“I don’t know…” she responded, still slightly breathless from the ardency of their kiss. “Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” he repeated, before bending to kiss her once more. This time, mindful of his own surging desire and Ben and her mother in the other room, Matt kept the embrace quick and sweet. “I’ll see you then,” he told her, and then he was gone, leaving Faith spellbound in his wake.

As Matt made his way on foot through the narrow streets of Boston on his way back to the inn, he was totally unaware of the furtive figure who’d emerged from hiding near Faith’s house to follow him.

Ben and Ruth looked up as Faith reentered the parlor.

“Has Matthew gone, Faith?” Ruth asked.

“Yes Mother. He just left, but he said he’d be back to see me tomorrow,” she told her dreamily.

“That’s wonderful, dear. He’s a very nice young man. I like him,” her mother told her.

“I like him, too, Mother,” she replied. “And I was right about him, wasn’t I, Ben?”

“I believe you were, Faith. He seems everything you thought him to be. I wouldn’t have been so open with him about the meeting this week if I hadn’t thought he was truly interested.”

“Good. Well, I think I’ll go to my room.” Faith was pleased that Matt had passed Ben’s scrutiny. Ben had become a sort of surrogate father figure for her since her own father’s death, and his approval of Matt meant a lot to her. “Good night, Ben. Good night, Mother.”

“Good night.”

When she’d gone Ben glanced to where Ruth was sitting. He had to take extra care not to let the depth of his emotions reflect in his expression. He had loved Ruth Hammond for as long as he could remember. His love for her had been born when he was a young and bashful lad, and it had endured unflaggingly through her subsequent marriage to his best friend.

Not that Ruth had ever had a choice in the matter. She had never known of Ben’s true feelings for her because he had always been too insecure to profess them to her. He had silently suffered through the years, worshipping her from afar.

Ben had been struck by a terrible guilt when Robert had died so violently and so unexpectedly, for, though he mourned his best friend, he could not deny that he still coveted Robert’s wife. The resulting misery had left him trapped in his world of unrequited love and had seen him devoting himself to Ruth in friendship only, never offering her the treasured love he kept locked privately within him.

“I guess I’d better be going, too,” he said a bit edgily as he fought down the need to tell her everything.

“I’m glad you were able to join us tonight, Ben. You know how Faith and I look forward to your visits,” Ruth told him pleasantly.

Inwardly, Ben groaned at her statement-Faith and I look forward to your visits. Despondently he wondered if she would ever come to think of him as more than a good friend. He gritted his teeth as he answered, “I’ll be in touch with you during the week.”

“That’ll be fine,” she said simply, and then added, “Matthew seemed quite smitten with Faith, don’t you think?”

“He certainly did, but I just wonder if it will ever come to anything. Even though he seems personable enough, he is still a nobleman,” he offered in the way of counsel.

“I know,” Ruth sighed a little unhappily. “I think they’d make a most handsome couple, and I can tell Faith cares deeply for him, but you’re right. Matthew Kincade is an English lord, and the differences between them are great.”

Ben wanted to take Ruth in his arms and tell her not to worry, that everything would turn out for the best, but he knew he didn’t have the right. Instead he merely reached out and patted her hand.

“I’m sure if they’re meant to be together, things will work out.”

“I hope so,” she agreed as they both stood and started out of the room.

“I’ll be in touch,” he told her as they paused by the front door. He struggled with the urge to tell her the truth of his feelings for her for a long moment. Then he finally gave up the attempt and said rather awkwardly, “Well, good night, Ruth.”

“Good night, Ben.”

Ruth watched him from the doorway until he was out of sight down the street and then turned quietly back into the house, her expression slightly forlorn. Somehow, when Ben was there with them, life seemed real again, but when he left…it was almost like the warmth went out of the day. She wondered what her life would be like if he never had to leave. Irritated for thinking such foolish thoughts, Ruth scolded herself for even imagining that Ben might want to be more than just their friend, and she busied herself with tidying the house.

Matt was in a fine mood as he entered the inn, and he directed Polly to send up a hot bath and a bottle of wine to his room. So great was his excitement over his newly discovered love that he bypassed his own chambers and sought out Noah in his. Things had not been comfortable between them since they’d argued after the ball, and he wanted to tell him now all that had happened in hopes that they could come to an understanding.

“Yes, what is it?” Noah’s voice rang out sharply in answer to his knock.

“It’s Matt, Noah.”

“Come on in,” he called out, and Matt entered the room to find his brother and Lyle involved in a game of cards.

“Would you like to join us, Matthew?” Lyle invited, his eyes alive with good humor.

“Yes, how about it, Matt? It would be a relief to let this harbor rat pick your pockets for a while. He’s already taken me for well over ten pounds.”

“So I’m picking your pockets, am I?” the sea captain challenged with mock outrage.

“I wish it were true,” Noah grumbled easily. “I’ve known for years that I was no match for you at the tables, but I’d hoped that my luck had changed.”

“It’s not luck, it’s talent,” Lyle explained pridefully with a wide smile as he counted the money before him. “What’ll it be, Matthew?”

“I think I’ll pass on the game,” Matt wisely declined, and he smiled at their disappointment.

“Then I’ll have to find some other pockets to pilfer,” the captain jested, and took his leave of the brothers.

After a pause, Noah turned to Matthew. “Was there something you wanted to see me about?” he prompted.

Though he and Matt had worked closely together on board the Lorelei the day before, they’d had little to say to each other. Noah had known that it was unusual for him to be so quiet, but he had assumed that Matt was just having trouble accepting that he had laid the law down about their returning to England. Now, since Matt had made the first move in initiating conversation between them again, he felt it was time to work at drawing him out.

“By the way, where’ve you been? We were looking for you earlier,” Noah asked.

“That’s all a part of what I wanted to speak with you about,” he replied, moving to stand by Noah’s window. Parting the drapes and glancing out across the darkened city in the direction of Faith’s house, he hesitated in what he was about to say.

“Yes, what is it?” Noah sensed that what Matt had to tell him was of some import and turned his full attention to him.

“I’ve made my decision, Noah.” Firm in his resolve, Matt turned away from the window to face his brother.

“Decision?” He was instantly tense as he recognized more than a little of the legendary Kincade determination reflected in Matt’s unyielding expression.

Unconsciously, Matt squared his shoulders as he prepared for what he knew was about to come. “Yes, about returning to England…I’m not going, Noah. My future is here, in Boston, and this is where I want to stay.”

“What?” Noah exploded. He had thought the matter settled, and now…“How can you even conceive of such an idiotic idea?” he demanded in his most imperious tone.

No longer an impressionable youth to be cowed by such a display from his big brother, Matt gave no ground. “I can conceive of such an ‘idiotic’ idea because the woman I love is here.”