Page 44 of An Engagement with the Enemy

“Do you see Jessica or Mr. Holly?” Catherine asked, her tone agitated as she stood on her toes, trying to peer over the throng. “Why are so many people here when nothing is to begin until tomorrow?”

Though he didn’t understand his sister’s impatience, he dutifully turned his attention to finding Jessica. He had a clear advantage to finding her, thanks to his height. At last, he spotted her familiar copper-kissed curls beneath a wide-brimmed hat. She was standing in the shade of the inn. Alone.

“I see her.” He tugged his sister along behind him as he wove through the crowd. The nearer he came to Jessica, the clearer her expression became. Her face was pale, and her eyes had a distant, glassy look as if her mind were someplace far away from the noise and bustle. She wore a placid smile, though her eyes didn’t crinkle at the corners as they would if she meant it. She wrapped and unwrapped the strings of her reticule around her fingers with urgent movements.

Catherine spoke the instant before he did. “Jessica? Are you all right?”

Her shoulders were tense, raised slightly toward her ears, when she blinked and seemed to realize she was no longer alone amid the bustle and noise in the field. Jessica’s gaze went first to Catherine, then to James.

The pale gray of her eyes reflected his worry back at him. “Catherine. James.” Her voice was somewhat higher pitched than normal, though breathless. “Isn’t all of this exciting?”

“Yes. Of course. But, Jess, you are quite pale. Are you well? Do you need to rest?” Catherine’s rapid questioning made Jessica’s shoulders inch higher and she forced a shaky laugh that made James wince.

“I am perfectly fine.” She tried to tug her fingers free of the ribbon, but they were caught. “Merely resting a moment in the shade. Mr. Holly and Tom are about somewhere.” Her eyes took on that glassy look again as her lips pressed closed.

Something was wrong. Jessica was ill. Or afraid? He couldn’t quite tell. But James didn’t like it in the least. Finding her alone and out of sorts, while a whole field of people went about their business as though she didn’t exist, made his ire rise.

He lowered his voice, keeping his words soft and even. “Jessica. Will you let me take you inside the inn? Catherine needs cool air and some tea.”

Catherine gave him a sharp glance, then nodded her understanding. “Yes. Let’s go inside a moment. James, won’t you lend Jessica your arm?”

He took the fingers recently freed from the bonnet’s ribbon, pressing them gently as he guided her hand through the crook of his elbow. Jessica’s breathing, shallow and rapid, worried him. She would swoon if she didn’t slow it down. He kept his hand over hers, pressing it gently against his arm, hoping the solid feel of him would help somehow.

Catherine led them along the side of the building to the front, then through the inn’s door into the relative quiet of the building closed off from the preparations going on out of doors. James kept his pace steady, drawing Jessica along with him to the back corner of the room, near the warmth of the low fire, to a small round table with two chairs.

Jessica lowered herself into one and Catherine took the other, her eyes wide and taking in her friend with a mix of concern and pity.

He’d never seen Jessica this way. But Catherine seemed more saddened than surprised. His sister looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. “Tea, please, James.”

With marching orders clearly given, James went to the counter-top where the innkeeper’s wife worked, folding tea towels and speaking with another patron. He slid a coin across the smooth surface. “Tea for the ladies in the corner, if you would, please.”

“Of course, Mr. Aldwick.” She curtsied, tucked the coin into her apron, and disappeared through a swinging door to the kitchen.

That done, James looked over his shoulder to see Catherine and Jessica in conversation. Jessica’s head drooped, reminding him of a wilted bloom, but color had returned to her lips and cheeks. Catherine spoke with an urgent expression, saying something that made Jessica nod gloomily.

His impatience bristled. He wanted to sit at that table, hold her hand, and find out what the devil had happened to leave her in such a state of agitation. Where had her brother gone? What about the solicitor?

He made his way back to the table. The tea would come to them. He snatched up an empty chair along the way and brought it to sit directly across from Jessica. He sat, and when Catherine gave him a reproachful glare, he returned it with added hostility. Let her try to dismiss him. He wouldn’t move from that spot until he knew what had happened or until Jessica returned to her usual self.

Gentling his expression to a smile, James turned to Jessica. She had taken her gloves off, laying them across the table, and her hands were tucked out of sight. “There now. Have you ever seen such confusion? A hive of bees has never looked so busy as this town does today. I find it quite overwhelming, especially given the weather.”

Jessica’s gaze met his, then lowered to the table. “I cannot recall a single time in my life when you wanted to speak to me about the weather, James Aldwick.”

He exchanged a quick glance with Catherine, whose eyebrows had raised in surprise. That sounded a little more like Jessica.

“Truly?” He hummed a thoughtful note. “And yet we discuss so many things with such abandon. How have we left such a topic, and a mundane one at that, untouched for this long? Perhaps because we could not possibly turn the weather into a debate. If I say the day is unbearably warm, you wouldn’t disagree.”

Her lips quirked upward. “I felt quite cold a moment ago, actually.”

James resisted the urge to smile, placing his gloves on the table. Their tea would arrive soon. And he had another reason entirely to be free of that layer. “And if there had been a snowstorm, would you now tell me you found the air too hot?”

“Undoubtedly.” She pulled in a deep breath and her cheeks turned their usual soft shade of pink. “Though I think we would both wish for an umbrella if it rained.”

Every word they said, ridiculous as they were, brought her further away from the trance he’d found her in. He kept one hand atop the table, tapping its surface lightly, while the other he dropped first to his knee. Then stretched out until he found her wrist. Where her hands rested in her lap, they trembled.

Jessica’s eyes widened when she felt his touch, but she said nothing, as Catherine spoke. “It’s entirely too warm. And I haven’t the patience to listen to the two of you debate the merits of umbrellas today.”

James circled Jessica’s wrist with his fingers, sliding his thumb to the point on her wrist where he felt her pulse beating out a quickened rhythm. Was he the cause of the unusual speed, or was it part of what had overwhelmed her minutes ago? He rubbed the spot gently, his gaze on his sister rather than Jessica.