The innkeeper met him at the bottom of the stairs. “My lord. I have been asked to personally deliver this to ye.”
Finlay snatched the note from his hand, immediately noticing the ribbon. It was Willamina’s. She had worn it on the first day of their trip on the way to Inverness.
Untying the ribbon, he unfolded the paper and read the words that shattered his heart.
Dearest Finlay,
I must apologize for not saying goodbye. I knew if I did, I would never be able to leave. Thank ye for the memories of last night. Thank ye for showing me what it felt like to be loved. I will forever treasure them and ye in my heart and mind. Ye will soon forget about me and find yourself a proper wife, as ye should have done from the beginning. Now ye can do so. Our marriage is void, so ’tis like it never happened. I am sorry for any pain caused, but please know ’tis for the best.
Mina
The roar that burst through his chest had the innkeeper running back into the room. “My lord?”
“My wife. What time did she leave?”
“I-I,” the man stuttered.
“What time?” he asked again, his voice deathly low.
“Just after six, my lord.”
“By carriage?”
The man shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. “I dinna ken, my lord. I did no’ watch her after she closed the door.”
“Hold our room until I return. I dinna ken when that will be, but ye will be compensated well.”
“Aye, my lord.”
Finlay barely heard the innkeeper’s answer as he was already out the door, looking down one side of the road and then the other side as if he would get a glimpse of her.
He cursed. He never slept in late. The one time he did was the time Willamina upped and left. She had two hours on him. She had to have gone to Warton House.
Why the hell would she want to go back there? Especially after what Gerard had done to her. But where else would she go?
He called for a carriage and waited for what seemed like hours for it to arrive, though it was only minutes. He rattled off the address to Warton House, telling the driver to make haste, and jumped into the carriage. The whole ride worry for Willamina consumed him. Along with why. Over and over again, his mind kept asking the same question.
It made no sense. She had never loved Gerard.
She never loved him either, he reminded himself. She’d never returned the sentiment when he confessed to her the previous night.
Nay, he refused to believe that she didn’t have any feelings for him. She may not have voiced them, but they were there. In the way she looked at him. The way her eyes followed his movements. The lilt to her voice when she spoke to him. The passion in her kisses.
And last night. There was absolutely no way naught of that was real. It wasn’t an act.
The carriage jostled along and he willed the horses to go faster.
He just had to get to her. To make her see that the past didn’t matter. Gerard didn’t matter. Whatever his reasoning was for what he did, it didn’t matter. They could move forward and forget about Inverness. Go back to Edinburgh and build a life together.
He pushed his hands through his hair in frustration at how long the ride was taking. Anger and worry consumed him, warring within him. Anger at Gerard, the piece of shite, and worry that Willamina, in trying to fix things, was only going to make matters worse.
What if he got to Warton House and Willamina wasn’t there? What then? And it hit him then. No matter how much time he and Willamina had spent together these last few weeks, there was much he didn’t know about her. She was still a mystery.
One that he would gladly solve if she gave him the chance. His heart ached. Worse than that. It felt like it had been ripped from his chest.
The carriage jolted to a stop and he jerked forward. Seeing Warton House outside the window, he pushed the door open and jumped out of the carriage. Running to the door, he pounded his fist on the wood, not caring if he woke up the whole damn neighborhood.
