After arranging for the carriage to be prepared and managing provisions from the kitchen, Will had delayed the inevitable long enough. He held his breath and opened the door, then entered their room.Adelaide’sroom, which he had no right to be in. She had dressed in a pale green muslin skirt and linen shirtwaist, buther hair hung unbound in wild waves over her shoulders. Her brows puckered as he met her gaze.
“You were quite rude to me.” Her voice was devoid of its usual sparkle, and he hated it.
“I’m sorry Adelaide.”Call her Miss Kimball. You work for her now.“There’s no chaperone coming for you. I’ll be taking you the rest of the way.”
Myriad expressions passed over her face, pausing momentarily on joy before her smile fell. “Will, no! Your apprenticeship. How will you—”
“I’ll stop by the shop as we’re leaving. Explain the circumstances.” His stomach clenched as he contemplated another dream denied. Another obstacle he’d have to cross.
Another several days in close proximity to Adelaide Kimball.
She approached him then, took his hands and squeezed. “I can’t express how grateful I am. You’ve been through so much trouble for me and my wedding.” Her lapis eyes sparkled as she beamed at him. “With you in charge, I’m sure nothing else will go wrong.”
“How do you lose acarriage?”
Adelaide winced at the force of Will’s words. Had their conveyance not disappeared overnight, she might have felt some pity for the two groomsmen enduring his frustration. However, she was now considering the plausibility of walking to Barrington.
“Sorry, sir,” one man managed, a furious flush crawling up his neck. “These things happen sometimes.”
“An entire carriage and horse just—” Will fisted his hands then burst them open, “—disappear without notice?”
The men nodded and exchanged a knowing glance. “I’ve heard of stranger things.”
Will pulled in a breath and fisted his hands once more, and Adelaide grabbed his elbow and tugged him away. He moved with surprising ease, although the veins in his neck throbbed as she faced him. “There’s no sense in arguing,” she said in what she hoped was a soothing tone. A dead stable hand would not make matters any easier for them. “We need to find a different means of travel.”
He planted his hands on his hips and shook his head. “There won’t be a public coach that passes through here. We’ll need another carriage and horses, or we wait and see if someone will give us a lift.”
A braying call from next to the barn caught her attention, and Adelaide gasped and pointed. “Look at that!”
His brow furrowed. “It’s an apple cart.”
She grinned. “Attached to a horse!”
“That’s a donkey.”
“Still, it’s better than what we have now.” The cart was only an acceptable replacement for the carriage in that it had four wheels and a slim bench for the driver. But it would bring them to Barrington faster than her feet would. She tugged his hand. “What do you think? Can you drive a donkey?”
“You don’t drive a—” Will scrubbed his palm down his face and groaned. “We can’t just take it. That would be stealing.”
Adelaide scoffed and hurried over to her trunk. After some rummaging, she opened the false bottom and hummed in satisfaction when she found her target. She hung the gold bracelet on one pinky and swung it back and forth. “It’s not stealing if we pay for it.”
He paled. “It’s stealing if we don’t ask.”
She shrugged and hooked the bracelet over the nail that held the donkey’s reins in place. “Details.” Leather straps in hand, shegrinned at Will. “It seems the universe has decided we’re going to have an adventure. Are you with me?”
Chapter 10
“I’ve never seen anuglier arse in my life.”
Adelaide scowled at Will, then looked back at the donkey dragging them along the rutted road. “Phyllis is not ugly, she’s just… in need of proper nourishment.” She sniffed. “And perhaps a bath.” She watched him closely, hoping for a smile or at least a moment of acknowledgement, but his eyes didn’t leave the track.
He’d barely spoken after the thrill of the low-speed getaway from Saltford, and while the adventure had made her blood rush almost as much as it had the night before, he’d appeared pale and aggrieved. She hadn’t inquired about his conversation with Saltford’s blacksmith, as he’d told her to stay in the cart while he spoke with the man.
“Will you still be able to do your apprenticeship?” she’d asked breathlessly before he’d even climbed onto the bench.
His lips flattened, and he didn’t meet her gaze. “Depends how long I’m gone.” He hadn’t said another word on the matter.
All the more reason for them to hurry to Barrington. But the uncertainty, the pervasive worry that he was angry with her, made her skin crawl.
