When he found him, Jonathan paid him good coin.“Clear a table by the fire, if you please, or put us in a private salon, suitable for a lady and her maid.”
The man looked over his crowded dining room and raised his eyebrows.But then he nodded.“I don’t have a private room, my lord, but I’ll get you settled, right quick.”
With Jonathan’s money jangling in his pocket, he strode directly to a prime table by the roaring hearth.These individuals were dispatched to find themselves shared seating, dotted around the room, wherever they could fit.Then he brushed the table clean himself with a handkerchief and gestured them over.
Jonathan settled both women at the table, and took the third chair, at the same time ordering tea for all of them.Time to stop the ale now that he had no sorrows to drown.
“Are you hungry?”he asked, too excited to wait for an answer.Of course they’d just had a long trip, and he was suddenly famished.“And three plates of stew, if you please.And bread.”
“Extra for butter,” the landlord said.“Would you like some, my lord?”
“But of course,” Jonathan said.He was in such good humor, he would have paid extra for each breath of air, too.“And cheese, if you have it.”
Lise had undone her sodden cloak, revealing flushed cheeks and dripping hair, which she squeezed into the blue garment before letting it fall over the chair back.Anna did the same with hers.When Jonathan scooted his chair closer to Lise, she looked at him and smiled so hugely, he thought his heart would burst.
“How?”was all he managed.
While she told him that she and her family had been at this very port mere days earlier, he couldn’t stop touching her.His fingers upon her arm, her shoulder, her hand, as though confirming her reality.
Lise spoke quickly, Anna watching them both, beaming, clearly pleased to be indoors with the promise of a hot meal.And then Lise began to hiccup.
“That comes from talking too fast,” Anna declared, and poured the tea from the glazed brown teapot a serving boy had just placed on their table with three cups and a small jug of milk.
“Breathe, my love,” Jonathan said, nearly reaching out to stroke her cheek.He caught himself and patted her back instead until she held up her hand to stop him.
They sat in joyful silence for a few minutes, drinking tea.And when Lise managed to stop hiccupping, the food was placed in front of them.
“I thought I was seeing things,” Jonathan confessed.“I thought the ale had gone to my head.”
A laugh escaped her.“I’m real.Have I told you how much I love this incessant English rain?”
He laughed, too.Then he couldn’t help himself.He put his arm around her shoulders, causing her to exclaim in surprise.But she didn’t rebuke him when he pulled her close and buried his face in her damp hair, breathing in the scent of her.
“Thank God,” he murmured, knowing his prayers had been answered.
“My lord,” Anna said.“You must release Fräulein von Ostenfeld.There might be someone here who knows you.”
He glanced around, having almost forgotten they were in a dockside public house.
“I know you are correct, Anna, but all of these people are going overseas soon.Not back to London.Except for us.”He took his hand away anyway, knowing she was correct and he was overstepping.
“I’m thrilled not to be getting back on a ship,” Lise said.
He startled.“Would you have come after me?Just you and Anna?Do your parents even know you’re here?”
Not that it mattered.He would marry her and make them a respectable couple as soon as possible.
“Mama let me come, although she didn’t ask my father, so I have no idea how she is faring or whether he is livid with her.And me.But no, I did not have her permission to board a vessel and sail away.It’s a good thing I don’t have to do so, isn’t it?”
Anna’s eyes were wide as she spooned the beef stew into her mouth, then paused.“I had no idea you were planning on taking me across the Channel again.I wouldn’t have liked that one bit, Fräulein.”
Jonathan laughed at her tone.“The only traveling we shall do is by private coach to London.”
“But not tonight, my lord,” Anna said.“We must be practical.It’s nearly dark.We need proper lodging for the night.And soon.I don’t believe my mistress should be seen sitting in a taproom once we’ve finished eating.Not without causing talk.”
Jonathan had been chewing bread while gazing at Lise, who was managing to eat stew while staring back at him.Her blue eyes were fairly dancing.With effort, he gave Anna his attention, divided though it was.
Practical matters.Yes, indeed.He was a grown man, not some lovesick boy.He would get them sorted.
