My heart froze for a breath, two, before racing ahead to compensate.
“What if he refuses me?” I whispered, breathless.
“Then he’s not worthy of you and it’s a problem solved in advance. A man ought to have thick skin and very little pride if he’s to be yours.”
“I have to go.” I shoved my chair back, scraping it against the half-finished wood. I rounded the table, making for the door.
I was halfway there before he called out, “Davina?”
“Yes?” I spun on my heel to face him.
“For the love of all that is holy, please promise to lie to me about the events of your adventure for the rest of our days.”
I rushed back to his side and learned down to wrap an arm around his shoulders with a squeeze.
“I swear.”
“Thank you. Now go find him.”
I raced down the hall, nearly crashing into the housekeeper, and caught her about the shoulders. “The stables?”
“Turn left, just down the path,” she said, not even raising a brow in surprise.
“Thank you,” I called, already making for the door. I had an abduction to carry out.
Thirty-Eight
NORTH ROAD—APRIL 16, 1817
KIT
It waswith a numb kind of exhaustion that I tipped my head back against the seat, willing the miles away. My only relief was the knowledge that the blasted so-called carriage we’d set off in was rotting on the roadside somewhere.
I’d left before the sun and it was barely beginning to kiss the horizon.
Up front, Rory intended to take me only as far as the first inn, where I could hire drivers for the rest of my travels. I rather thought my return journey would be lonelier and a lot less eventful than the last.
My heart gave a disgruntled thump in my aching chest at the thought. I didn’t want an uneventful trip. I didn’t want an uneventfullife. Not any longer.
There were bits of Davina scattered all throughout the carriage. I found a new hairpin trapped between the floorboards. Silken strands of her hair had tangled in the velvet fabric of the seat. Every breath was filled with her earthy amber scent.
A sensible man would’ve opened the window, bequeathed the strands of hair to the wind, and allowed the fresh air to wipe away the essence of her. A smart man would’ve given the pin to the mud. Apparently, I was a self-loathing one.
I kept the window shut tight and the curtains drawn. Locking myself in this tomb with only memories of her. Hoarding each inhale like a precious jewel. Much like the one tucked on my knuckle, the one that looked and felt unnatural there in a way it never had when I brushed it with my thumb while it lived on Davina’s finger.
It was a bitter kind of irony, in truth. I’d accepted the inevitable. I would fulfill my duties as an earl. As such, I could give any woman anything her heart desired. Except Davina. Wild, reckless Davina, who wanted nothing less than the life I offered.
The miles rolled by, punctuated only by an occasional jolt perpetuated by a rut in the road that had my empty stomach turning over.
What was I to do now? I hadn’t been lying when I told Davina the rest of my life would seem ordinary by comparison. The thought was suddenly an unbearable prison.
And the knowledge that such a loving, vivacious soul feared love itself… The world was worse for it.
The carriage came to an abrupt stop at the same time I heard Rory cry, “Whoa!”
Presumably, another carriage passed on a too-narrow stretch. I didn’t bother to open the curtain. There was nothing for me outside.
Suddenly, the handle turned on the door of its own volition. Too quick for me to react, it flung open to reveal the most breathtaking sight of my life.
