More good news. “Is there a place that we may see to ourselves?” he asked.
“The privy is out back. There is a place to wash as well.”
“Thank you.” Now Kit had to ask the question that might be problematic. “You wouldn’t be needing some help? I mean, my wife”—he pulled Elise forward, draping a husbandly arm over her shoulder—“and I were left stranded. I will cut wood, nail boards, help with horses?” There had been a time when, beyond the care of horses, those other tasks had been a mystery. Dukes didn’t do manual labor. However, since setting off on his travels, Kit had learned to become quite skilled with his hands. He would never have survived otherwise. Elise hadn’t moved from under Kit’s arm and seemed to lean into him so thathe imagined they presented a lovely picture of a young, stranded couple.
“My Clive could use help,” Mrs. Sarver jumped in, with a beseeching glance at her father-in-law. “It would be nice to have him home early one evening.”
“All right then,” Sarver said. “Cox, you can help with the horses. Maybe I’ll gain another grandbaby out of this evening. I would happily take a hundred of these—”
“Mr.Sarver,” his daughter-in-law exclaimed, her face a bright, but happy red.
He laughed. “Ah, lass, you are too easy to tease.” He turned his attention back to Kit and Elise. “Help my son and I’ll serve you a meal that will fill your belly for days. And I am sorry for your troubles. It isn’t your fault Morris drove into a storm. I always said the man’s driving was dangerous. I’m just glad you are alive. My wife will set plates out for you when we are ready to serve supper.”
“I’ll fetch needle and thread for your dress,” the young Mrs. Sarver said to Elise. She took her baby from her father-in-law. The child made some sort of silly noise as if wishing to be back in her grandfather’s arms.
Kit eyed that little being with a touch of surprise. He’d rarely been around babies. His family circle was very small, and he’d spent most of his youth in school. He wondered why that little scene among family made him feel... envious.
The Sarvers disappeared through a door that must have led to the kitchen and back rooms.
And Elise stepped out of his hold.“Wife?”She didn’t bother to whisper.
Kit sent a warning glance at the table of villagers. She was so cross, she seemed not to care. “What else should I have said? My paramour? My mistress?”
“Your traveling companion?” she suggested.
“Elise, do you really think Mrs. Sarver would believe that we are marching around together and not a couple of some sort? We can be a couple in sin or a couple by all that is holy.”
“I think it is a sin to lie about something like that.”
When she was angry her Irish truly came out and brought a sparkle to her eye. He liked it—
“What are you grinning at?” she snapped.
He knew better than to answer that question. “Elise, we will never see these people again. They don’t care what I claim as long as it fits their definition of what is right or wrong. I decided to be right.”
“But it isn’t right to lie.”
“It isn’t right to run away. And if you are so upset, then correct me the next time I make such a claim. Tell everyone that we are not married, that you have been in my company for days.”
“Not by choice. There was the accident.”
“Do you think this country society is different from London Society?”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he wasn’tabout to let her. “People always assume the worst, Elise. It is as if they can’t help themselves.”
The worry line made its appearance between her brows, and he had the urge to smooth it away. “It will be fine,” he promised.
The line didn’t budge.
However, at that moment, Mrs. Sarver popped through the kitchen door. “I found thread and needle. Come, Mrs. Cox. You can repair the tear in the back room.”
Elise did not correct her use of the title.
As they left, Kit heard Elise ask, “Where is your daughter?”
“In the hands of her grandmother,” was the reply, and then the women were gone, the door closing behind them.
Kit went outside and over to the barn to talk to Clive.
