Feeling rather proud of herself, she handed him a clean cotton handkerchief.
The broken carriage had irritated him, yes, but not so much that he didn’t send her a wicked glance before opening the door and leaping out.
6
ANew Home
Pemberth had been correct—theback-left wheel had cracked right through. It wasn’t raining, or snowing, but what with Christmas just a few weeks away, winter was in the air. Lila located a conveniently placed boulder and sat huddled in her coat as the man who’d had his face between her legs a mere thirty minutes earlier lay on his back beneath the worn-out carriage, pounding and twisting at the broken wheel.
Her gaze remained fixed upon the muscles in his thighs and… higher. It was difficult to feel any sort of irritation at their delay after he’d just so recently and thoroughly… prepared her.
“Hand me that wrench, will you?”
Drake stepped forward and placed some sort of tool in Pemberth’s outstretched hand and then peered down to examine his employer’s handiwork. The driver had initially attempted to make the repair, but when he’d proven unsuccessful, Pemberth had not hesitated to crawl under the vehicle himself.
Calvin had ridden Pemberth’s mount ahead, in search of another conveyance in case this one could not be made functional again.
“The other wheel looks like it could go just as easily.” Her husband’s muffled voice carried out from beneath the coach. Lila sighed, remembering how it had felt when that same voice had been muffled by—
“But this ought to do it.” And then he was rolling out, his shirt covered in dirt and his hair looking even wilder than when it had been between her— “But we’ll have to take it slow.”
And then he was off the ground and offering her his hand. “Your carriage awaits.”
Vincent teased her but she also sensed him withdrawing once again. She wasn’t overly concerned this time. As little time as they’d spent together, she was beginning to feel as though she could know him.
He assisted her into the carriage, disappeared, she presumed to make sure they returned all the tools to the boot, and then returned just a few minutes later. She didn’t care that he was sweaty and covered with dust and grime from working beneath the vehicle.
She couldn’t help feeling more physically drawn to him than she had last night. This time, when the carriage began moving, it creaked along very slowly. The slower pace meant they’d be traveling longer but it did, however, cut down on some of the jostling and bouncing.
“Do you think we’ll have to stop again?”
He leaned back, stretching his legs across so that his feet could rest on the backward-facing bench, and closed his eyes. “This length of road is pretty isolated. No inns that I can remember. If Calvin finds anything, we’ll meet him along the way.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Lila couldn’t help asking.
“He’ll meet us at Glenn Abbey.”
He’d said he only inherited three months ago. “Have you lived there all your life?”
He nodded.
“Was your brother married?”
“Nope.”
Oh, they were back to this again. “You said tenants were leaving. Is this a recent phenomenon?”
“Define recent.” Ah, two words from him this time.
“Within the last, say, three months?” She risked souring his mood again, but she was curious about their circumstances.
“Yes.” He shifted then, raised one arm and tugged her so that she laid against him rather than the wall of the coach. “Are you done interrogating me yet?”
“You would do the same.” Although she did not appreciate his arrogant attitude, she did like the feeling of his arm around her, and the solid comfort of his chest and side. “If you were me.”
With him holding her, instead of feeling every rut the carriage drove over, she felt the gentle swell and dip of each breath he took. After riding some distance in silence, he inhaled deeply.
“I am not much of a businessman, as my brother was. We’re already in financial straits, and they fear I won’t be able to pull us out.” A long exhale. “And they’re right to do so. You’re on the bad end of a sorry bargain, Lila Saint-Pierre.”
