This is not final.She shook her head, abruptly gaining her feet. She made her way to her bedchamber and found Mason folding her dresses.
“I am traveling to Northumberland with His Grace in two days. Please begin preparations for my journey.”
“Yes, Your Grace. How long will you be staying?”
“I am unsure. Take whatever is necessary.” Then she walked out to find her sister. It was her last day in Dawnton before she would travel to London tomorrow. Anna was going to make the most of the day. As for Colin. She would find a way to his heart.
Chapter 22
Sir Nips! What a name!
Colin pinched the bridge of his nose and reached for his quill. He should not have walked out on Anna. He should have handled her questions better, and as a result, she kept to herself throughout yesterday and today.
He had seen her through his study window walking in the garden with her lady’s maid and cat, and the solemn look in her told him that she was already missing her sister.
Now he was contemplating writing to the Countess and imploring her to come back and stay with Anna while he was away. What he was going to write now was not for Lady Darpley but for Anna.
Darling,he began but struck the word and crumpled the sheet, tossing it into the fire. He drew up another parchment and started withAnna. He crumpled that too and tossed it away. His treacherous hand wrote an endearment again, and he decided not to fight it.
Darling,
I might be gone for up to three weeks, and I do not want to leave you like this. Please forgive me. We have become great companions, you and I, and it troubles me to see that we still cannot seem to agree on a few things.
There is a reason I am keeping my past from you, and believe that I would have told you if I could, but it will hurt you, and I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen. You are my family, and I must shield you from anything that might cause you harm, even from myself.
Thus, I implore you, Anna, my dearest, to respect my reason and never inquire about it again.
I might be gone by the time you wake, but know that you are in my thoughts, and I will leave a kiss upon your lips before I depart.
Yours,
Colin.
This was the most heart he had ever put into a letter, and he did not read it before folding and sealing it lest he changed what he wrote. Pushing his chair, he stood and exited his study. It was past midnight, and the household had retired.
Colin went through his bedchamber to the door that joined their rooms, then he raised his hand to knock, but it hung in the air. She might be asleep and a knock could wake her. Sighing, he opened it and walked in, skirting the bed to see her face. Her hair concealed it like a curtain, and kneeling in front of her, he gently pushed the locks away.
She moved but did not wake, and slowly, he kissed her lips. Lightly, so he did not wake her. Colin stood and placed the letter on her nightstand, his chest aching. What was worse was how he could not fathom why.
As he had promised, he walked into Anna’s bedchamber as dawn was breaking, to kiss her farewell, expecting to find her asleep in her bed. He stopped mid-stride when he found her sitting by the fire with a book on her lap, and the cat playing with the hem of her travel frock.
“You are dressed,” he said, wondering what she is doing.
“Yes, quite so,” she replied with a sweet smile that sent a wave of heat through him.
“Why?”
“I should think that is obvious.” Anna closed her book and stood, walking toward him with the cat chasing her hem.
“You are traveling with me,” he stated, his breathing quickening. Just when he had found the strength to be away from her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pouted her pert little mouth. “Three weeks is a tremendously long time. I fear I shall perish from longing.”
That same longing snaked through his veins.Holy God, Anna!“The rooms in Edinfield are barely habitable.”
“We can stay at an inn. Or are there no inns around?” She had a good argument for every point he raised.
“There are.”
