“Or abandoned you, taking your dog. I understand.” He seemed sad as he finished for her, his shoulders slumped. “I’m going to go downstairs. Shall I have something sent up for you?”
Ambrosia turned back. “I just didn’t know.”
He nodded and then ran one hand through his hair. “There’s no need to explain. You don’t really know me, after all.”
But she did!
She wanted to say something to make them both feel better, but he was already backing out the door. “You’ll want to put him on a stronger string,” he said, and in the blink of an eye, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
A BUMP IN THE ROAD
After a restless night, Ambrosia awoke early, donned the dress she’d brushed out the evening before, knotted her hair tightly behind her head, and determined she would most definitely not be an emotional ninny today.
She would not sit in her chamber waiting for Dash to come for her this morning. With a decisive snap, she closed her valise. She would go downstairs, order her own breakfast, and then seek out Mr. Daniels.
She would take charge of her day.
But at the top of the stairs, strong hands caught her by the shoulders. “Whoa there.” His voice was warm with laughter as her valise thudded to the floor. “Were you planning to sneak off without me?”
It was clearly a joke. But still.
“We’ll want to make an early start,” she said, looking at the floor.
She meant it to sound brisk. Practical. But then she made the mistake of meeting his eyes—and all that defiance wavered.
Because the look he gave her could only be described as… tender.
He reached for her hands, engulfing them in his.
“Ambrosia,” he murmured, eyes fixed on where their fingers intertwined, then rising to meet hers. “I hate that I’ve hurt you.”
His voice, gruff and low, cracked just slightly, and in those stormy blue eyes, there was something close to pleading.
“You’ve been nothing but kind.” She straightened her shoulders in an attempt to gather her wits and step away, but he would not release her hands.
“But I scared you. I ought to have realized how frightened you would be and not blamed you for thinking the worst of me. I am sorry. Forgive me, princesse?”
“There is nothing to forgive. You are a free man. It’s just that…” I know that you are going to leave me eventually—that I will never see you again after we part.
He leaned down, hovered for an instant, and then dropped a kiss on the curve of her cheek. He hovered there longer than necessary, his breath heating her skin, almost as though he was contemplating his next move.
Ambrosia dissolved beneath it, her body softening, her very bones seeming to melt away. She tipped her head, offering her neck, her shoulders—anything, everything—if only he would continue.
“We shall have a good day today, eh? We are friends, non?” He drew back, and the sudden absence left her chilled, flustered… and aching. She noticed, too, how his accent thickened—something she had come to recognize as a sign of deep emotion.
She nodded and bent to retrieve her valise. “We are,” she said quietly, and when she looked up again, she added a bright smile for good measure. “And we’re going to have a lovely day.”
She meant it. Truly, she did.
The time they’d spent together already felt…precious—something she knew she’d carry with her long after they reached London. And though she’d tried not to think on it too much, she realized with a pang that they weren’t as far from the city as she’d hoped.
Soon—too soon—this strange, beautiful interlude would end.
But she wouldn’t ruin it by sulking. She wouldn’t waste these final hours wishing things were different.
She would enjoy every last moment. Even if her heart ached for more.
Dash scooped Mr. Dog into his arms, and, reminded of what he’d said last night, she laughed.
