“You make a remarkable number of speculations, don’t you?” I said. “When I said I was a guest of the alderman, I meant just that. My husband and I are staying in the guest cottage at Mr. Hannan’s invitation.”
“Oh, no, don’t tell me you are married. Why is it the pretty ones are always taken? Just my lot, I suppose. But then you have a roguish twinkle in your eye. You might not be the horribly faithful kind.”
“I’ve only been married three weeks,” I said. “Even the most unfaithful kind is hardly going to look for dalliances during the first month.”
He laughed then. “I like you. A woman of spirit, indeed. And all that Irish red hair. Delectable.” He held out his hand. “I’m Terry, by the way. Terrence Hannan.”
“And I’m Molly Murphy—Sullivan, I mean.”
“Molly Murphy Sullivan? That’s surely a surfeit of Irish names.”
“Actually it’s Molly Sullivan now. I just haven’t become used to the name yet.”
“Well, Mrs. Sullivan, allow me to assist you back to civilization before we’re both swamped by the incoming tide.” He held out his hand to me. I took it and he stepped from rock to rock, ably assisting me up to the estate above. There was something like a path at this point up a sloping tumble of rocks, and we reached the top with no problem. He released my hand a trifle reluctantly I thought.
“Well done, Mrs. Sullivan. You managed that without a single swoon.”
“I am not the type of woman who swoons,” I said, “and I grew up climbing rocky shorelines.”
With that I tried to walk away with dignity, until I realized that my shoes and stockings were still in my other hand.
Eight
We came out onto the lawns close to where the stand of Scotch Pines reached almost to the cliff edge.
“Now you are surely in need of a little brandy to calm your nerves,” Terrence said. “Come over to the house for a drink.”
“I hardly think I’m in a fit state to come to the house,” I said. “Look at me—shoeless and sodden.”
He looked me up and down and then laughed. “Yes, I do see your point.”
“If I cut through the pine trees, can I make it back to our cottage unseen, do you think? I really don’t want to encounter any other members of your family while I’m in this state.”
“Oh, absolutely. We’ve come up at the perfect spot. You’ll notice that you can’t be seen from the house here, and I’ll be happy to escort you through the pine wood. There is a little path. I find it very convenient myself for times when I wish to come and go without attracting attention.”
“I’m afraid I need to put my shoes on first,” I said. “I’m out of the habit of walking barefoot, so I’d be grateful if you’d point me in the right direction and then leave me.”
“I can wait while you put your shoes on.”
“I daresay you can but it wouldn’t be proper, would it? I don’t think your family would approve of my exposing my bare ankles to you.”
He laughed. “But I already observed them, when you stood at the edge of the surf. And very pretty ankles they were too.”
“All the same, I’m not going to sit down and put on shoes with you watching, so please go.”
“I’ll be gallant and turn my back,” he said. “See, there’s a convenient log over there you can sit on and I promise not to watch.”
“I don’t think I can trust you,” I said.
He laughed again. “I am cut to the quick. All right. I’ll stand here behind this large shrub. Does that reassure you?”
“I suppose so,” I said. I picked my way over to the log and lifted my wet skirts enough to put on my shoes. I wasn’t about to attempt stockings.
“So you’re a friend of our esteemed patriarch, are you?” Terrence asked as I pulled on first one shoe then the other.
“I’ve never met him,” I said. “It was my husband who received the invitation and I’m not sure how they are connected. Daniel’s family lives out in Westchester and knows a lot of influential people.” I remembered that Daniel had avoided mentioning his profession and thought it wise to follow suit.
“Sullivan,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t think we’ve ever met. But then I rarely find time to get out to Westchester. I am expected to keep my nose to the grindstone, slaving away at the family firm, which I am supposed to take over some day—even though I keep pointing out that my father’s generation kept their noses to the grindstone precisely so that I wouldn’t have to. But the word leisure is considered obscene in this family.”
I stood up, my shoes now safely on my feet and my skirts hiding the offending ankles. The way that he stepped out to meet me convinced me that he’d been peeking the whole time.