Page 49 of The Dangerous Love of a Rogue
Outside, it was warm in the sun as she walked down the front steps.
What if John, or her mother and father refused to let her visit when she was married? That awful thought hit her as her foot touched the pavement.
Her fingers closed tightly about her father’s arm as he walked her to the hackney carriage.
The footmen helped her brothers and sisters up into their carriages and John helped Kate with Paul.
What will I do if they never speak to me again?
‘Mary.’ Her father took her hand as they reached the carriage. ‘Are you sure you do not want to come with us? I’m sure Miss Smithfield would not?—’
‘No, Papa, I cannot let her down.’ It had become too easy to lie.
Love shone in his eyes, but it became clouded by the tears in hers.
She hugged him, then rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek, before saying, ‘I will miss you.’
‘And I you, but we shall see you in two days.’
She nodded.
His hand held hers as she climbed the step into the carriage.
She sat down, and both hands held her reticule in her lap. She shook as if the weather were cold not warm. The door lock clicked shut. Her father smiled at her through the window, then called to the driver, ‘Ready!’
This was it.
There was no going back.
She waved as the hackney carriage lurched into motion, the first to depart, leaving them behind.
Her father and mother and her elder sisters waved. Kate and John were looking the wrong way. Then at the last moment John turned and lifted his hand before they all disappeared.
Tears spilled from her eyes. She wiped her eyes with her father’s handkerchief and curled her fingers about it, holding it in a fist.
The horse’s pace picked up to a trot and the carriage turned into a side street. She could hear the strike-strike pattern of its strides.
Her heartbeat thundered as the distance between herself and her family grew.
When the carriage drew to a halt, she knew they were in the St James neighbourhood. She looked through the window. She could not see Drew. The vehicle rocked as the driver climbed down. She clutched at her dress as she prepared to get out. The driver opened the door and kicked down the carriage step.
Where was Drew? What if she was left here alone?
He walked towards the carriage, smiling broadly.
Her stomach flipped, as her heart beat hard for a different reason. She smiled, reaching for his hand to help her down. He did not offer it, instead he braced her waist at either side, and lifted her down. Then gave her a hearty kiss.
Her nervousness erupted as laughter. The tears in her eyes became tears of joy. He was her future.
His hazel eyes danced with emotions as he held the hand which bore her father’s handkerchief and lifted it. ‘You have been crying…’
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Mary nodded. ‘I will miss my family.’
This was not the jubilation he had pictured. Drew wished her joyful. But he understood how important her family were to her. The ability to love was one of her qualities, so he could hardly be upset by it. Yet it clawed at his mind that she may love her family more than him. He could not stand to be second best to her, when she would be everything to him.
He took the handkerchief from her fingers. ‘You’ll not need this now,’ he said as he handed the hackney driver his fare.
