Page 26 of Miss Barton's Mysterious Husband
This was an uncomfortable reminder of their quarrel in York. She eyed him, but she saw no belligerence. He was asking her, not telling her. “I’m ready to go. The lure of a proper bed is too strong for me to stay here.”
His brief laugh was proof that this was a man who had learned cooperation and compromise during their separation. “I’m glad to hear it.”
She stood in front of the mirror and picked up her hairbrush. Her hair was a disaster this morning, but she did her best to confine it in its usual plait. She met Roland’s stare in the reflection. “Thank you.”
He lowered his head in ironic acknowledgment. “You’re welcome.”
She smiled and tied the end of her braid with a ribbon before she turned to him. “As soon as the crisis is over, we can leave. I’m dying to see Leeder Hall.”
“I’m dying to show it to you. Haven’t you forgotten something?”
She frowned, checking her plain frock, brown today. Despite the distraction of a splendid naked man observing her every movement, she seemed to be adequately clad. She wore stockings and shoes, and all her buttons were done up. “What is it?”
His lips curled in that seductive smile that had stolen her heart when she’d been a giddy girl of nineteen. “Doesn’t your long-lost husband merit a kiss to start his day?” Unashamed of his nakedness, he stood and opened his arms. “Fie, Lady Destry, and it’s Christmas, too.”
She rushed across the room and threw herself at him. The kiss was intoxicating and threatened to continue far too long and lead to more than kissing.
Only with the greatest reluctance did she pull away. “Stay here and get some sleep. You have an insatiable spouse to take care of tonight.”
He laughed and kissed her with the teasing fondness that always touched her heart. “Now that’s what I call a Christmas present for a red-blooded Englishman.”
Charmian rose on her toes to kiss him again. Briefly because if she lingered, she wouldn’t go at all.
She drew away with painful reluctance. After so long without him, the impulse was to cling, never to let him out of her sight. She was clever enough to know that was no way to proceed. “I must go.”
Roland watched her with a troubled light in his dark eyes. “Make sure you come back.”
A rift opened in her heart as she realized that they’d both suffered too much to accept that everything from here would be smooth sailing. “I promise, my love. I promise on my soul.”
This kiss was longer, but she did eventually manage to get out the door.
As she crept downstairs, the inn around her was quiet. It was too early for the guests to be about. Most days, the work of a country hostelry started well before dawn.
She realized with a shock that the pattern of her life was about to change forever. Lady Destry could lie in bed while the servants did the household work. Lady Destry didn’t need to bake and clean and launder and lug endless canisters of hot water. Her days of drudgery were done.
On such a chilly morning, she was grateful to reach the kitchens which were always warm. Her aunt stood at the oven with some loaves ready for baking.
“Good morning, Aunt Janet,” Charmian said in a neutral voice. “Merry Christmas.”
Janet swung around so fast that the tray tilted. She only just managed to save the bread from sliding to the flagstone floor. “Charmian!”
Her aunt continued to look sick with guilt. So she should. She might have meant well, but her actions had caused Charmian untold grief.
The deception angered Charmian, too. Her mother and her aunt had told her a lot of lies, if mainly lies of omission.
She and Janet had an enormous number of issues to negotiate. But first they needed to deal with an inn jam-packed with guests needing to eat and wash and decide where they went next. Not to mention that John and Milly would arrive soon, looking for orders from their employer.
Charmian focused on practicalities. As befitted a well-run inn like the Spotted Fox, they always put everything away the night before. But yesterday had been so chaotic that the usually pristine kitchen remained piled high with detritus. Gladys, the cook, had been preparing meals until past midnight. “Shall I wash up, or would you prefer for me to start putting breakfast together?”
Janet clumsily shoved the loaves into the oven and slammed the heavy iron door. “Perhaps bring in the breakfast things. Once everyone moves on, we’ll have time to clean up properly.”
Without shifting, Charmian sent her aunt a direct look. “Roland and I are leaving as soon as the roads are passable.”
Her aunt twined her hands at her waist. It was a nervous gesture Charmian used, too. An unwelcome reminder that they were family, despite betrayals and wrongs. “You’re going with him, then?”
She tilted her chin in defiance. “He’s my husband. My place is with him.”
Her aunt looked stricken. “You hate me for keeping you apart.”
