He needed her to be on the other side of the planet, but he selfishly wanted to believe the only way to truly protect her was to keep her by his side. “The safest thing is for you to leave. As soon as possible.”
She looked forlornly at the remnants of the room before lifting her gaze to his. “There’s a ship waiting. Will you walk with me?”
He agreed before she finished asking.
Chapter Nine
Astheytraversedthedocklands, Diana was in danger of losing her nerve.
Her mission had consumed her for years. She’d devoted the best of herself to it; given it her dreams and aspirations, along with a good deal of her fortune.
A few words from Ian could convince her to toss it all away.
As the dim light from the gas lamps gilded his handsome silhouette, she pleaded with him silently.
Ask to come with me.
Ian watched the dark water lap against the dock. He needed to capture every sight and sound and scent of these last moments with Diana to preserve them in his memory.
Hazy lamplight and fog obscured the ship moored in the distance. The wind stirred and bit at his cheeks. As he turned to shield himself from it, the sight of Diana pulling his coat close around her neck roused a deep ache in his chest.
“None of this was about revenge, you know,” she whispered. “I wish Jared no ill will. And I do hope Henry can help Polly and Johnny.”
Ian refused to think about Henry’s suggestion that he accompany Diana. If she’d even allow Ian to accompany her, he’d never extract her from the factionswarring over the emeralds, and he wouldn’t risk her life out of his selfish desire to be with her.
But he bloody well wasn’t letting her out of his sight without finding out some clue about where she was heading.
He squinted at the boat ahead of them and swallowed his frustration that he couldn’t make out the name or defining marks from a distance. “When do you make sail?”
“Sooner than I wish.”
Imminently, she’d be too far out of reach to touch, and that anxious thought prompted him to draw closer to her. He thrilled as her breath faltered.
“Whatever you’re going to ask me, I likely can’t answer,” she insisted primly. “I know you hoped to interrogate me. I can detect your intention plain as day on your face. When your jaw clenches like that, you’re downright sinister.”
Confessing that she’d paid such close attention was careless. The very opposite of guarding herself.
His heart wanted to fly, if not for the questions that plagued him.
“We’re here in the docklands, and I’m its devil,” he said, his voice low. “You seem to be the only person who isn’t afraid of what I do here.”
“And you seem to be the only person who’s afraid of whatIcould do here.”
To prove her wrong, he stepped closer. In the cold of the evening, the visible white trails of their breaths mingled. “I could make you talk.”
Her smile flashed a brilliant white streak as she slowly shook her head.
“At least tell me where you’re going.”So I can find you, he omitted.
“I can’t,” she said kindly, as she would to a child.
He detested it because she was trying to be gentle when all he wanted was something forceful to break him away from the need to be beside her.
“The boat doesn’t have a route filed with the harbormaster, which isn’t entirely legal, and the police will try to question you about what happened at the Swan’s Nest,” she added. “This way, you won’t be forced to admit you were a part of my plot to disappear.”
“Merely one of your tools to implement it.”
“No. You’re the reason I succeeded.”