AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll have Ed run it for you. He should be back by now from his nightmare of a vacation. I’ll also tell my cook, Matilda, to prepare us some breakfast.” He stretched, showing off his hard, lean abdomen. Evie’s mouth watered just by looking at him. “Tell me, how do you want to do this? A big church wedding, or should I get us a special license?”
“No!” She almost shot off the bed the idea frightened her so much. “No license, no banns. We are eloping,” she said in a rush, scrambling from the bed.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow in question.
“My guardian.” Evie swallowed before continuing. “He has connections. He will find out. It’s been days; he already knows that I ran off… He’ll be keeping track of anyone trying to get a special license.”
“All right,” Gabriel said after drawing a long breath. “Then we leave after breakfast.” He went to the door and paused with his hand on the door handle. “Does he have any reason to suspect you’d come here?”
The best Evie could muster was a nervous laugh and a shake of her head. Nobody could imagine such madness from Evie. Not even her best friend, Samantha.
A bath was brought in a few moments later, and Evie lay soaking in it, letting her tired muscles warm and her body relax while her mind simply shut off for a moment. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time; they needed to get a move on, but she couldn’t quite make herself get up yet.
Her guardian had probably reached London by now. She wondered if he’d already checked with Sam and Evie’s distant cousin, Julie. There was really nowhere else she could go. Montbrook would soon start looking into the friends of her friends. And if so, it was just a matter of time before he came knocking at St. Clare’s door.
At that precise moment, a loud knock at her door startled her.
“Are you going to be bathing all morning?” her savior called, irritation in his voice. “I thought you were in a hurry to leave.”
“I am,” she answered, already scrambling from the bath. “I just needed some time to… uh… never mind. I’ll be out in ten minutes.”
“You better be,” Gabriel grumbled and stalked away from the door.
Evie got dressed in record time, especially considering the lack of a maid to help her. She wore one of three gowns she’d packed into her valise and a pair of satin slippers. Yesterday’s attire was given to Gabriel’s valet to wash, press, and clean. Evie was certain he wouldn’t have any problems with it since the clothing was made for gentlemen.
Evie sent a quick prayer of thanks to her grandfather for teaching her to ride astride when she couldn’t quite grasp the sidesaddle and never caring one whit about how unladylike it was, or scandalous even. She wondered for a moment if she should change into masculine garments again so that they could pose as two traveling gentlemen riding on horseback all the way to the Scottish border. It would be faster, too, than using a carriage. No matter how her muscles ached and how tired she was, efficiency was the key.
Evie caught her wet hair in a quick bun at her nape and came down for breakfast. Gabriel wasn’t there, but the breakfast was set containing fried eggs, several strips of bacon, fried tomatoes, and some oatcakes. Evie’s stomach grumbled at the view of the food. She sat and finished the plate off in minutes she was so hungry. She was draining the last drops of tea when Gabriel came in.
“That was rather fast,” he drawled.
Evie turned to him and beheld his surprised features.
“I feel like I haven’t eaten in days,” she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Should I change into gentlemen’s attire again? It would be faster—”
Gabriel stopped her mid-sentence by raising a hand. “No gentlemen’s attire, no riding on horseback. We are riding in style, or not at all.”
“But—”
“And no arguing.” He handed her a light shawl that was draped over his arm. “We shall be Mr. and Mrs. Swift, and you will wear a turban on your head when we are out of the carriage to conceal your flaming red hair so that we don’t raise any suspicions if your guardian decides to send someone on your trail.”
Evie took the turban cloth and looked it over. “Didn’t I say my independence was part of our bargain? All I get instead is being ordered around.”
“You’ll get your independence after I get my money, all right? Until then…” He raised his hands in a shrug. “I put your valise in the carriage, so as soon as you don that turban, be out on the street so we can leave.”
“Just one more thing. I need to send a note to my friend. She will worry.”
St. Clare expelled an impatient breath. “All right, but be quick about it. My study is this way.”
* * *
They set off not long after that. As soon as the carriage left London, Evie took off the turban. She didn’t want people to see her flaming hair peeking out of Gabriel’s carriage window while they were still in London, but it was heavy and uncomfortable.
They traveled for a long time in silence. She was staring out the window while Gabriel alternated between studying the scenery and her.
“Didn’t you bring a novel or embroidery with you to pass the time?” he asked.
“No, I don’t do those things in a carriage. I get nauseous. The only way for me to be well is looking out the window.”
