Page 23 of An Arranged Marriage with a Mad Marquess
“You can see what the trouble is. Our way is blocked, and this is the fastest way home.”
Patrina peered up and down the road, shading her eyes to keep out the rain. As far as she could tell, the road was a long, straight one, with no branches or turns that she could see. They must have been going straight for some miles.
“Can we retrace our steps?”
“We can,” Neil said, “but it will add an hour or two to our journey. As I was saying to Kenneth, by the time this tree is cleared away, we’ll be hours behind. It will be entirely dark, and the roads are too dangerous to travel in the dark at any rate, let alone in this weather.”
Patrina felt a flurry of fear. The cozy carriages suddenly didn’t seem very secure at all, and certainly not warm and comfortable enough to keep them safe through a long, miserable night.
“What are we going to do?”
“We’ll stop at an inn,” Neil said firmly. “It will be safer to stop a night at an inn than push on in the dark and reap the consequences.”
She nodded. “I think you’re right.”
It was hardnotto agree with him. Neil spoke calmly and quietly, but with the cool confidence of a man who knew what he was talking about, and fully intended to take control.
Not very madman-like of him, at least.
Squelching footsteps caught their attention, and Patrina turned to see the red-headed steward approaching, collar turned up against the wind and rain.
“Oh, dear,” he sighed, seeing the fallen tree. “I guess we aren’t going much further tonight, then.”
Neil nodded. “You’re right. Harry, I want you to turn your carriage around, and head straight to that inn we passed about a mile back.The Yellow Lion,I think it was called. It will do. Take three rooms: one for you and me, one for Lady Morendale and her maid, and one for Mother and Cynthia. Kenneth and Charles will be bedded down in the stables with the other coachmen, I imagine, but if the stables are too uncomfortable, we’ll have to take a fourth room. Order tea and hot baths to our rooms, and we’ll have food after we’ve bathed and rested.”
Harry gave a sharp nod, not even needing to ask Neil to repeat himself.
“Of course. We’ll go ahead of you, then?”
“That will be best. Ours is the bigger carriage and will be more troublesome to turn around. Once you get to the inn and have the rooms arranged, set about finding people to clear away this tree. We might be able to leave first thing in the morning, if we’re lucky.”
Harry gave another nod, bowed to Patrina, and then hurried back to the smaller carriage, the coachman following close behind.
Patrina blinked, eyeing Neil curiously.
Neil, perhaps sensing her eyes on him, glanced down at her, and gave her a weak smile.
“It’s not exactly the finest start to our honeymoon, spending our wedding night at an inn on the side of the road, but it will have to do.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at that. However, a thought kept rattling round and round in her head, like a marble in a cup.
He’s not mad. He can’t be.
But if he’s not mad, what is wrong with him?
