She might still be.
Which was another reason it had been imperative to get out of his house for the day.
A cart wheel hit a deep rut in the road, and a loud, “Argh!” lurched from her lungs as she grabbed onto the sides to keep from being dumped onto the road. The farmer who had offered the ride likely wouldn’t have noticed, for he was quite deaf.
A coach-and-four appeared around the bend they’d rounded a few minutes ago, charging up the road like the demons of hell were nipping at its wheels. She wasn’t sure how the coachman expected to move around the farmer, who couldn’t hear its approach, which she kept an increasingly alarmed eye upon. The carriage wasn’t slowing, but rather increasing its speed. Only when the lead pair of horses had come within a few yards of the donkey cart did the coachman rein in the team.
Valentina gripped the cart tighter. What was this about?
Then from the side of the carriage poked a head—a head of golden, tousled curls…
Archie.
Valentina couldn’t help herself. She laughed. It was just such a very Archie thing to do.
“Valentina,” he shouted. “Do you need a ride?”
“I have one,” she shouted back. It was merely a statement of the obvious.
His jaw took on a mulish set. He’d become determined, and a determined Archie was an implacable Archie, and an implacable Archie was a relentless Archie.
She knew from recent experience.
Her body heated up by a few degrees.
Still, the farmer hadn’t any notion of the coach-and-four at his rear.Valentina supposed she should alert him, for Archie wasn’t going anywhere. She tapped the farmer’s shoulder. He glanced around to discover the unexpected situation at his back before guiding the donkey cart to the side of the road, clearly expecting the lord’s coach-and-four to pass.
But it didn’t. Instead, it stopped, too, and out stepped an impeccably dressed lord in a forest-green morning coat, buff superfine trousers, and snow-white cravat. The Platonic ideal of an English lord stood before them.
The farmer held his hat in his hands and shuffled his feet. “Now, I don’t know what this be about, milord,” he said, wary. “But I’ll not be wantin’ trouble.”
Archie nodded respectfully and held out his hand to Valentina. Her hands remained clutched around the reticule in her lap. “Why are you here?” she asked.
“I wanted to make sure?—”
“Now, off with ye,” shouted the farmer. Valentina realized he was shouting at her. “I don’t have truck with lords and their fancy women.”
Valentina supposed she was the fancy woman in this scenario. Her only option was to vacate her perch on the cart. The farmer flapped the reins and set his donkey into motion.
Now, she was stuck in the middle of the road. Annoyance flared at the man standing before her with a lopsided grin on his mouth. “Now you’ve lost me my ride.”
He jutted his chin toward his coach-and-four. “I’ve a better one.”
Like that, last night lifted its thoroughly pleasured head. Was a double meaning located in his words? She searched his eyes and found not a hint of salaciousness. Of course, that meant nothing with this man.
“Shall we?” he asked.
She exhaled a deep, resigned sigh, and he took herhand to help her into his carriage. It was the most luxurious carriage she’d ever encountered.Of course.It was even scented of cloves and spice. Ofhim.
She sat on the plush bench opposite him. After last night, she’d wondered how she would face him again. But it was shockingly easy.
Was it so shocking, though?
She’d wanted to do what she’d done with him—desperately. It wasn’t only about his charm and handsome exterior. It was those depths of his that few likely saw.
“Why are you here?” she asked conversationally.
“Word has it you’re paying a visit to your family, and I thought it would be a lark to join you.”
