He straightened. “It’s not the first time I’ve been mistaken, and in fact I thought the same thing about my ward when I first saw his pretty face, but he offered to show me his manly credentials.”
“I knew I should’ve grabbed my pistol instead of clenching my fist.Wench!Some insults cannot be suffered. This is where we’ll be parting—”
“Hold on,” he said, and stopped her as she leapt up to mount Snow. The sensation of his hands on her waist startled her, but he removed them as soon as her feet were on the ground again. “I’ll apologize if I must, but surely I’m not the first to make that assumption—considering.”
“Consideringwhat?” she growled.
“Your narrow shoulders and waist, your smooth ivory cheeks, which I caught a glimpse of, and that hood you obviously hide under. I suppose you’re too young to grow a beard, but at least do what I suggested and muck up your face with some dirt so you can take off that hood.”
“I’m not hiding. The hood protects me from the wind when I’m riding.”
“You aren’t riding now!” he replied, his tone turning jocular. “Well, if you’re just afraid of being recognized by someone we cross paths with, then by all means continue as you are,boy, and accept my profuse apology. I’m learning something about hiding m’self, so who am I to complain about other people’s behavior, eh? You’re still welcome to stay with us. There’s safety in numbers, and you know how to use those pistols you tote. And don’t forget you find me interesting.”
Was he joking now? “Youandthe boy!” she yelled after him. She stared at Monty’s back as he returned to Charley to finish his lunch. He’d conceded she was a boy, hadn’t he? This was the first time on her journey anyone had challenged her about her sex. But until now she hadn’t met anyone she’d wanted to converse with at length or share a meal with. She suddenly realized it didn’t matter if Monty and his ward eventually figured out she was a female. Well, it was scandalous behavior to pass herself off as a boy, but they would never find out who she really was, and in a few days they would part ways and she’d never see them again.
She would still prefer to maintain her male persona because it made traveling so much easier. Besides, why should she volunteer any information about herself when they were concealing their own true identities? But she did concede that Monty had a point. She had to be more careful not to let anyone get a good look at her face, which clearly proclaimed her a female!
She looked at the grass and frowned as she bent down to sift through it until she reached some dirt. Then she quickly straightened and brushed off her hands, laughing. She wouldn’t go that far to convince anyone she was a boy. She’d put her scarf back on instead.
Chapter Eight
THEY REACHED THE FLYINGCoach inn by dusk that night. Arlo had stopped briefly that afternoon in a small town and purchased a hooded cloak for Charley. It was a very plain brown woolen one but it covered his pretty golden locks and concealed his jeweled collar. The servant was also wearing one now.In solidarity with his master? Vanessa wondered. In any case, she felt better about wearing her hood inside the inn because with the three of them hooded she was much less conspicuous.
She had stayed at several of the inns operated by the Flying Coach company on her way south. Based in Manchester, Flying Coach had built numerous inns along the route to London to accommodate the passengers in their vehicles and to honor their claim of comfortably transporting their customers from Manchester to London in three and a half days. But one of those coaches had just passed through and dropped off a number of passengers for the night, leaving only two rooms available for anyone else.
Of course Monty took both of them, but Vanessa didn’t like it when she heard him tell Charley, “You and Arlo can share a room, Nestor will bunk with me in the other.”
“I thought you said your ward was never going to be out of your sight,” Vanessa reminded him.
“Charley and I discussed the matter in the coach. He expressed a strong preference for sharing a room with his longtime servant, and since I’ll be next door and the innkeeper confirmed the doors have locks, I decided to grant his wish—amends, as it were.”
“For?”
“If you’d heard his tirade about having to wear a woolen cloak and hood, you wouldn’t ask. The boy thinks wool belongs on sheep and nowhere else.”
She might have laughed, but for the second time that day she wondered if he still suspected she was a female and was testing her for a show of maidenly outrage. Earlier, when his coach had pulled over for a relief stop, he’d called to her, “Over here, Ness,” as if he expected her to join him and the boy as they faced the same tree.
She had already intended to use a copse of trees, which she’d spotted before the coach stopped, so she said simply, “I’ll find my own tree, thank you.”
“Embarrassed by size?”
She was glad she’d read the anatomy book one of her tutors had given her and didn’t have to ask what he meant. “Yes, if you must know.”
“All right then!” he yelled, but he also laughed, confirming her initial impression that he was only teasing.
But sharing a room with her wasn’t a tease. Either he no longer suspected that she was female and saw nothing wrong with the arrangement—or just the opposite. In which case, he probably expected her to go back outside and sleep on Snow again instead of rooming with him for the night. Or maybe he was trying to force her to admit she was female and demand the room for herself. She did neither—yet.
Her heart raced with indecision. She knew it was scandalous to share a room with a man, but this man had no idea who she was. She decided to accept his dare—if that’s truly what it was. After all, she wasn’t sure if he still suspected she was female, so why give up her male identity before she had to? Besides, she was intrigued with him. Why couldn’t she have a little fun and observe him up close? She wouldn’t let anything truly improper happen.
“I’m going to go check on Snow to make sure he’s settled properly for the night,” she told her companions.
“Or hie off on him without a goodbye?”
With only a glance over her shoulder on the way out of the inn, she told Monty, “Not a’tall. If we’re eating, order me whatever you’re having, I’ll be only a few minutes.”
In the stable she saw that Snow had been unsaddled and his stall was full of hay. She wondered if she should just sleep on his back again. Logically, Monty should be sharing a room with Charley and she should be sharing one with Arlo. Were the current sleeping arrangements really Monty’s way of making amends to Charley?
“Ye’re with those people by choice?”
