Page 25 of The Duke's Price
After a moment, Ruth turned her back and pulled the blankets up over her shoulders.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “Ruth, are we not both reasonable adults? If we have problems, we can talk them out. Can we not? And come to a decision that suits us both?”
“Go to sleep, Perry. I am too tired to think about this.”
Fair enough. Perry pulled up his own blankets, and said once more, “I will not change my mind.”
7
Ruth, tired though she was, had a restless night. When she did sleep, she dreamt—and woke with vague confused snippets of scenes in her head. Her, searching a great mansion for a missing Perry. Her, in a ballroom full of people pointing and jeering at the would-be duchess. Her, weeping alone while surrounded by trunks of clothing and jewellery.
At last, the carriage windows showed a lightening sky. Dawn was underway. Another day, and today they would swap the carriage for horses. Thank goodness Bella was passionate about visiting every corner of her little country, so that Ruth, who always accompanied her, was a competent rider.
She became aware of being watched. A slight turn was enough to see Perry, a shadowy figure sitting on the opposite bench.
“Good morning, Ruth,” he said.
“Is it time to get up?” she asked, and answered her own question. “If we are both awake, why not?”
“We have the bread and cheese from yesterday to break our fast on,” he said. “Dress in your men’s clothes, Ruth, and you can sit up beside me on the box.”
Much better than travelling alone in the carriage. She sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest—which was slamming the stable door after the horse had bolted, in anyone’s terms. But although he had seen every inch of her body, their discussion last night, and his astounding proposal, made her wary.
Perry reached for the door handle. “I’ve put your trunk down. Find your clothes and attend to your ablutions, and I’ll begin harnessing the horses. We can eat as we travel.”
He left the carriage, and Ruth went after him, first wrapping a blanket around her as a cloak. Apparently, he was not going to talk about last night. She was glad. She had no idea what to say.
She washed and got dressed, then tidied away their makeshift beds and repacked the trunk and bags they’d opened. Meanwhile, Perry toiled away harnessing the horses and, when he was finished, reloading the luggage onto the carriage.
The sun had just cleared the horizon when they drove out of the forest and back onto the road.
“I calculate that Sète is about six hours away,” Perry said. “Early as we are, and even allowing time for me to change to look respectable enough to be selling this carriage in order to buy horses, we should arrive in the early afternoon.”
“Is Sète where the canal ends?” Ruth asked, trying to make her tone as casual as Perry’s.
“No, the canal ends at this end of the Basin of Thau, so we’ll have to collect Bella and Walter by horse. In fact, we should check whether they’ve arrived when we pass Agde. There’s a long spit of land between the basin and the sea, with Agde at one end and Sète on the far end of the spit, where the basin opens into the sea. That will be the most dangerous time, actually—when we are riding from the end of the canal to Sète. Pray, dear Ruth,that Carlos is searching for us somewhere else. I’d rather not meet up with him or Garcia until I have my sailors and servants behind me as extra muscle.”
Dear Ruth. Her heart thrilled at the endearment, even though her mind told her that Perry was as lavish with endearments as he was with his money.
With his uncanny ability to catch her thoughts, or perhaps just because he thought of it, Perry changed the subject. “On another topic, I still want to marry you, Ruth.”
She had to be honest, at least about her worries if not her feelings. “Perry, I have been thinking and thinking, and I cannot see how it could possibly work. I am probably too old to have children.”
“I have an heir, and cousins in the wings in case of need. I do not need you to have children.”
“I would be a possessive and jealous wife. I will not share.”
“Surprisingly, neither will I. I have never been possessive, Ruth. Not since Mathilda. But I find the thought of another man putting his hands on you turns me red with rage.”
What a surprisingly gratifying answer. But Ruth’s major objection was still to come. “I do not belong in your world.”
Perry’s answer startled. “Neither do I, Ruth. Truth to tell, I have been uncomfortable in it for some time. I suppose that was why I tried to kidnap the Duchess of Haverford.”
The last sentence had Ruth whipping her head around to stare at her travelling companion. Was he joking? He looked perfectly serious.
“I suppose I had better explain,” he said. “The trouble with being outrageous to avoid boredom is that outrageousness becomes boring. So, five or six years ago, I was taking more and more risks, doing things that were sillier and sillier. One of the most stupid involved a mistress of the king—the prince regent, as he was then. I am not going to tell you the details.I am ashamed enough of them without explaining them to you. Suffice it to say that a royal lackey conveyed to me that an extended overseas trip would be good for my health.”
“And the Duchess of Haverford?”
