Chasing Eliza (24 page)

Eliza
could feel the distance immediately begin to grow between them as
soon as he left the warm haven of her body, and wondered what she
had done to cause it. The soft glow of pleasure what had engulfed
her rapidly began to wane as he moved to lie on his back, one arm
draped over his eyes. He made no move to hold her, or even speak to
her. Closing her out as effectively as if he had picked up his
breeches and left the room.

Immediately she was filled with bitter regret. She hadn’t
expected any declaration of devotion, but she hadn’t expected to
feel so used and discarded either. After all, it wasn’t as though
she had forced him. Sitting upwards she winced at the soreness
between her thighs and tugged the sheet up to cover herself,
swinging her legs over the side of the bed to sit with her back
towards him.

“
Where are you going?” Edward murmured softly, lifting an arm
and eyeing the delicate curve of her back as she sat on the edge of
the bed.

“
Nowhere.” Eliza replied, fighting tears as she clutched the
sheet tighter around her. There was nowhere to go. “I think you
should go back to your own room now.” She whispered, feeling the
bed move as he sat up in bed.

He had
made her no promises, nor had she asked for any. Although he had
said he wouldn’t make love to her, clearly what he had done had
aroused him enough to want her regardless. She had wanted him
regardless. Now it was obvious he regretted what they had done. She
couldn’t stand to hear his awkward apologies or him actually give
voice to his regret.

Straightening her shoulders, she shook her head and rapidly
blinked her tears away, offering him a quick, insincere smile over
her shoulder. “I’m tired, that’s all. I think it would be better if
you slept in your own bed.”

Edward
studied the rigid length of her back, not convinced at all that she
could dismiss what had happened between them so readily.

“
Eliza.” He began to reach a hand out to touch her back, only
to pause half way and slowly lower his hand to the bed. He was busy
studying her, waiting for her to turn around and wasn’t aware that
Eliza could see his actions through the mirror on the wall at the
foot of the bed. Her heart broke at the look of bitter regret on
his face as he studied her. She ached to cry out loud with the
unfairness of it all and needed some time alone to get her battered
emotions under control.

“
You aren’t going to dismiss me Eliza. Or ignore what we have
just done.” Edward argued, peeved at her casual dismissal of him.
She had enjoyed what he had done, he had been inside her when she
had found release.

“
I’m just tired.” Eliza argued, feeling inexplicably angry
with him.

“
Then lie down and get to sleep.” Edward ordered as he lay
back down. He watched and waited for several moments until Eliza
sighed and settled on the very edge of the bed. As far away from
him as she could get without actually lying on the
floor.

Edward
was nonplussed at her need for distance. “I’m sorry I hurt
you.”

He said,
breaking the stilted silence that had settled over them when he
couldn’t stand it any longer. It would have been better if she had
shouted at him, or thrown something. The wounded silence grated on
his nerves like nails on wood and made him grit his teeth, digging
deep for his waning patience.

After
several moments of her cold shoulder, he swore fluidly and sat up,
dragging dragged her across the bed and into his arms, yanking the
sheet out from between them and throwing it across the room in
disgust. He ignored her startled protests and dropped a heavy leg
across her hips the same time as he slid an arm over her shoulders,
dragging her stiff body into his arms.

She lay
rigid against him to begin with, clearly unwilling to relax in his
embrace but his persistence won and eventually she began to soften
until she was lying flush against him with each dip and hollow of
her luscious body pressed against his masculine
hardness.

“
Now sleep.” He ordered softly, pressing a gentle kiss against
her forehead and staring into the fire blankly while he waited for
her to relax.

For him,
sleep would be a long time coming. He couldn’t quite believe that
after all of his determination, he had succumbed to the fiercely
tempting woman in his arms. Oh, she was beautiful, by far the most
stunningly attractive woman he had ever met. She was strong and
determined without being domineering. She was calm and unflappable
without being masculine or disinterested. She was by far the most
appealing woman he could consider being married to. But still, she
was a bundle of trouble. There were men after her, whether to
kidnap or kill her nobody was certain, and she had an errant sister
who was now facing the gallows.

He
thought about his conversation with Sebastian at his wedding
ruefully. The tangled web had been so easily woven around him. A
web that if he was completely honest, he wasn’t certain he wanted
to be free of now.

Chapter
Ten

Edward was in a
fierce temper. He had woken up just after dawn to find Eliza
already up and about – and clearly avoiding him. Throughout
breakfast she had entered into a continual flow of conversation
that made even the curtest ‘good morning’ barely
possible.

Although
she had willingly taken part in last night, she had been untried
and clearly unused to such intimacies with a man. Was she
embarrassed about the morning after? Or did she have regrets and
want to pretend it hadn’t happened? He thought about her withdrawal
last night and decided it was the latter.

He
wished he could ask her and find out for certain. As a man of
action, it annoyed the hell out of him that he was left to
patiently wait for the opportunity to raise one of the most
important issues of his life with her.

Briefly
he contemplated embarrassing her and asking her outright there and
then, but immediately dismissed the notion. As soon as his brothers
found out they would insist upon marriage, whether Eliza wanted it
or not and that scenario was something he had to avoid. What had
happened last night had to remain strictly between them for
now.

At least
until he had the chance to decide what to do about asking for her
hand in marriage. In reality he had now compromised her, so should
marry her at the earliest opportunity, even though the timing was
lousy. He could hardly push her into a marriage she was clearly
reluctant to consider, while her sister – her only surviving
relative – faced death by hanging.

He
wanted her. If he was honest he had deep affection for her. But was
it enough to spend the rest of his life with her? She certainly had
the ability to raise his temper quicker than anyone else, he mused
as he watched her chatting amiably with Peter as they rode along.
The passion between them had been a revelation to him. He had slept
with numerous women before but nobody had ever made him forget
himself to such an extent that he had simply forgotten to withdraw
in time to prevent a child.

But they
had not spent any time together in ‘normal’ circumstances and given
Jemima’s dire situation, it would be several weeks more before they
were able to spend any time together in a family setting without
any threats or worries. That was assuming that Jemima was given a
pardon sparing both Eliza and Peter untold grief.

His
thoughts turned towards his brothers and the happiness they had
achieved in their marriages. Dominic had spent several days with
Isobel before going to Norfolk, and then spent several weeks alone
with her when she reappeared in Leicestershire. Although she had
been ill at the time, they had been given the opportunity for their
relationship to develop. Sebastian had spent several days alone
with Amelia prior to kidnapping her and taking her to Tingdale.
Several days during which he had opportunity to get to know Amelia
without interruption. They had also spent several days at Tingdale
together, albeit with the remainder of the family there, but they
had been in Sebastian’s home and free to spend time together as
they chose.

The only
time Edward had spent alone with Eliza, they were being chased by
smugglers, and had been fleeing for their lives. In reality he had
only known Eliza for a few days, and then hadn’t gotten the
opportunity to really learn much about her as a woman. He knew
about her family history, her current circumstance but didn’t know
what her favourite foods were; whether she preferred winter or
summer; whether she liked to sew, read or play the piano forte.
Could he really enter into marriage to someone whom he knew so
little about?

Making
love with her hadn’t really brought them any closer together. They
had been physically intimate, but not emotionally and that bothered
him. He wanted her to be married to him because she cared about
him. He wanted to marry her because he knew she was the right
choice, not because of any child they had created.

They
rode until it was too dark to see, contemplating riding through the
night only briefly before Sebastian argued that it was too easy for
Scraggan’s men to stage an ambush during the darkest hours. At
least during daytime they were easy to spot, although nobody could
fathom why Scraggan wasn’t making any attempt to capture Eliza. It
felt as though they were almost being herded towards some unseen
destination and that kept everyone tense and watchful.

By the
time they rode into the stable yard of the coaching inn, they were
all in a bad temper. As they entered the tap room, everyone became
silent and watched them warily for several moments, before
conversation resumed albeit in an altogether quieter
tone.

Edward
glared at the innkeeper as he requested five rooms, the private
parlour and demanded that most of the rooms should overlook the
stable yard.

The
innkeeper swallowed nervously. Sweat broke out on his forehead and
he shuffled from one foot to the other as he tried to decide which
of the four men he should break the news to. Eliza sighed and
pushed her way forwards to stand between Edward and
Peter.

“
Please excuse my associates.” Eliza offered the innkeeper a
brief smile. “If you have the rooms available we would be much
obliged.” She knew from the look of the man that he hadn’t and was
giving him the opportunity to decline their request without the men
behind her lynching him.

“
I-I’m afraid we don’t have that many rooms my lady.” The man
stammered, clearly worried what would happen to him by refusing
their request. “We only have three rooms, and one of those is on
the main street. I-I’m so sorry.”

“
Will any of the other inns in the town have the rooms we
require?” Eliza queried, considering the run down tavern they had
passed a few miles back with a shudder. It reminded her too much of
her old workplace.

“
I’m afraid they don’t take guests my lady.”
Meaning they were bawdy houses like the one she
used to work in
. Eliza thought with a
shake of her head. “Then we will take the three rooms you do have.
Do you have a private parlour?”

“
Yes ma’am, I can get it ready for you right now.” The
Innkeeper declared with no small measure of relief on his face and
with a bow, scurried off to undertake his task, completely
forgetting to show them to their rooms.

“
Great, I suppose we help ourselves, do we?” Edward muttered
in disgust, watching the Innkeeper bustle off.

Eliza scowled at him. “We are lucky to have a room for the
night, so mind your manners.” She snapped, in no way prepared to
accept his rudeness. “All we have to do is wait for him to return.”
She moved to one of the vacant tables and sat down on a stool
almost regally before arching a snooty brow at him. “Unless you
have anything more pressing to do
my
Lord
, then I suggest you exert a bit of
patience – and wait.”

She
ignored the men was they stared at her for several moments before
slowly moving to crouch over the small stools gathered around the
table.

Within
moments the breathless Innkeeper returned with a garbled
apology.

“
P-please do forgive me. The maids are preparing the parlour
for dinner for you, when you are ready. I’ll show you to your rooms
now.” He spun on his heel and took off for the stairs, leaving the
weary group to lurch to their feet.

Edward
growled as he watched the wiry man pelt up the stairs as though the
hounds of hell were at his heels. He was about to make some dark
remark when Eliza glared at him again.

“
What?” He asked, his palms held up beseechingly. “I didn’t do
anything.”

Eliza
rolled her eyes. “You’ve terrified the man.” She declared, shooting
him a filthy look as she stalked past him. “It would serve you
right if he made you sleep in the barn.”

“
He wouldn’t dare.” Edward declared threateningly, eyeing the
now empty staircase in disgust.

Eliza
considered he was probably right. Given Peter, Dominic and
Sebastian all wore identical bad-tempered scowls, Eliza was certain
the entire tap room were glad they were leaving. She climbed the
stairs wondering what they were going to do about sleeping
arrangements. She didn’t want the men thinking she was just going
to be paired with Edward, but she didn’t want to anger Edward by
making an issue of sharing a room with him.