“No sir, I’m fine.”
“Then let’s get them unhitched.” He turned to Adeline. She was indeed soaked. Her spectacles were splattered with moisture, and her dark eyelashes blinked against the raindrops still falling fast. “Adeline, go get your bonnet on. At least it will keep the rain off your face.”
She nodded and walked back toward the carriage. As she tried to clamber inside, the whole thing creaked ominously. Malcolm raced over. The other back wheel sank into the mud, tipping the carriage precariously close to the ditch where rainwater quickly rose. Adeline lost her balance and her grip on the wet door handle. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him as the carriage slipped back another foot.
Adeline fought against his hold, reaching out in front of her. “No, my bag. I must get my bag.” She kicked her legs. “Why are you always manhandling me?”
Despite everything, he chuckled. “You are so small it is easy to do. But truly, I just saved you from falling backward into the mud. It’s not safe to climb into the carriage.” He set her down on her feet.
She huffed. “Can you save my bag, at least? I cannot leave it behind.”
“Your books will stay drier if you leave them inside the carriage.”
“Please?” Adeline looked up at him with wide eyes, her hands clasped under her chin.
Malcolm sighed. Why did she have to be so damn adorable? Christ, he was wild about her. Everything from the furrow between her brow when she was thinking to the delicious press of her lips against his. From the way her soft curves fit perfectly against his body to the straightforward way she spoke, no coyness, no games. He was an absolute fool for her.
Malcolm picked her up, moved her aside, and then put a foot on the bottom stair, testing the vehicle’s sturdiness. It did not slide farther. He reached in and grabbed her bag from the floor. Passing it back to Adeline, he turned back to stretch farther in and managed to seize both of their hats from the bench seat. He stepped back off the stairs and shoved his hat on his head, glad for the brim that deflected most of the rain off his face.
Adeline stood, clutching her giant carpet bag to her chest. “Thank you.”
He nodded, placed her bonnet on her head, and tied the ribbons under her chin. Then he gently removed her spectacles, wiped them off with a handkerchief from his pocket, and placed them back on her nose. “Better?”
She nodded.
“Ready for more adventure?”
A wry half-smile bloomed. “I don’t suppose I have a choice, do I?”
“Let’s get your trunk.”
By the time Malcolm unhitched the horses, tied his leather satchel and Adeline’s carpet bag together to sling over one the horse’s backs, and used the length of linen from his cravat to fashion a sling for Bosely’s injured arm, the rain had slowed to a steady drizzle.
Adeline stood next to her trunk. “You take one end, and I’ll take the other,” she said.
“Perhaps we should leave it behind?” he said gently. She would never be able to carry it several miles.
“Nonsense. I may besmall, but I am sturdier than I look. I can take half.” She picked up her side and sent him an imperious look.
Malcolm shrugged and picked up his end. Leading the second horse with the other hand. Their little band of rain-soaked travelers headed down the road.
Chapter Twenty
The drizzle seemedto get colder the farther they walked. The wind whipped up occasionally, blowing tree limbs and showering them with leaves and raindrops. Adeline’s glasses had misted over almost immediately, so she’d taken them off and slid them into her jacket pocket. There was no need to see the gray landscape clearly. She plodded one foot in front of the other and dearly regretted her bravado in saying she would carry one half of the trunk.
“Can we take a small break?” she asked. They moved to the side of the road and set down the trunk. Adeline squinted as she tried to assess how far they had come. But everything looked exactly the same as it had for the past hour: green fields a plenty and a long muddy road ahead.
Malcolm pulled out his watch fob. “We have been walking at a good clip for about an hour. I’d say we have walked a least two miles.”
She flexed her fingers on the hand that had gripped her half of the trunk. “I can’t believe not a single conveyance has passed by.”
“I guess they were all smarter than us and stayed put instead of traveling in the rain. Or it could be that the downed tree has stopped all traffic this way.”
That made the most sense. Adeline watched the two men exchange a look over her head. They were making decisions without her, but she was too cold to care. All she could think about was the prospect of a warm bath and a soft bed. Perhaps she wasn’t made for adventure after all. Lucy and Vi would probably be flabbergasted she had run away—correction, been kidnapped—in the first place. She rarely left the house, let alone Mayfair.
“Lady Amberley, let me take the other side of the trunk,” Mr. Bosely said.
“No, you are injured.”
