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“We’ll take it,” I said. “And dinner, too. Do you have a private parlor available?”
“Yes, sir. Straight through that door there.” She pointed to the door with her drying towel, then tossed it on the table. “I’ll fetch your dinner straight away.”
“For my servant, as well,” I requested.
She bustled away and a sudden, sharp pain radiated through my ankle.
“Servants!” Thea whispered.
“What?” Had shekickedme? I had asked for her blasted dinner, too. My ankle pulsed from the abuse.
“The servants’ quarters,” Thea said through her teeth, her eyes wide.
Oh. I tried to get the attention of the innkeeper. “Madam?”
She turned.
“Do you have . . . um . . . a place for my boy in your servant’s quarters?”
The woman scrunched up her nose, her gaze flicking to Thea and away again. “I could throw him in with Billy, I s’pose, for a fee.”
Neither of us had thought this through, and I would not permit anyone to throw Thea into any room with a man. Not unless the man was me.
I was the only man in this inn I trusted not to hurt her.
Thea must have had the same thought. “Private room,” she hissed.
I moved my foot away before it could be prodded again. “You do not have a private servant’s room available?”
The woman laughed. “I don’t know where you come from, sir, but here we make do with what we have.”
“The one room will be fine,” I said with a tight smile. “My servant and I can share.”
Thea wasn’t pleased. I could nearly feel the disappointment and irritation sloughing from her in waves. I waited until the woman was gone before speaking again. I leaned in and lowered my voice. “You are much safer with me than—”
“Quite,” she said with a degree of skepticism.
My hackles rose from her cynical tone. I took a moment to gather my patience, careful to keep my voice low. “You do not believe you are safe in my care?”
“I know you would not let anything happen to me that might anger or sadden your mother,” she said.
It was a rounded answer, as if she slipped about the edges of the truth but refused to jump into the meat of it. My pride stung that she would not have faith in my character, but the mere point that she trusted me—though it was through an extension of my mother’s trust, of course—was enough. Our situation was far from ordinary, and the sooner I returned Thea to Chelton and gowns that did not define the shape of her legs like the breeches she now wore, the sooner we would both be able to cease being around one another and return to our blissfully separate lives.
“I will not harm you.”
“Glad I am to hear it,” she muttered.
“It is I who will be sleeping with one eye open tonight.” I leaned down further and lowered my voice. “Do not think I’ve forgotten the tomatoes.” Thea’s round eyes widened and her cheeks formed spots of color. It was cruel of me to bring up the particular trick she had played so long ago, but the reference to our childish antics was sure to remind her of our shared history—both the good and bad. I turned for the private parlor and left her behind to receive our key and take the bags to the room.
* * *
The inn quieted down long after our dinner had come and gone, and I sat on a threadbare chair near the fireplace, the warmth of the flames making my cheeks hot. I would have backed farther away from the hearth, but from my current vantage point I could perfectly see Thea on her seat against the wall, her attention riveted by a small item in her hand that I had not yet been able to identify.
She was altogether ridiculous in how determined she was to prove herself better than me in every way. It was not a particular skill to sit quietly in a private parlor in a ramshackle inn, but it seemed she was willing herself to outlast me.
Or perhaps the both of us were of equal mind about the discomfort of sharing a bedroom and agreed that it should be put off as long as it was reasonable to do so.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, hoping to ease some of the exhaustion from my tight skin. This was silly. We were both tired, and we had multiple days on the road ahead of us. We should both be asleep already.
