The Rogue Not Taken
Page 42“Who is he?” he pressed.
“He is the baker in Mossband.”
A baker. Likely short in the leg and weak in the chin.
“And you will run a bookshop.” He was finished. He should stop.
She nodded, the movement stilted. “I will run a bookshop.”
It was the perfect life for her. Married with a bookshop. He imagined her disheveled and covered with dust, and he liked it far too much.
He lifted his fingers and looked down at them, glistening with honey. She looked, as well. “You should wash them,” she said quietly.
He should. There was a bathtub full of water mere feet away. And a washbasin and fresh water even closer. But he did not go to either. Instead, he lifted his hand to his mouth and licked the honey from his fingers, meeting her eyes. Willing her to look away.
Her eyes widened. Darkened. But did not waver. It was then that he knew.
If he kissed her, she would not stop him.
And if he kissed her, he would not stop.
Dangerous Daughter, indeed.
“There’s a dress for you,” he said.
“I—I beg your pardon?”
“A dress,” he repeated, turning on his heel and tossing his shirt over his head before adding, “and boots.” He tore open the door. “Wear the damn boots.”
Chapter 9
SPOTTED IN SPROTBROUGH?
The pub at the Warbling Wren was fuller than one might imagine it would be at the breakfast hour, Sophie discovered as she descended from her rooms abovestairs three mornings later, dressed in the simple grey dress the Marquess of Eversley had procured for her before he’d disappeared.
She hadn’t seen him since the evening that included what she now referred to as “the bath debacle.” If she did not know better, she would have imagined that he’d left her, as she’d suggested he do, and headed north to his father. According to Mary and the doctor, however, who had been to check on his patient at the crack of dawn both ensuing days, the Marquess remained in town despite having no interest in Sophie’s recovery, evidently.
Which suited Sophie perfectly well.
She ignored the small pang of disappointment that threaded through her at the thought. In fact, she denied that it was disappointment at all. She was simply feeling better, and her empty stomach was awakening as it did every morning.
She entered the pub proper to discover him at the far end of the room, breaking his fast by the window. He did not look up at her arrival and she pointedly looked away. They were not friends, after all. They were barely acquaintances.
He saved your life.
Sophie stiffened at the thought. He did not seem to care about such a thing, so why should she?
You wanted him to kiss you.
She shuttered the traitorous thought. That particular desire had been born of exhaustion and gratitude for the bath. She was fully recovered from it now.
She barely noticed him.
She barely noticed his shirtsleeves, rolled up to the elbow, and the lovely tan of his forearms, all strength and sinew, and the way his dark locks fell across his forehead. The way his green eyes saw everything beyond the window of the pub.
Why, he was practically invisible to her.
The barkeep grunted.
She was not swayed. “I am able to pay quite handsomely.”
Mary had returned her purse yesterday, full to the brim with untouched funds. John had snatched it before the coach had been stopped. Thank heavens for the boy’s inappropriate habit, else Sophie would be without all her money.
Not her money. His money.
Guilt flared and she could not stop herself from looking to him across the room. He had opened a newspaper and was reading, as though she weren’t there. As though they’d never met. She quashed the guilt, vowing to reimburse every cent she used.
But desperate times and all that.
She returned to her barely-a-conversation with the barkeep. Lowered her voice. “Sirrah. I shall pay you and the messenger handsomely.”
He did not look at her, but replied. “Two quid.”
She blinked. “That’s an enormous amount of money.”
The barkeep shrugged one shoulder. “That’s what it costs.”
She waited for a moment, and then said, “I want a seat for the mail coach as well. North.”
He grunted. “Of course.”
“Gratis,” she said.
He blinked.
He nodded. “Free.”
Well. At least there was that. She placed the coin on the bar, along with the sealed envelope. “And for two pounds, I expect the letter to arrive tomorrow.”
The man looked affronted. “Of course.”
She raised a brow. “I do apologize, sir. I should never have suggested that you might misappropriate my funds, as you seem very reliable and aboveboard.”
He did not hear the sarcasm in her words. “I am that.”
“Of course you are. When is the next coach to arrive?”
“There’s one due tomorrow.”
Excellent. She had no reason not to be on it.
She ignored the twinge in her shoulder, nearly as irritating as the knowledge that the man across the room cared not a bit for her presence. “I shall take a seat on it.”
The man reached beneath the counter and set a ticket on the bar. She pocketed the slip of paper and considered her next course of action.
“I’ve three questions.” The words came low and soft at her ear, sending a thrill through her.