The woman glanced at the now closed curtain, shrugged and set her offering onto the table.
Keeping her eyes down and wishing she could fan her burning cheeks, Aubrey selected one of each. “I won’t be needing anything else.” She smiled in an attempt to hide the embarrassment that… that…––roguish blackguard!––had caused her. She did not want to sit here with an entire tray of sinful treats tempting her, she was likely to consume them all. “You may take the rest away.”
She hardly managed to breathe until the woman had left and closed the door behind her once again.
Aubrey touched her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut.
He’d known she was watching him all along.
And to say what he did! How positively horrid! How absolutely reprehensible!
The wicked thrill he’d sent spiraling through her entire body ought to have turned her into a tingling mass of shame. Because to suggest such a thing to a lady! She may have been contemplating inappropriate thoughts but that didn’t mean he ought to speak them aloud!
It was… unconscionable!
The words echoed tauntingly as she played them in her mind once again.
Perhaps the beautiful princess at the window would like a kiss from the stranger she has been watching, no?
She barely nibbled at the pastry before giving up altogether and then rising to return to the inn keeper’s desk. Her chamber ought to be readied by now. As a lady traveling alone, she ought not to remain downstairs for long. Already, fellows in the tap room sounded a bit boisterous.
“You must have something available.”
Aubrey’s ears perked up to hear the same gravelly accented voice from the window now coming from the direction of the inn keeper’s desk.
“I don’t require much. Just a small room with a cot. I’m not picky.” His French accent, although faint, lent a seductive quality to every word he spoke.
And she rather enjoyed that this cocksure gentleman would be sleeping on a cot that night. He rather deserved it after the joke he’d pulled on her.
Aubrey stepped up behind him and laughed just loud enough for him to turn and glance over his shoulder. By the look in his eyes, he failed to appreciate the humor of the situation.
“I’m glad you find my situation amusing.” He addressed her this time, and then turned back to the gentleman behind the counter.Amoosing. A thrill of… something danced down her spine at the sound of his accent. She would not attempt to identify what that particularsomethingwas. He was a perfect stranger, for heaven’s sake.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Bateman.” The inn keeper shrugged apologetically. “With so few inns along this route, we fill up quickly. There is another down the road a few miles. Perhaps they will have a bed for you there.”
The man… Mr. Bateman, exhaled loudly and scrubbed one hand down his face. Aubrey couldn’t help but notice that even more of his reddish-brown hair had escaped its que.
She wondered if it felt as soft and silky as it looked.
Shaking off such unseemly thoughts, she pulled her shoulders back and stepped up to the counter herself. “I believe my chamber should be readied now?” She smiled at the innkeeper without acknowledging the disturbing man beside her. “Mrs. Ambrosia Bloomington,” she volunteered. “Mrs. Neskers said it was being readied.”
The innkeeper did not quite meet her eyes. “I’m sorry to inform you, Mrs. Bloomington,” The man rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. “That the room isn’t going to be available, after all.”
A deep male chuckle sounded beside her.
Aubrey pursed her lips. “But Mrs. Neskers— “
“Was unaware that the current occupants had decided to remain for an additional night.” He cut her off.
“What am I to do? You must have something.”
The knight in somewhat tarnished armor now, nay—Mr. Bateman—chuckled again but when she glared at him, he not so discreetly turned it into a dry cough.
Why was it that even his laughter sounded so ridiculously…sensual? She stared at him haughtily this time. “This is notamoosing.” She scolded. And then back to the innkeeper. “I would have not wasted so much daylight, if I’d known. It’s going to be dark soon. I insist you make accommodations available for me tonight.”
“I’m sorry Mrs. Bloomington. There is nothing we can do. There are a few establishments east of here where you might be able to acquire a room, but I wouldn’t dawdle if I were you. I’d imagine they only have one or two left, if that.”
His voice broached no argument and Aubrey was not a person who enjoyed confrontation. She supposed, too, that he was making some attempt to be helpful. She only hoped her driver had not settled in for the night.
