’t think it!”
She could not withstand the thrill that shot through her at hearing the possessive note, but she spoke in a repressive fashion nevertheless. “Shall we keep to the point?”
Giff grinned again. “If you insist, Miss Prunes and Prisms.”
She flashed him a look. “It’s no jesting matter, Giff. Piers is perfectly determined on keeping you out. His attitude chilled me, I don’t mind telling you.”
“How so?”
She gave him a ready account of her exchange with his cousin, not omitting her disbelief in his talk of a more merciful end than his victim suspected.
“He might say he only thinks to send you to America, Giff, but I’m so afraid his purpose is more sinister. I’m terrified that if chance offers, he will kill you.”
Giff had listened to her story with a more serious mien than she’d seen since the day they met, but at this he laughed. “He may try! I’ve a trick or two up my sleeve yet, Delia, never fear.”
“Yes, but I do fear! I can’t help it.”
His features softened and those intense eyes roved her face. “My plucky flower girl. You won’t buckle, I know it.”
His faith both touched and frightened her. “I will if I can’t save you.”
“Then you’d best save me.”
It was lightly said, but his smile embraced her. Delia’s heart melted and she smiled back.
Giff drew in a sharp breath, his eyes holding hers. “If we weren’t in a public place…”
Warmth flooded Delia as the conviction seized her that he wanted to kiss her. She’d never truly supposed he might find her desirable. For a breathless moment her surroundings vanished. She felt as if she and Giff were the only two people in the world.
And then he spoke in his natural voice. “I came to Weymouth with intent, Delia. I want to draw Piers out. I hope he comes again in no time. I’ll be ready for him.”
The strange sensation disintegrated and Delia was back in the library with her heart horridly exposed. She set her eyes on the shelves so she need not look at him. “You think he will come the moment he hears of your being here?”
“I’m hoping so. I aim to force a confrontation.”
Feeling as if she spoke from somewhere outside herself, Delia tried to ignore the disappointed creature within who felt just as dull as ever. “He’s not going to hail you as his cousin, is he, when you are claiming to be Mr Giffard?”
“Not in front of people, I suppose. But I’m hoping he’ll find a way to challenge me.”
“Challenge you how?” She scarcely knew what she was saying for the acute sense of being two people, one of whom wanted to believe what had just happened while the other pooh-poohed it as an impossibility.
“To a duel.”