Page 16 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
"I am, thank you. And you?"
The sweetness in her tone contrasted the harshness that had been there the night before, making Nathaniel feel as though he didn't know whether he was coming or going. Again, he decided not to make mention of it.
"I am well. I was hoping I might have a moment to wash and change before breakfast?" He spoke warily, unable to stop from watching for any hint of a bad reaction on her part.
"Of course." Lady Ella crossed the room to the chair where her widow's veil hung over the back. Placing it over her face, she added the black hat she had been wearing the day before and continued to hold it atop her head. "I must find Alice to help me pin this into place anyway. She went to fetch the pins from one of the carry cases."
She walked towards him then, though more towards the door, and Nathaniel only had the presence of mind to step out of the way. Dumbfounded as he was by her change in attitude, he forced a smile and said, "I shall see you at breakfast."
Chapter 10
The sun rose in Scotland just as it did in England, yet somehow it seemed far more beautiful to Louisa. Stretching in the beam of sunlight that filtered through the drapes onto her bed, she felt like a contented feline.
That was until she reached over to the other side of the bed, expecting to feel the warmth of Joshua's body beside her own, expecting him to roll over and give a good morning kiss. Though that was as far as they had gone during their trip, kissing and cuddling in bed of an evening before going to sleep, Louisa was the happiest she had ever been.
And yet, finding him not there beside her caused her anxiety to soar.
"Joshua?" she whispered, suddenly feeling frightfully small. It wasn't often at all during their trip that he had left her alone. Thinking of the night before, she tried to recall whether he had told her he would be leaving for something in the morning. But she could think of nothing. Perhaps she had been half asleep, wrapped in his arms when he had told her. Though if she had been, she couldn't remember it.
Rising from her bed in the fine inn Joshua had chosen for them, she pulled on her robe and tied it about her waist before crossing the room to pull open the drapes the rest of the way.
As she did, she breathed a sigh of relief. In the yard beneath her, Joshua was just clambering out of his carriage, clearly having returned from wherever he had been while she slept.
Though the urge to push open the windowpane and call to him was prevalent, she just managed to stop herself. Joshua had warned her not to do such a thing. The windows in these old inns could be quite temperamental. And she trusted his judgment. Why wouldn't she? He had given her no reason not to.
Pulling her plaited hair from the back of her head to drape over her shoulder, she turned towards the door to await him instead, unable to stop smiling like a silly little girl when he entered.
"Oh, my love, I was worried something dreadful might have happened when I woke to find you gone," she told him the moment he entered. He barely had time to shut the door behind him before she threw herself into his arms. "I have missed you."
With a kiss on her forehead, he said, "And I you, my dear."
The tone of his voice was immediately troublesome, and Louisa pulled back, bracing herself on his forearms to look up at him and ask, "Is something the matter?"
Even his cravat, tied tightly about his neck, could not hide the way he gulped. Gripping her hands, he guided her to the bed, worrying her more fiercely.
"Joshua? What is it? What is the matter?" She questioned, gripping his hands tightly as she began to feel like he was the only thing anchoring her in place.
"Please, sit, Louisa," he instructed, guiding her down onto the bed beside him. Reluctantly, she allowed him to do so.
His dark blond-brown hair fell about his face as he gripped both her hands and said, "My dear, I am afraid there has been a problem with obtaining the marriage license."
Louisa gasped, breath catching in her throat. "How can that be?" she asked, raising one hand to her mouth in sheer horror. "You assured me that all would be well."
"And so it shall," Joshua insisted. He gripped hold of her upper arms and shook her gently until she looked him deep in the eye. "I just need a few more days, perhaps a week, to get everything firmly set in place, and then we shall be married."
Louisa's skin crawled at that. Though she trusted him entirely to see them right, she could not help worrying. "What about the innkeeper and his wife?"
"What of them?"
Bile rose in the back of Louisa's throat.
"You registered us at the desk as Mr and Mrs Mayborne. What if they learn we are not who we say we are?" she asked, the words threatening to stick in her throat. Her heart hammered so violently in her chest that she was certain he could hear it.
As though he could sense her anxiety, Joshua held out his arms and said, "Come here."
The second she slipped into his arms, Louisa started to feel a little better.
"All will be well," he told her, holding her close, stroking her back, and kissing her head. "I will fix everything."
