It didn’t seem possible for him to be here.Here. In a small coach house in the middle of nowhere. How could he have known that she was here?
He should not have even known she had left home.
She pressed her ear to the door again. “Are you quite well, sir?” she heard the innkeeper ask solicitously.
“Got the devil of a headache.”
Yes, that was Jacob all right. Terser than she remembered him, with less of that lazy drawl. Here, it seemed as though it was on a tight leash.
She kept listening, but what remained of their exchange was lost to the general sound of the inn, and eventually she gave up, pacing the small room.Hadhe come for her? The thought took root, growing in her until it was inescapable, large and flowering and unbearably sweet.
Before she could think better of it, she strode to the door and wrenched it open. And there he was, casting the innkeeper into obscurity by his height and his devastating handsomeness. His hair was a trifle too long, falling into his face, and his expression was a little rumpled, like a piece of cloth fisted in one’s hand until the creases became part of the fabric itself.
He looked up at the sound of her quiet gasp, and his expression turned razor-sharp. “Well met, little bird,” he said in a voice of anger and want like curling smoke. “May I come in?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The innkeeper frowned, and Jacob waved a dismissive hand. “My sister,” he explained, giving Annabelle a distinctly unbrotherly smile. “No doubt she neglected to tell you she had run away from home. Never mind. I’m here to collect her.”
Annabelle’s spine stiffened. So hehadcome after her, but not forher. It was just so he could drag her back home and Henry could walk her down the aisle to a gentleman who would restore her reputation.
Well, if Jacob wasn’t willing to marry her himself, he could hardly expect her to go along with his ridiculous plot to keep her from ruination.
It was a little late for that.
She glowered at him, and he waited as though he knew she would be forced to claim the relationship. The innkeeper’s frown was deepening, and this was not a place where she wanted to draw attraction to herself or cause a scene.
“That’s right,” she said as he gave a satisfied smile. “He’s mybrother.”
“Thank you,” Jacob said, tossing a careless coin to the innkeeper and striding towards Annabelle. Before she could even attempt to shut the door in his face or turn him away, he was inside, looking around the small space, his gaze landing on the folded newspaper, the letter, and the book of sonnets. An unreadable emotion flashed across his face.
“Why are you here?” she demanded, folding her arms and forcing herself not to be swayed by the dangerous glint in his eyes, or the stubble that marked his chin, or the worn quality of his face, as though he had aged five years in the month they had been apart.
Her heart gave a traitorous leap.
“Did my brother send you? Did he think that I might be more likely to return home with you than him?”
Jacob gave a short, hard laugh. “Your brother was ardently against me finding you, little bird.”
“Then why are you here? And how did youfindme?”
“Why do you think?” He stepped up to her, closer, closer, too close, until her nose was level with his chin and his scent wrapped around her. Horses and leather and that amber scent she always associated with him. “Because you ran away from home and could be in any amount of danger. Do you suppose I would sit indifferent in London when I discovered you were missing?”
“But how?”
“Louisa,” he said shortly. “As for how I found you—that was a challenge, I’ll admit, but a lady travelling alone is somewhat singular. And you are pretty enough that people remembered your face.” He reached out to tug at one of her curls. “Then it was merely a matter of checking the inns along your route until I found the one you were staying at.” His jaw clenched and he looked abruptly away. “What were you thinking?” he asked in a quiet, intense voice that made her skin prickle. “Coming out here alone? Anything could have happened to you.”
“I can take care of myself.” As she had admirably proven thus far.
“Can you now?” He gave a harsh laugh. “So long as no one takes advantage of you. What of your future plans?”
“I have been accepted to a very respectable position.”
His eyes narrowed. “A position?”
“As a governess.”
“And you think working as a drudge in someone else’s house would be preferable to marriage?” He cursed, the sound so explosive she flinched. “Do you think you would be safe and cared for there? Did you truly believe you would have the life you always wanted while subservient to others’ children?”
