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Chapter Six
If Perdie had been in her right mind this morning, she would have eaten more for breakfast. Come to think of it, if Perdie had been in her right mind, she would never have stood so close to Thaddeus last night. Close enough to feel his thumb against the fluttering pulse in her wrist. Close enough to lean in and kiss him.
If she’d had a lick of sense, she wouldn’t have considered it. But for one achingly long moment, she’d wanted to lean even closer. Wasn’t that a recipe for disaster?
It hadn’t kept her from tossing and turning in bed all night, thinking again about the flutter she’d felt in her belly as Thaddeus had touched her. It hadn’t kept her from a headache born of fatigue this morning preventing her from eating a hearty enough breakfast to last her until they reached the next inn. And it didn’t keep her from a vexed mood as she climbed up to the driver seat of the carriage and took over driving the team of horses herself. She didn’t look at the man who had haunted her thoughts since their solitary walk the night before. She also tried to ignore her grumbling belly.
She hadn’t driven more than a mile before said man of her dreams trotted up on his stallion and gave her a sidelong smile. Perdie returned it with a frown. The day was cloudy and the air thick with humidity. It made her hair threaten to unravel from her pins. Not to mention, the heat always made her itch when she wore her finest clothes, the ones concocted of thin muslin and embroidery and little else.
This was the finest dress she’d brought with her, a dress she had donned purposefully this morning like armor. It was white—a color unsuitable for travel—with rosebuds embroidered on the bodice and skirts. Beneath was a fine rose-colored underdress, the pink seeming muted beneath the thin muslin but opaque enough to cover the breeches she still wore while traveling. It was a dress made for a duke’s sister, a dress that she had hoped to use to put distance between them.
Heedless to her mood, the man asked cheerfully, “Shall I take a turn on the reins? If you’ve a mind to shelter yourself inside the carriage, I can have Lionel lead my horse.”
The boy was trailing behind them in his customary place, and he seemed to be happy there. At least, he made no groans of protest to Thaddeus’s offer. Perhaps he hadn’t heard.
Perdie gathered the reins closer, which only made the horses stamp their feet and dance. She gave them their heads again so they could carry on unimpeded. Fortunately, nothing about the road today, no different from what it had been in days before, enticed the beasts to stop.
What Perdie wouldn’t give to spot a village on the horizon. A tavern, or even a farmhouse where they might purchase some bread from a farmer’s wife. Her stomach was trying to gnaw itself from the inside out.
“I’ll drive, thank you. But I don’t suppose you know when we’ll make the next inn?”
He hesitated. Apparently his desire to be helpful didn’t extend quite this far. “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with these roads. Could be a mile yet or twenty. You’re hungry?”
“Aren’t you?”
He offered her a grin but didn’t answer the question. “I would’ve thought that a woman as sensible as yourself would have carried provisions.”
That only deepened her glower. “Spoken like a man who has provisions to offer.”
He laughed. “I expected to come across an inn too. I had a bit to eat, but I expect Lionel has eaten the lot.”
There came a muffled choking sound behind them. After Lionel hacked up what sounded like half his lung, he called, “I’m a growing boy! I need sustenance or I’ll wilt away under the weight of all them trunks.”
Thaddeus only shook his head in chagrin. To Perdie, he said, “Why don’t we stop at the next stream? The horses could do with some watering and rest, and I’ll see about catching us something to eat.”
It spoke to how little sense she had that Perdie agreed with that suggestion without a second thought.
* * *
Perdie expected a rabbit,or perhaps a fat goose. Instead, after Thaddeus helped her down from the driver’s seat, he led her by the hand to the stream and walked her down its length. She deliberately shut out any awareness of him and that he was holding her hand. They found a spot wide enough between the trees to lead the horses to the water one at a time. Tree trunks grew in clusters along the bank, but Thaddeus held her steady over the slippery ground before he found a bend in the stream that satisfied him. Here, the water looked deeper, translucent enough to see a web of stones along the bottom and the shadows of fish as they flicked past.
He led her to a mossy fallen log. “Here we are, lass. Wait right here, and I’ll get your dinner.”
She narrowed her eyes at him but made no move to sit on the log. “I’ll ruin my skirts.”
What had she been thinking when she’d donned her best dress this morning?
With a flourish, Thaddeus doffed the same brown jacket he’d worn the day they’d met. He laid it over the log and gestured for her to sit. “What sort of husband would I be if I didn’t see to the needs of my wife’s behind?”
He winked and she swallowed her smile.
“Do people divorce in Scotland? It is entirely frowned upon in England and scandalous of course.”
“Ah, you are thinking to outsmart me, lass?”
She blinked innocently at him and he grinned. “Surely if one can get married by just saying it before ordinary witnesses, one can divorce in the same way.”
“And who do you want to be our witnesses? The fishes?”
