‘I didn’t know. Not before you sailed.’ Anger bubbled in her chest as she remembered the shock of finding that she was with child. ‘I was innocent of these matters, Richard. No one thought to tell me that what we—what we did could have such consequences, and by the time I realised, you had gone.’

Even as she spoke, a sliver of doubt cut through her memory. Yes, she had been innocent, but he had most assuredly not been so naive. Richard had known the possible consequences of that liaison in the conservatory and yet he had let it happen.

‘What happened? Why was my father told your ship was lost at sea?’

‘A storm blew us off course and our ship was so badly damaged we had to hold over in Rio for repairs. When we got to Savannah, we were four months overdue. I can only assume that we were still floundering at sea with a broken mast when the Savannah agent telegraphed your father. If you hadn’t panicked …’ He spread his hands as if to apologise for something that had been none of his doing.

‘If I hadn’t panicked?’ Adelaide said. ‘What would you have done, if I hadn’t removed myself from my father’s house?’

He stiffened. ‘I would have done what I intended to do: marry you. There may have been a few raised eyebrows, but the child would have been born in wedlock and we—we would have been together.’

‘I had no choice.’ Adelaide could not hide her bitterness.

Richard picked up the tea and took a sip. ‘After we docked in Liverpool, I went to your home with every intention of asking for your hand. Your father—’ He set the tea cup down and his face twisted in anger. ‘Your father told me you were dead. I asked where you were buried so I could visit your grave, but he just ordered his man to throw me from the house.’

He loosened his tie and pulled a chain from beneath his shirt. Her breath caught as she recognised her locket. ‘I have worn this every day of my life and there is not a day goes by when I have not thought of you, grieved for you.’

She touched the place where the missing locket had once hung around her own neck. Its absence now felt like a betrayal.

He readjusted his tie. ‘But we must continue living, mustn’t we, Adelaide? I took a ship for India and made a good life for myself, managing a tea plantation. Made some money. Enough to live comfortably and support a wife and family.’

Adelaide looked down at the cup she held in her hand, the tea cooling rapidly. ‘And do you have such a wife and family?’

‘No. It was only ever you, Addy.’

She searched his face to test the sincerity of that statement. He returned her gaze with guileless blue eyes brimming with unshed tears.