Page 16 of The Banished Bride
The horse slowed to a shuffling walk without much urging from its rider and took its time skirting a tall stand of gorse, careful to avoid the tangle of thorny leaves.
“Mrs. Sprague?” Alex looked around in some consternation. He was sure he had not erred in finding his way back to where he had left her an hour earlier. Surely the headstrong young lady had too much sense to set off for the border on foot, despite her obvious displeasure with having her plans summarily changed. His voice rose a notch higher. “Mrs. Sprague?”
There was a faint rustling of leaves, then what sounded suspiciously like an oath. The top of Aurora’s head appeared from behind a drywall, followed by much heaving and scrabbling before the rest of her came into view.
He had to repress a chuckle as she swiped at the bits of thistle and hay that clung in her hair. “When I said to lay low, I did not mean for you to take it quite so literally.”
A curl fell over her cheek. “It’s all very well for you to laugh, sir,” she replied with some indignation. “But I was only following your orders. A shepherd was approaching with his flock, and as you said it was best to remain out of sight, I made to duck behindthe wall. How was I supposed to know there was a rather deep drainage ditch running the length of it?”
“Well, there is an old adage—look before you leap.” She looked, Alex decided, ready to leap down his throat if he continued with such teasing. So, much as he enjoyed the way her green eyes turned to molten jade when she was angry, he left off trying to provoke her. Dismounting, he went to fish out her valise from the overgrown whin and brambles.
“Yes, well, I should definitely have looked before I leapt into my carriage the other day,” she muttered. “I would avoided a great deal of bother had I done so.”
“I am cut to the quick to think you are not enjoying my scintillating company.” He grinned. “Most females do, you know.”
“Somehow, I doubt the wound will prove mortal to your vanity, Major Woodmore,” she retorted. “Am I really supposed to be impressed with your irresistible charm and polish? So far, I have been accosted with a knife, forced to nurse my delirious assailant, then dragged from my bed by another deadly attack and made to flee in the dead of night.” Aurora crossed her arms and scowled. ”Robbie would be thrilled, for she dotes on Mrs. Radcliffe’s novels, but I am not.”
His lips twitched. “No? What happened to the starry-eyed notions of romance that every young lady secretly entertains, no matter her avowals to the contrary?”
There was a brief silence, broken only by the harsh cawing of a solitary raven. “Marriage happened,” she finally answered, her voice as tight as the fists that were clenched at her sides. “And real life. Storybook romance has no place in such a world.” She brushed away another wisp of hair that the wind had loosened. “Shouldn’t we be moving on, Major Woodmore?”
Alex’s expression sobered considerably. “Right.” He moved to tie her bag behind the saddle, alongside his own meagerpossessions, but found it hard to drag his thoughts away from the conundrum she presented. It was difficult to reconcile the hardened cynicism of her words with the look of achingly youthful—almost waiflike—vulnerability that she tried so hard to cover with her scowls and frowns. Had the past really been so wretched as to strip her of fanciful dreams? Of?—
“… able to find no other mount?” Aurora stared at the nag he had secured from the run-down inn.
He head came round at her pointed inquiry. “There was little choice,” he explained. “Besides, it was best not to attract undue attention by asking for two horses. With any luck, our adversary will think that you have managed to give both of us the slip.” He fastened a last knot. “Don’t worry, we don’t have far to go.”
“Surely you cannot mean to?—”
His hands went around her waist as she spoke and swung her up across the pommel of saddle with ease. He spent a moment arranging the folds of her skirts, then found the stirrup with his boot and mounted as well.
“Major Woodmore,” she began again.
“Mrs. Sprague, a clandestine mission such as this one demands that I keep my true identity a secret. It would be best if you did not continue to use that name. ”
“I can see the sense of that.” She paused. “What would you have me call you then, sir?”
“Alex will do nicely.”
“I hardly think?—”
“After all,” he reasoned, not without a mischievous grin,” We have gotten to be on rather intimate terms, having seen each other in various stages of undress over the past few days.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “That is not very gentlemanly of you to bring up,” she muttered. “Still, I suppose that what you suggest is acceptable, given the circumstances.” Pulling away from his person as much as her awkward position would allow,she added,” However, it does not mean that I consider us friends.”
“No, of course not, Aurora,” he murmured, drawing her rigid back closer to his chest.
“Insufferable man,” she said through clenched teeth, but the shambling gait of the nag made it impossible to resist without resorting to an undignified squirming. Instead, she clamped her jaw shut and fell into a stony silence,
For a time, the only sounds were the dull thud of the horse’s hooves on the damp earth and the swish of the tall grasses against its flanks. After a mile or so, Alex turned their direction from following the rough cart path and struck out for the top of a rocky knoll.
“Where are we going?” Aurora finally demanded, curiosity winning out over her resolve to ignore her companion.
Alex didn’t answer, but spurred the animal into a semblance of a trot. Once they had crested the rise, he paused for a moment to survey the area, then gave a tug to the reins, urging their mount down into a small valley that looked to be nothing more than a sliver of overgrown pastureland cut out from the thick forest of oak and evergreens. The splash of water over stones soon revealed the presence of a small river skirting the edge of the woods as the animal picked its way through the thistles and thorns. It wasn’t until they had descended to its banks that a small, thatched-roof, stone cottage became discernable up ahead, its weathered grey hue nearly melding into the outcropping of granite that stood in its lee.
Drawing the pistol from his coat pocket, Alex slid from the saddle and lifted Aurora to the ground as well. “Stay here,” he ordered in a low whisper, then moved off with quick but noiseless steps toward the low structure. In a matter of moments, he had disappeared the far corner.
His movements became much more deliberate as he edged the wall, his back pressed up against the damp stone. The rough planked door was firmly shut and the lack of any smoke curling up from the chimney seemed to indicate the place was utterly deserted. He stopped long enough to sound three short whistles.
