As she had ridden alone in the carriage for most of the day, her nose in a book she had not possessed the heart to read, a plan had begun formulating in her mind. A bold plan. A change of tactics.
Perhaps just what she needed.
If he wanted distance, she would give it to him.
And hope it would draw him nearer.
“You are displeased,” he observed. “With me?”
“Who else?” She pursed her lips, raking him with a cold stare. “If you do not mind, I would prefer to continue the rest of the way on my own in the carriage. Surely the box is more than suitable for your needs?”
“No.” His dark brows drew together. “The box does not suit for our arrival. My need for fresh air is at an end, and I want to spend the journey’s close right here in this carriage. With my wife.”
“Perhaps your wife does not wish for you to belatedly join her now,” she suggested.
He inclined his head, gazing back at her intently. She was losing her heart to him. Another small piece each day. Soon, there would be nothing left for herself. He would own it all.
But she would be damned before she would allow him to crush it beneath his boot or to simply cast it aside as he returned to Spain. Over the lonely course of her journey, she had made a vow to herself. She would not allow her husband to abandon her and their child. He may be winning the battle between them, but she had every intention of emerging the victor in the war.
“You seemed to have no problem sharing the carriage with me yesterday,” he said at length as the carriage rocked into motion and they began swaying down the road. “I do not see what should have changed betwixt then and now.”
What had changed was her realization she was falling in love with him. That the more she learned about him, the more determined she was to help him heal. To allow him to grieve his wife and son so he could move on from the past and into a future.
A future they could share together.
“What has changed is the way I have been looking at our marriage,” she said, putting the wheels of her plan into motion.
He raised a brow. “Oh?”
“I discovered I have been troubling myself over the task of making our marriage work until you achieve your goal and return to Spain,” Catriona explained. “In truth, I need to be concerned far more with what I shall be doing afterward. The time it takes for your objective to be achieved will be small. However, the rest of my life looms before me, and I hope it shall be long and full.”
He drummed his fingers on his thigh. “I see. And?”
She wished she did not notice how long and elegant they were. She also wished she was not recalling how they felt upon her. Touching her.
Do not think of that now, Catriona, she cautioned herself.You will stray from your course.
“It will be easier if we are to have a distance between us,” she said. “From this point forward, I think it for the best that we spend as little time together as possible. Aside from the carrying out of our marital obligations, that is. To that end, I really do think you ought to continue on the box.”
“No,” he bit out. “I will not.”
She feigned disappointment. “Very well. If you must remain, then perhaps you might make our shared confinement worth my time.”
He looked at her. “Confinement, madam?”
“Yes. What else would you call being forced to suffer your presence in this carriage?”
A stuttered sound of outrage emerged from him. “I beg your pardon.”
“I would far prefer to beg yours,” she said. “You have made your position to me quite clear. I do apologize for not seeing the wisdom in it before now. But all the hours I have had to while away on my own have proved a boon.”
“I thought you were reading a book.The Malodorous Dukeor some such rot.”
She bit her cheek to refrain from chuckling at what had to be his intentional confusing of the title of the book she had been attempting to read. The Earl of Rayne was not always as forbidding and grim as he had been yesterday. Indeed, she was treated to fleeting glimpses of lightness, a boyish air he must have once possessed. This gave her hope she could brighten his heart. Change his mind.
Mend his broken parts.
“The Silent Duke,” she corrected at length, “and I set it aside for now, giving me ample time to make discoveries of my own.”
