Page 23 of In Want of a Wife
“How long before we reach Cliffstone?” she asked.
“Too long,” muttered Miss Abrams under her breath.
Rafe snickered, annoyed when she caught his glance and arched her brow, challenging him.
“Lily, tell us one of your stories. She knows so much about the stars, Mr. Davies. Are you a man of science?” asked the duchess.
He caught the duchess’s stare. “I’m a naval man, Your Grace. I’ve been taught to live and die by those stars.”
“Yes, well I found the most interesting entry in the previous issue ofPhilosophical Transactions,” Miss Abrams said, opening the magazine, then began to read.
It wasn’t long before her reading lulled him to sleep, and he slept until the carriage arrived at the positing inn.
CHAPTER 6
Dinnerat the inn’s tavern was only bearable because of Kate and Charlotte. Mr. Davies was anything but, even though her friends appeared to have enjoyed his company.
He kept the conversation polite and amenable enough, yet he refused to look at Lily.
Meanwhile, Lily had to suffer through the sound of him softly snoring as she tried to read to everyone in the carriage. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as she began. As if she had bored him into sleep.
She would never understand a mind that could quiet itself enough.
Lack of character. Lack of purpose. There must be a reason behind his reaction to her.
Perhaps Felton had felt like Mr. Davies, and she was boring. Was she boring?
Lily was perfectly accomplished. After her mother’s death, she had a slew of tutors, many of whom humored her interest in science and mathematics as long as she excelled at piano, French, dancing, and drawing. She mastered household management to begin her first lessons in Greek and Latin until she knew enough to teach herself.
For the eldest daughter of a notable physician, she was welleducated. Her family thought overly so, but so was the life of a bluestocking. Learning was her favorite pastime, and she refused to stay small-minded for the comfort of those around her.
“I cannot stand that man,” she mumbled under her breath.
The sound was unbearable to listen to without feeling feverish and angsty and, possibly, as if she would punch someone in the face. Not someone. Mr. Davies to be precise.
Lily rolled over in bed and whacked her pillow as a woman cried out again from across the hall.
“Go to sleep,” Kate said from the opposite side of their shared room. “We have an early morning.”
Lily and early mornings did not play well together, which was also part of the problem. “I am trying,” she grumbled. Pillows were meant to be soft, and why this one felt as though she were sleeping on a pile of rubble was beyond her.
“Try harder.”
Another indecent moan sounded from the hall.
“That is difficult while we must endure...” Lily did not finish for the risk of sounding naive. Instead, she rolled over again in a huff and stared at the ceiling. “I cannot stand that man,” she repeated louder.
Kate chuckled from across the room “Go to sleep.”
Lily squeezed her eyes tight and tried. “I refuse to listen to such...” She couldn't think of a word, so she ended there. “It is the height of rudeness. There are ladies sleeping.”
“I am sure they are not thinking about rudeness, Lily. It is none of our concern.”
There was a loud knock and then another moan. Good lord, what was he doing in there to elicit such a response?
“I refuse—” She jumped from the bed and grabbed her shawl from the chair. Lily strode across the hallway and pounded her fist against Mr. Davies’s door.
Once, twice, three times, and there wasno answer.
