Chapter 6
Aubrey
As the sun began to set and they entered the only village for miles, Aubrey furrowed her brows at what appeared to be an inordinate amount of carriages and people milling about. When they pulled into a crowded inn yard, Mr. Bateman told her to wait a moment while he secured them a room.
A room. Surely, he meant separate quarters for each of them. Aubrey had no reason not to trust him on this matter. He’d already slept on a cot one night, allowing her to take sole possession of the only available room.
“What do you think, Mr. Dog?” Knowing Cochran Charles Bateman, he likely was also reserving a private dining room for the two of them and ordering one of everything the cook had made up that day. “Will Mr. Bateman have any luck?
Mr. Dog, who was standing at attention on his hind legs looking out the window merely turned to stare at her and tilted his head. That tongue of his, of course, draped out the left side of his mouth this time. “I’ll bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?” She’d given him a few left-over potatoes from their nuncheon but the poor thing had struggled to smash it up inside of his mouth. “I’ll get some milk to soak your food tonight. You poor baby.”
“They’re full up. Some sort of market going on tomorrow. The inn keep doubts we’ll find anything open this time of day. But you needn’t worry.” Only then did she notice the folded canvas material that he carried along with a bundle of rope.
She frowned. Surely, he didn’t intend that the two of them would—
“Don’t tell me that you doubt my ability to set up a comfortable camp? You wound me,Princesse.” He swung his large body back into the carriage and gave Mr. Daniels instructions while Aubrey processed the fact that she was, indeed, going to have to sleep outside. “Once you’ve slept in the tent I build for you, you’ll never long for a chamber again.”
A tent.
With Mr. Bateman.
And… Mr. Daniels.
And Mr. Dog.
“What if it rains?” Perhaps she’d find a way to get comfortable inside of the carriage, although it wasn’t long, or wide enough for her to stretch out.
Mr. Bateman dropped an arm around her shoulders and gave a reassuring squeeze. “They didn’t allow dogs, anyway. Trust me, this is for the best. And then we’ve only a few days left till we reach London. Nothing like sleeping beneath the stars. You’ll wish we’d been doing this all along.”
Aubrey quivered but it had nothing to do with any fear of the evening ahead. No, it had everything to do with having this man’s arm wrapped around her.
She was coming to like the feeling far too much.
Ten minutes later, Mr. Daniels pulled off the road into what seemed a relatively private copse of trees.
Mr. Bateman jumped to the ground and then assisted her out as well. “Are you ready to get to work,Princesse?”
“Um…” She assessed the area and nodded. She supposed if they were going to sleep outside, this was as good a place as any.
Cradling Mr. Dog as though he was an infant, Aubrey glanced around at the trees, the ground littered with rocks and leaves and… bugs. And shivered at the prospect of the night ahead.
“You can fetch water for the horses off to the left over there.” Mr. Bateman instructed Mr. Daniels. Aubrey stood, feeling at quite a loss as to what she ought to do while he strung his rope from tree to tree and then back again. A structure of some sort began to emerge when he arranged the canvas material over it. When he’d finished, he glanced up at Aubrey. “If I’m not mistaken, along with your enticing nightwear, you’ve a few quilts stored away in that trunk.”
“Oh, yes. Yes.” She placed Mr. Dog on the ground, tying his leading string to a tree and forced herself to summon enthusiasm for this endeavor. After all, it wasn’t Mr. Bateman’s fault that they had to sleep outdoors. In fact, if not for him, she’d be forced to do so … likely inside the carriage.
In the dark.
Alone.
Mr. Daniels had hefted two of her trunks off the carriage and Aubrey rifled through them until she located the quilts she’d packed so carefully a little over one week before.
“I’ve my own.” Mr. Daniels declined the primrose print she offered up. She hadn’t given a great deal of thought to where her driver had been sleeping. But of course, he’d have some sort of provision in the vehicle.
“Bring those over here,Princesse.”
Aubrey scurried around the carriage to the shelter Mr. Bateman had built and grudgingly admitted to herself that it wasn’t nearly as primitive as she’d imagined. He’d even used one of the large pieces of canvas to cover the ground.
One.
