Page 54 of A Modest Independence

“I’d rather settle in London. I cannot abide the heat.” Miss Plank looked at him from beneath her lashes. “Do you intend to remain in India, sir? Or will you be returning to London?”

Jenny stood abruptly, her chair scraping back on the floor. “I beg your pardon. I’m not feeling at all well.”

Tom rose to assist her, but he wasn’t quick enough. No sooner had he gained his feet than Jenny was striding out of the room.

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Plank said with a laugh. “She doesn’t have the stomach for travel, does she? What a shame. When I was last in India…”

Tom didn’t remain to hear the rest of Mrs. Plank’s tale. He lingered only long enough to make his excuses before setting off after Jenny. However, upon exiting the saloon, there was no sign of her anywhere.

In the end, he found her in the most logical place. She was inside her cabin.

Mira cracked open the door. The young maid’s fever had broken before they changed ships in Malta. Only the faint blue shadows under her eyes attested to the fact that she’d ever been ill in the first place. “Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening, Mira. May I speak with Miss Holloway?”

Jenny’s voice rang out from within. “Oh, do come in, Tom. You needn’t stand on ceremony.”

Tom remained at the door.

After a moment, Jenny joined him there. She was still dressed in the pale green gown she’d worn at dinner.

His gaze drifted over her. “Are you unwell?”

“Not unwell, merely tired of spending day after endless day listening to Mrs. Plank spout her odious opinions and watching those insufferable Plank girls flirt with you.” She paused. “Will you not come in?”

“It’s not a good idea. I—” He broke off, realization dawning slowly. Good lord. Was she jealous?

“Because we might be observed? Very well. But I must say, if I were an interfering busybody, it would seem less suspicious to me if a brother entered his sister’s cabin on occasion than if he made a point of never entering it at all.” She moved to close the door.

Tom stopped it with his hand. “They weren’t flirting with me.”

Jenny snorted.

“And even if they were…” He sank his voice. “Do you think it would matter to me one jot?”

Her own voice dropped to a whisper. “It matters to me. And if they intend to continue casting out lures for you, I’d just as soon spend the rest of this voyage in my cabin.”

“Under the auspices of seasickness.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’d like to see you now and then. You’re the only reason I’m here.”

“And yet you won’t step one foot into my cabin.”

Tom lowered his voice yet again. “And have a repeat of what happened on the deck of the Valetta? No thank you.”

Jenny drew back as if he’d struck her. “Well! If that’s how you feel—”

Tom held the door firm against her further attempts to shut it in his face. “Don’t be absurd. I’m not referencing our embrace. I’m referencing the possibility of being caught. Of stirring up a shipboard scandal. I should think that was abundantly clear.”

She didn’t reply, merely looked at him, a mulish expression on her face.

He was at a loss for how to proceed. No woman had ever found him worthy of a jealous temper. At least, none that he’d been aware of.

In truth, it had never even occurred to him that Jenny could be jealous, of the Plank girls or anyone. There wasn’t a female on board the Indus who could hold a candle to her. Indeed, next to Jenny Holloway every other lady he encountered seemed colorless and insipid. He was beginning to suspect that that was going to be the case for the remainder of his life. Who could possibly come after her? The short answer was no one.

“Do you want to argue?” he asked. “To rip up at me?”