Page 70 of A Governess' Unbridled Passion
Survival?Phillip questioned himself, riding his horse at a galloping speed.Isn’t that what we all do, try to live our lives the best we can?
Eli had wanted to come with him on the rescue mission, but Phillip had sent everyone to their beds. Along with instructions that all duties today would begin much later, given that everyone had been up most of the night.
He’d have preferred Miss Alice to have stayed in her bed too, but he knew he couldn’t stop her. Miss Alice was not easily cowered, which was all a part of her strength that he loved about her.
She wasn’t far behind him, riding her horse at speed too. It had surprised him how well she rode, but that, too, was part of her character.
When this is over, I swear, my love, we will be together some way or other… his thoughts washed through his mind.
They’d been riding hard for at least a couple of miles, and he knew the horses would struggle if they didn’t slow down soon. There was still a considerable distance to go, which would take at least another two to three hours. Pulling on the reins, he slowed his horse to a trot, raising his arm at Miss Alice to indicate they needed to stop.
“What is it?” she called over to him, panting from riding so hard.
“We cannot expect the horses to go all the way at this speed, Alice; they need to rest,” he called back to her.
She nodded her head in agreement, trotting by his side. “Yes, we should walk them for a while,” she said, slowing her horse down even more.
“There’s a smallbeckup that hill; we’ll stop there to water them,” he instructed her, and she acknowledged, following him up the incline.
As they dismounted, the horses meandered over to drink and then graze.
“It is going to take us a few hours,” Phillip pointed out.
“I know; I only hope Lady Davina awaits our arrival,” Miss Alice said with a sigh, bending down at the water’s edge to splash her face in the small stream.
“The letter I sent with the constable will stall her. I am sure she will wait for me,” Phillip tried to reassure Miss Alice. “If she has any sense about her, she will not have frightened the children in any way.”
“I agree,” Miss Alice said, standing up. “I do not like her, but she has not got what she wants yet, so she will most likely have put them to bed.”
“Are you feeling any calmer yet?” he asked, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, indicating that she joined him.
She nodded her head. “Yes, thank you, Phillip, you have a way of soothing my soul.”
Putting his arm on her shoulder, he pulled her over so she leaned on him. They would look like two lovers to any that might pass them by, and he was happy with that thought.
“I know; we did not get much rest, did we?” He smiled. “I, for one, felt very overwrought. That was until you soothed my soul too.”
He recalled their earlier lovemaking, where he’d taken her a little rougher than he’d meant to.
“I am sorry if I was not so gentle with you earlier … I …” he tried to explain, accepting that she might feel angry with him.
But she wasn’t. Instead, she looked up and stroked his unshaven chin with her delicate fingertips.
“I may be a little naïve, but I sense your feelings in my heart.”
“Alice, after this, we will talk some more, you and I,” he told her, though he hoped she might suggest that they talk now.
“Perhaps, but we should get going again,” she said, getting up from the fallen tree. “We can go slower, but we should keep moving, or we’ll never get there.”
Disappointed at not getting his talk, he agreed that they set off again, allowing their horses to trot much slower. It was tempting to go faster, but they knew it wasn’t wise. Even at such a slow pace, they still had to keep stopping so the horses could rest.
“It feels like we’ll never get there,” Miss Alice said as they sat in the middle of a meadow.
“Can we not enjoy these small moments together?” he asked, leaning on his elbow with Miss Alice sitting beside him.
“No, I want to get to the children, Phillip. It is all that is on my mind,” she said, and he could see she was fretting for them. “I do hope that the constable gave her your letter, or she will think we are not coming,” she added.
He sat up and took her hands in his, kissing her knuckles. “Davina wants nothing more than money, Alice. She knows the only way she will get that is to keep the children safe,” he explained.
