Page 46 of The Miracle of Love
“Oh, I am achitnow, am I?”
“I am going to spank you if you keep it up.” He rang the bell once more.
“Will I like it? Your spanking me, I mean.”
He groaned. “Gad, behave yourself. I hear footsteps. Someone’s coming.”
“Sorry, I have never done anything like this before.”
“I know. You are obviously tense and poking fun seems a harmless way to relieve it. But you are tired and have let down your guard. This is when mistakes are always made. By the way, I would never hit you. That includes spanking. I will never raise a hand to you.”
“I did not think you ever would.”
The breeze blustered around them and their horses pawed the hard ground impatiently as they waited for the inn’s door to finally open. “Hold on,” an elderly sounding fellow called through the solid wood door. “Let me fetch a lantern.”
“No, Mr. Harcourt! Open up!” Deklan pounded on the door, but to no avail.
He heard the innkeeper’s footsteps lumbering away.
“Blast it, he’s grown deaf as a post.” Deklan put his arms around Grace once again because she was still cold and shivering. “Remember, I’ll be signing us in as Captain and Mrs. Adam Driscoll.”
“What about my given name?”
“You shall be Grace, just as always.”
Finally, the door groaned open. “Forgive us for the late arrival, Mr. Harcourt.”
The old man held up his lantern. “Why, if it isn’t Captain Driscoll. What brings ye here at this late hour…and with this lovely lass?”
“She is lovely, isn’t she?” He kept Grace wrapped in his arms. “This is my wife. We are married all of two weeks now.”
He made quick introductions.
“Newly wed, are ye? Oh, Mrs. Harcourt will be fussing over ye, that’s for certain. And what a pretty lass ye’ve found for yerself. Come in, come in. Give me a moment to wake the old ball and chain, and my son to care for yer horses. Are ye hungry? No doubt ye’re frozen. I’ll have her heat up some soup for ye both. But what are ye doing out here at this hour? And on a wicked night like this?”
“It wasn’t intentional. We ran into a spot of trouble with our carriage coming up from Dover.”
“It is all my fault,” Grace said, ignoring his warning to keep quiet. Lord help them if she got them caught in a lie. “We should have remained in Tunbridge Wells along with the carriage, but I was eager to reach London and introduce Captain Driscoll to the rest of my family.”
“Ah, heading north are ye?”
“Yes,” she replied, sparing a glance and a triumphant smirk at Deklan.
Yes, clever of her to mislead the innkeeper as to their destination. But any agent picking up their tracks would not be fooled for a moment since they had just come from London and would know they were heading anywhere but back there.
He still had an arm around Grace and gave her shoulder a little squeeze. She needed to keep quiet now and not give more away. “How could I deny my wife’s wishes? I am usually very good about distances and thought we could make it here by early evening. I ride like the wind, but my wife is not as able a rider. By the time I realized my mistake,” he continued, ignoring Grace’s subtle kick, “we were already committed to stopping here.”
“And here we are,” Grace added brightly.
Fortunately, she said no more as the innkeeper left them to wake his wife.
Deklan settled Grace at a table in the small common room. Since he was familiar with the place, he knew where to find a lantern and matches. After lighting the lantern, he moved to the hearth. The hearth fire had burned itself out hours ago. “Oh, don’t light it just for me,” Grace said.
“Aren’t you cold?”
She nodded. “Yes, but we’ll only be down here a short while and then it will have to be put out again. I’d rather the fire be lit in our chamber.”
He cast her a rakish grin. “No fire needed there, my love. I’ll keep you warm enough tonight.”
