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CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Rhys joined Elizabeth by the window, cursing silently. Members of theton, the working class, and even chimney boys were gathered, and the carriage they were supposed to leave in could barely be seen in the sea of people.
“We cannot leave now,” he said, drawing her away from the window before they were seen.
“No, we cannot,” she agreed, looking up at him with large, worried eyes. “I now understand why you wanted to leave London as soon as possible.”
Myers had been the main reason Rhys wanted them to leave, but the crowd outside had increased his urgency. If anyone learned the truth, all of London would be outside their house, and he needed to shield her from that at all cost.
“What do you intend to do, Guildford?” Mayton asked, and Rhys turned to look at the expectant faces in the hall.
“You could wait for the crowd to leave,” Lady Winston suggested.
“A crowd this persistent will not leave now,” Winston disagreed. “They might leave at night, but that is not a time to travel.”
Rhys found his grandmother’s eyes.This would not have happened if you had chosen better,her demeanor said, and it angered him.
“I know what we can do,” Elizabeth stated, her voice drawing the anger out of him. “If we change our clothes, we can ride out from the stables without being seen. The carriage can meet us outside of town.”
He felt his mouth curve. It was rather ironic how her mischief gave her an idea to get them out of an unpleasant situation. “We will be faster if we take one horse,” he suggested, and she nodded, her pale-green eyes sparkling.Good Lord! She is not even afraid!
Rhys left Elizabeth in the women’s care and hurried up to his chambers where he removed his dark-blue coat and donned a black one then removed a black greatcoat from a rack for Elizabeth. When he returned downstairs, he winced when he saw her in the black dress his grandmother wore whenever someone she was well acquainted with passed. His dream of removing the lovely green dress from her body that night had been ruined.
“We are fortunate I did not burn this dress,” the Dowager commented, but it did not make him feel better about Elizabeth wearing it.
After another farewell, and instructions to Smith about where the carriage should meet them, they slipped out to the stables where a saddled gelding was waiting for them. He wrapped his greatcoat about Elizabeth’s shoulders before helping her onto the horse then he mounted behind her. Rhys spurred the horse into a gallop, and he did not stop until they were about five miles away from the Manor.
He slowed and finally stopped in a relatively secluded place between two buildings, and Elizabeth raised her face from his chest, grinning. “That was exhilarating,” she chuckled.
“That was troublesome,” he countered, smiling down at her. She looked lovely wrapped in his coat and felt divine against him. “We would have been traveling in the comfort of a carriage.”
“Come now, Rhys, where is your adventurous spirit?” She poked a finger against his chest, drawing a laugh from him.
“I suppose it got lost trying to keep you safe.” He leaned forward so his forehead touched hers.
“We are out of there now,” she said.
“Yes, we are,” he agreed, brushing his lips against her very soft ones, “but we should not linger here.” Her tongue caressed his bottom lip, and he had to kiss her, very deeply and with mind-bending hunger. “Liza,” he groaned when she pressed her soft breasts into his chest.
He gently kicked the gelding to move, but his lips did not leave hers, not until they were almost emerging onto the street outside the alley. He tightened his hold of her with one hand and steered the horse with another as he set them galloping again. She was right, this was exhilarating.
* * *
Rhys stopped several times to kiss Elizabeth, and three hours later, they arrived at an inn somewhere between London and Surrey. It was the place he had instructed Smith to have the carriage meet them, and they planned to spend the night there before heading for Hampshire in the morning.
When the innkeeper showed them to the finest suite of rooms in the establishment, Rhys gave the man a coin and closed the door then Rhys immediately pulled Elizabeth into his arms to continue what they had begun. He pressed her against the wall and began to kiss her neck while his hands found the row of tiny buttons on the back of her borrowed dress.
“Damn it!” he cursed when he was unable to undo a single one. “Elizabeth, what possessed you to wear this dress?”
“It was the only black dress your grandmother had.” She giggled, amused by his frustration.
“Did it have to be black?” He took her earlobe between his teeth and bit, making her gasp from the sudden pleasure.
“We had to look as inconspicuous as possible—” her words broke when he licked a path from her ear to the swell of her breasts and squeezed her buttocks.
“And mourning attire was your first thought, hmm?” He lifted her and made her wrap her legs around his waist, his mouth moving further down her chest.
“People are cautious…Rhys!” Her eyes flew open when she heard the sound of her dress tearing, and she saw that he had ripped the black muslin with his teeth.
