Miss Debenham's Secret: A Husband Hunters Club Book by Sara Bennett

Don’t worry if the letters are few and far between, they will have to travel across the seas.”
    A frown creased her smooth brow. “I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am about my father. I—”
    He put a finger to her lips and then, realising they could be seen, took it away again. “No need for you to say a word. It was my fault entirely. I am just glad you took no hurt.”
    She reached up to touch her lips with her own fingers and then, realising what she had done, blushed.
    He pretended not to see. “I must go.” He stood up and reached to take her hand in his. “Goodbye, Clarissa. I will not forget you.”
    She pressed his hand. “Nor I you,” she murmured.
    He walked away then, turning only to lift his hand in salute. She was sitting staring at her lap, where the book rested, and did not see. He thought he would remember the sight of her always, seated there, her hair pale against the dark stone wall of the school, her pale pretty face drawn into such sombre lines. If he was a more romantically inclined man he might even say his heart was aching.
    What was it about Clarissa Debenham that had crept inside him and made a home there? And how could he have allowed himself to imagine, even for a moment, that anything would ever come of it?
    “You’ll forget her soon enough,” he murmured to himself. “You have Boney to think of.”
    But a seagull flying overhead mocked him with its mournful cries.
    ***
    Clarissa found, as the weeks passed, that without Alistair to fill her every waking thought her attention became more focussed on her work at the school. At first it was a way of distracting herself from missing him, but gradually she became more and more convinced that this wasn’t just something to fill in the time, while she waited for real life to begin.
    This was her life, and she felt it as a calling.
    And she was clever at it. Children enjoyed learning from her, and adults too. She began to grow in confidence.
    Annie, the maid from the inn where she and Alistair had made their impromptu stay, had come to see her. Clarissa was a little surprised by her visit, remembering the scene the girl had witnessed, but she knew that there had been no word of the kissing incident, as she had feared there might be. The gossips had been remarkably silent.
    “I didn’t tell anyone,” the girl admitted. “It wasn’t my business, was it, and you were kind to me, miss.”
    “Thank you,” Clarissa said, and meant it sincerely.
    “The navy gentleman. Is he still . . . ?”
    “Lieutenant McKay has left with his ship.”
    “He were a jolly man and handsome with it. I’m sorry for you, miss, that he’s gone. Do you think he’ll come back?”
    Clarissa said she wasn’t sure and changed the subject. As far as she was aware Alistair was never coming back to Lyme. 
    Annie was keen for her first lesson; Clarissa set her some homework and the girl agreed to return at the same time the following week. As the months went by they became friends. Clarissa found it was very pleasant to have someone to talk to. She was also grateful to Annie for keeping quiet about the kiss. Her father was still angry with her but she was doing her best to soothe over the matter, and she certainly didn’t want anything else to stir up the matter again.     
    And then Alistair wrote to her!
    Her father grunted when he saw the letter but he didn’t forbid her to read it—not that she would have listened—and when she showed it to him he barely glanced at it.
    The fact that he had taken the time and trouble to write put a skip in her step. Not that Alistair said a great deal, only described the ship and what he was doing, and how weevilly were the current crop of ships’ biscuits. A lieutenant seemed to have a lot to do, and he said he was now a first lieutenant—he’d been promoted upon his return, and he was having a jolly time ordering all the other lieutenants about.
    He made her smile, but then he always had. She closed her