In the early morning hours, when she had entered the courtyard of the inn in Cork City, all activity ceased, but Annalise kept her eyes on the one man whose opinion mattered—her husband. His eyes traced her appearance from head to toe and back again, and then he smiled. She had dressed with simplicity, wearing items similar to what she had worn when cleaning Amgen House. The skirt was divided for convenience, and she wore her most comfortable boots, the ones she had resoled in France before she came to London.
“I could not find a horse trained to a side saddle,” he said with a grin, for they had already had this conversation.
“Someday, I must ask Alexander’s wife to teach me to ride sidesaddle,” she said as a mounting block was placed on the ground for her convenience. “Lady Marksman likes to lord over me in such matters.”
“And how will you lord over Lady Theodora?” he asked.
“I have several ideas in mind,” she said with a grin, “beginning with sending her husband—my brother—on at least a ten days’ journey with no resolution in sight. He will be absent from her ladyship’s bed in those days.”
Her husband laughed heartily. “I only wish we were there to viewthe disaster. I adore it when Marksman does not have his way.”
Within an hour of riding, no one would have believed they had spent the night in a bustling city. Hedgerows. Small whitewashed cottages. A child attempting to corral a number of large pigs. A farmer with a hoe and a rake resting on his shoulders. Hands raised in greeting. Mumbled “me lord,” though how anyone knew Beaufort to be a lord, Annalise could not say. Perhaps it was his bearing, the exactness of how he sat in the saddle. She, too, looked on in admiration, for there was a change in her husband as they crossed the many miles. Gone was the handsome aristocrat from London. Here, in this land, her beloved Beaufort was different. The essence of Ireland—this country—obviously moved through his veins. She could see the pride of the French conquerors in the way he looked upon the land, even in all its harshness. His roots went deep into Ireland’s rocky soil. Yet, there was a smile on his lips—a genuine smile, in fact. He was happy here in the middle of nowhere.
Eventually, they had climbed another hill only to look down upon a low-hanging rain cloud crawling up the slope to meet them. “Have you a cloak, my lady?” he asked with a taunting smile. “If so, you’ll be requiring it before I can tell you how lovely you are with your hair hanging down your back.”
Annalise nearly forgot to claim the cloak, but a gust of wind announced the storm was moving their way. She dug the cloak from the saddlebag, but the rain was so heavy, even the seal oil used to repel the dampness could not keep her dry. “You said rain cloak,” she called over the sound of the wind and thunder. “We may require an ark instead!”
Navan began to laugh—a deep hearty sound. “Welcome to Ireland, my girl. Shall we continue?”
“Absolutely, my lord. We have only just begun. That is if a little Irish rain has not dissuaded you, my husband?”
“I am not of the quick nature to abandon an idea,” he declared.
“Neither am I,” she assured.
They rode as such for an hour or more before they reached Drisheen and a small inn. As she changed out of her soaked clothes and braided her still damp hair, Annalise felt as if she and Beaufort had come to a new understanding. Now, if she could convince him to trust her, then they might know satisfaction in their marriage.
“I may have misjudged your ability to handle Ireland’s weather,” he said in his own manner of an apology, “though you have not yet experienced a Lake District winter in England or an Irish one, but I have hope for you, my lady.”
“Naturally, I spent much of my life on the other side of the equator and in the Americas, but I do adore a good challenge, my lord.” Annalise could not believe she had made such a bold statement, for, in truth, though she was not afraid of a heavy winter, she was often frightened of being abandoned. In reality, she still feared that Beaufort would wake one day and wonder where his good reason had gone, but, for now, she would make the most of his apology and his taking her into his arms to kiss her properly.
