46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Jethro did not want this afternoon to end. He had not felt this close to Cassandra since… Never.

If only they could continue to grow closer, instead of repeatedly pushing away from each other.

His eyes lighted on a small building a short distance from where they stood. The Camera Obscura. A way to view the town beneath them differently. In an enclosed space. In the dark. Just the two of them.

“Would you be interested in visiting the Camera Obscura?” he asked, trying to slow his pulse, which raced at the thought of being alone in the hut with Cassandra.

“I’d like that.”

They entered the small room and stood arm in arm in the gloom.

“It never ceases to amaze me,” said Cassandra, staring at the picture before them. “To see the world outside, moving silently in front of us, seems little short of a miracle.”

Jethro watched the shifting image, but found it hard to concentrate on anything except how close he was standing to Cassandra.

The movement outside was not as great as in the height of the season. Only a few people wandered along the harbourside beneath them as birds flew overhead. A soundless world, they were observing in secret. The experience was strangely intimate .

Two figures caught his eye. Images of the people on the path below. “Look—our very dear friends, Mr and Mrs Frampton.”

Cassandra chortled. “I didn’t know you had a gift for wit.”

“Perhaps there is more to me than you have yet discovered.”

“Perhaps there is,” she said, giving his arm a squeeze, which did nothing to still the tumultuous racing of his pulse.

“What a shame we can’t hear what they’re saying,” she said. “Do you think they’re talking of the weather, or are they whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears?”

“Ha! Sweet nothings, of course, from Mr Frampton at least. ‘Your voice is as beautiful as the seagulls singing over the water.’”

“‘And you, my love, are as handsome as your bank balance,’” Cassandra said, mimicking Eugenia.

“That handsome? My, my.”

Cassandra’s grip on his arm tightened as a third figure joined the Framptons in the picture moving in front of them.

“That’s him—the man who’s been watching me.”

Jethro furrowed his brow. “Hmm. That’s worrying.” Was he employed by Frampton? But for what purpose? Was he trying to wheedle his way into his business through his wife? Could it have something to do with Mr Wade’s imminent visit? If so, it did not bode well.

“What’s bothering you?” Cassandra asked. “Tell me. Would it help to share what is on your mind?”

He hesitated. Should he open up to his wife about his concerns? He didn’t want to worry her unduly. But maybe she was right, and talking about it would bring some clarity.

They went outside into the daylight, and after they had walked a short distance from the Camera Obscura, Jethro spoke.

“If that man is spying on you and meeting with the Framptons, it confirms my fear that the investment in my company is not secure. When we dined at Mr Frampton’s house, he mentioned Mr Wade after you ladies had left the room. Perhaps he employed the spy to gather information about us, intent on sending bad reports to Mr Wade, to blacken my name.”

He paced up and down as he continued to speak. “If I don’t get the investment I need, it puts us in a rather tricky position. I’ve signed the contract to purchase the ships, and I’ve had to mortgage the house as surety. If Mr Wade invests his money elsewhere—”

“Why should you think that? He’s been investing in your company for so long, why would he withdraw his support now?”

“That’s a good point, but why is he coming to Weymouth to visit me when he’s never shown the slightest interest in doing so before? He has even avoided meeting with me on the few occasions I’ve been up to London. It’s as if he was happy to give me his money—but only at a distance.”

Cassandra shrugged. “Perhaps he wishes for a closer partnership. People are allowed to change.”

“Maybe. But seeing that man with Frampton does nothing to reassure me. It makes me anxious, and I can’t rule out the possibility that he will try to get to me through you. You’re not to wait for the livery to arrive. I don’t want you to go out without a footman in tow.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering on her skin for as long as he dared.

“Please be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

Because I love you.

But he couldn’t find the courage to say the words aloud, afraid that his wife wouldn’t want to hear them.