The minx had gotten under his skin, and he wasn’t sure whether to be mad at that or glad. He had a sneaking suspicion it might well be the latter—despite that being an unwelcome complication he really did not need at such a significant time.
More was the pity.
The door opened, causing an icy chill peppered with snow to whip around the tavern and stir the flames of the roaring fire beside him. The logs within spat and crackled in protest; a few stray sparks popped from the grate to divert his attention from the door. Yet bizarrely, before he dared to turn back around to confirm it, the ripple of awareness that drizzled down his spine like thick molasses told him that she was the one who walked through it.
Here!
As if he had conjured Venus out of nothing but pure longing.
Oblivious of his presence, after stamping her feet on the threshold to dislodge the snow that clung to her boots and while carrying yet another silly little reticule not fit for the purpose, she approached Nelly at the bar.
“I don’t suppose you have two rooms available, do you?”
“You’re in luck, miss, because two is all we have left.” Nelly smiledas she put down the tankard she had been drying and reached for her register. “Who shall I say they are for?”
Before she could answer, Gal did. “If my mind-reading skills are what I think they are—” He put a finger to his temple as if he was seeking supernatural help as she spun around in surprise. As a firm believer in a person’s first reaction being the right one, he took great pleasure in the fact that the smile she shot him was a big one. “I’d say one of those rooms is for the Reverend Smythe of the London Parish of St. Giles…” He unfolded from the chair to saunter toward her. “… and the other is for the infamous card sharp Miss Venus Merriwell.”
Damn, it was good to see her.
With his current bout of melancholy, it would’ve been good to see any familiar face at this precise moment. But Venus’s especially, and the palpable relief at seeing her, had gone some way to shaking him out of it. “I’m not sure a respectable house like this should take in such a known undesirable, Nelly. I say you take pity on the reverend on this cold, bitter night as he’s a man of God but send this ne’er-do-well packing.”
“I daresay any establishment that would admit a dubious scoundrel like you would also take me, Galahad Sinclair.” Even the touch of condensation that had misted her spectacles couldn’t disguise the teasing sparkle in her eyes, which he took as another very good sign indeed. “And for the record, your mind-reading skills are not that good, as one room is for the ReverendandMrs. Smythe.”
“So I missed the vicar’s wife…” He shrugged, trying not to appear delighted that he had her company. “I take it you journeyed here to see that solicitor?” In truth, he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that now that the initial euphoria of her unexpected arrival was wearing off.
Should he tell her that he had already been to see that same solicitor? If he did, that meant admitting he had bought the buildings beside her beloved orphanage, and he wasn’t entirely sure she would be receptive to hearing that yet despite their fledgling friendship.
However, keeping her in the dark now that those premises were officially his didn’t sit right, either.
The proverbial rock and a hard place, so he’d play it by ear. Be adaptable. Tell her when he gauged the time was right.
“Indeed. Tomorrow. First thing.” Then she still had no clue how much the old lady had left her. “We took advantage of the break in the weather and hoped it might hold long enough for us to spend the night here and head back to town tomorrow, but as you can see…” She gestured toward the door she had entered and the snowflakes melting on the flagstones. “It appears there wasn’t a break here in Sussex, or if there was we missed it, because it’s coming down thick enough that it’s settling again. I have my fingers crossed we don’t find ourselves snowed in here for a week like I was in Hampshire last month.” And just like that, Gal experienced the urge to cross his own fingers and hope they were both snowed in. A week stranded in this cozy inn alone with her sounded perfect.
The door slammed open again and all his hopes of it being just her and him beside a roaring fire shattered, as her traveling companions bustled in. Gal had never met the much-lauded and universally respected Reverend Smythe before, but with his purported tireless devotion to the orphanage, Gal had pictured a more robust gentleman than the white-haired one who came in sneezing while his equally mature wife fussed beside him.
“I told you that you should have worn more layers! I warned you that you would catch a chill, Ignatius!” Without any introductions, Mrs. Smythe turned to Gal shaking her head in exasperation as if they had been acquainted for years. “He has always been prone to coughs and sniffles. Even in his prime a cold would floor him. The trouble is, there’s no telling him that he has long past his prime because he simply will not have it. He works far too hard, sir. All the hours the good Lord sends, so is it any wonder he goes downhill so fast?”
“I breathed in some hay dust in the stable.” The reverend flapped his wife away. “Hay always makes me sneeze.”
“In the summer, Ignatius, not the wintertime.”
“For pity’s sake, Constance, how many times do I need to tell you that I have no plans to turn up my toes anytime soon? Your incessantfussing is as unnecessary as it is unwelcomed after eight uncomfortable hours in a carriage!”
“Perhaps a mustard bath is in order?” Mrs. Smythe turned to Nelly as if she hadn’t heard him. “Could I order one of those and some hot soup to be brought to our room at your earliest convenience? Only I fear my husband’s condition might quickly decline into a fever if not swiftly managed.”
“I do not want a mustard bath! What man in his right mind wants to smell like a condiment?”
“Now, Ignatius, see reason. You must look after your health.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have brought you.” The reverend looked to Venus for support. “Didn’t I tell you allowing her to come with us was a bad idea?”
The older woman folded her arms. “I could hardly leave Miss Vee unchaperoned!”
“With a man old enough to be her grandfather whom she has worked alongside unchaperoned every single day for several years without issue!” The vicar spread his hands before throwing them up in the air in frustration. “After half a century of marriage to me, are you really suggesting her virtue was ever in danger, Constance? For if you are, I am mortally offended by the implication.”
“Of course I am not suggesting that, Ignatius! But somebody has to be mindful of her reputationandyours. What would happen to your orphans if you had to leave the church in disgrace?”
Venus stifled a smile as she slanted Gal a glance that told him the pair of them were always like this, before she deftly intervened. “Reverend, Mrs. Smythe, I should like to introduce you to Mr. Galahad Sinclair. He is the cousin to my brother-in-law the Duke of Harpenden.”
