Page 61 of Snowbound Regency Christmas
After tidying up, Devin returned to their shared room and put on his overcoat, hat, scarf and heavy boots. It was going to be a miserable day. As he passed Julia in the narrow hall, their shoulders brushed and she jumped away from him as if scorched by a flame.
‘Try not to miss me, wife.’
‘Believe me, I won’t, husband,’ she said and shot him a cheeky smile that kept him warm for the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter Six
Julia made the bed that she had shared with Devin and tried not to think about how tense he made her feel. Her insides were wound up like a ball of yarn, impatient to be released.
Such nonsense!
Devin would be gone all afternoon and she did not wish for him to think that she had shirked her responsibilities. She tidied the rest of her room and would have helped Mrs Mack with her own chamber if the good woman hadn’t already told her that she was putting her daughter down for a nap. Julia went next to the bridle culls’ room and was unsurprised to see it disordered. At least Devin took good care of his togs.
She huffed before stepping over the dirty garments to the bed. It was too messy to remake: she had to start again. She tore off the coverlet and sheets, straightened the saggy mattress and heard a clatter. Something had fallen out of the bed. Her first thought was a varmint and she grabbed her throat to stop herself from screaming and waking little Lizzy—who was a most unpleasantly behaved child without a nap.
Shaking her head, Julia realised that a mouse would not have made such a loud sound. She gathered her courage and got to her knees. Underneath the bed was a beautiful diamond necklace that she doubted belonged to either man. Her breath quickened. She wanted no trouble. Not while they were isolated at this unknown inn. She put the necklace back underneath the mattress and determined to tell Devin.
Julia took a deep breath before making the bed and tidying the room. Her pulse was heightened, but she didn’t wish for anyone to guess that something was wrong. She quietly closed the door and was about to go back to her own room when she realised that she hadn’t tidied the driver and groom’s room. Perhaps she could bring the sick man some tea.
She knocked quietly on the door across from the thieves’ room, but there was no answer. Julia slowly opened the door and saw Joe sound asleep in bed and the mailbag by the door. She could tidy the room and get him some tea when he woke up.
Returning to her room, Julia remembered that it was Christmas Eve, the night of gift-giving, and she wanted to finish the doll for Lizzy. Julia sewed the dress together, along with arms and legs, and finally the head. She braided ribbons for the hair. Now all she needed was some stuffing and she knew just where to find it. Using the scissors from her chatelaine, Julia cut a small hole in Devin’s pillow and pulled out the feathers and carded wool. She stuffed the doll until it was full and then carefully sewed the final piece shut.
Lizzy would have a Christmas Eve gift after all.
The door to her bedchamber swung open abruptly and Julia gasped in surprise—it was only Devin—and he gave her an exasperated look. His face was red from the cold and his expression could have frozen milk. ‘Have you already forgotten that you have a husband for Christmas?’
Julia covered her mouth with her hand and got to her feet. She was so relieved that it wasn’t Rhys or Pip that she could have kissed Devin. Instead, she added another log to the fire and helped him take off his cold and wet things and his boots. ‘You poor, totty-headed man.’
He gazed at her warily. ‘Why were you scared of me just now?’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I wasn’t. I am not. Scared, that is. Of you.’
Devin walked to the fire and held his hands near the flame. ‘You have cut me to shreds with your words and your wit dozens of times in the last twenty-four hours. Perhaps you could tell me the truth.’
For a moment, Julia thought that Devin meant the truth about why she called off her engagement to Joshua. But then she realised he was asking about why she was afraid now. She opened her mouth to tell him but then shut it.
‘You can trust me.’
Those four words seemed pretty ironic coming from a man who didn’t know her and didn’t trust her in return. But Julia was truly scared of the thieves.
‘I was tidying the rooms and I found a diamond necklace in Mr Rhys and Mr Pip’s room when I made the bed. I put it back, but I think it has been stolen.’
Huffing, Devin rubbed his face with his hands. ‘I am certain that it has.’
‘I think that we should lay information in Pickwich about those bridle culls.’
Sighing, Devin shook his head. ‘Those what?’
‘Bridle culls, at least that is what little Felix Heap called thieves. He was one of my charges when I was a governess, and he learned the term from one of the young cockney grooms.’
A small smile played on his lips. ‘An apt term.’
‘What do we do about the criminal pair until we reach Pickwich?’
One word melted his frozen heart:we.
Julia didn’t ask whatsheshould do, but whattheyshould do. They weren’t truly married, but at this moment they were no longer strangers who hated each other. They were partners in crime—or, rather, to report a crime.
