The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) (10 page)

Chapter Ten

W
hen the carriage pulled to a stop, Claire woke from her slumber.  Opening her eyes, she peered out the small window, wondering where they were.  Her eyebrows furrowed.  “What are we doing at an inn?”

Roderick looked up
from the book he’d been reading.  “I thought you might like to sleep in a bed tonight.  Was I wrong?”

Rolling her eyes, she straightened in the seat, working out the kinks in her back and neck the best she could.  Even after all the breaks they’d taken during the very long journey dur
ing the day, her body was stiff.  “I just didn’t realize Weston was so far from London.”

“We’ll be there tomorrow.  In the meantime, we’ll make ourselves comfortable here.”

She turned her attention back to the window and studied the inn.  It looked good enough, but she was surprised an earl would stay at a place that her family could afford.  For some reason, she assumed he’d stay somewhere more expensive.  Curious, she glanced at him.  “Are we suffering financial hardships?”

“That would horrify you, wouldn’t it?”

“Forget I asked,” she snapped.

He opened his
mouth to speak, but the coachman opened the door at that moment.  Relieved, she hurried out of the carriage, pretending she didn’t notice when she accidentally kicked his foot on her way out.  Despite her naps during the trip, she was exhausted.  It was only her growling stomach that compelled her to stay awake.  There would be time to sleep after dinner.

Roderick got out of the carriage and stood beside her.  “Oh good.  The roof hasn’t caved in yet.”

She shot him a pointed look and shook her head.  “The inn is in fine condition.  I’m not so daft that I can’t see that.”

Ignoring his nonchalant shrug that almost dared her to doubt her
own words, she followed the coachman who picked up her valise and went to the entrance of the inn.  If she was smart, she’d ignore Roderick for the rest of their trip.  After they went into the inn, she followed the gentlemen up to a room and patiently waited for someone to indicate that she’d be sleeping in a separate room from Roderick’s but no one gave her that assurance.

She struggled not to show her app
rehension while the coachman brought in the rest of her and Roderick’s things.  Roderick left the room to talk to the innkeeper, hopefully to get his own room so he’d take his things out of her room as soon as possible.  She paced the room, her gaze unwittingly going to the single bed.  She tried to focus on other aspects of the room like the beautiful armoire, the large window with simple but pretty curtains, and the oval mirror hanging over a narrow table where a basin and pitcher full of fresh water waited for her to wash up.  It wasn’t a fancy room by any means, but it was clean and well-kept.

The door to the room opened, so she turned toward it and saw Roderick.  She waited for him to shut the door before she spoke.  “When will you leave this room?”

“Tomorrow morning when we head out for Weston.”

She frowned as he placed his book on a small table by the bed.  “Tomorrow morning?”

“Is your hearing all right?”

Her cheeks warmed.  “My hearing is just fine.  I can’t believe you don’t have enough money to stay in another room.”

“I didn’t say I don’t have the money.”

Taking a deep breath to keep herself from screaming, she pressed as calmly as possible, “Then why are you in my room?”

He sat on the bed and laughed.  “Your room?  I don’t recall anyone saying this is your room.”

She crossed her arms.  “So do I have a room you’ll kindly show me to?”

“Goodness no.  This is a popular inn.  All the other rooms are full.”

“They can’t be!”

“I’m afraid they are.  We’re stuck together in this mediocre room for the night.  I hope you can manage it.  It’s not quite what you believed your life would be like married to a titled gentleman, but it’s the reality of it.”

She grunted and headed for the door.  “I’m going to demand my own room!”

“It won’t do you any good.”

She paused at the door, her hand on the doorknob.  “But you’re lying.  There are other rooms, and there are probably better rooms.”

“We’re going to be here tonight whether you like it or not.  Even if there are rooms, you don’t have the money necessary to pay for it.  All the funds are under my control, and that includes your dowry.”

Gritting her teeth, she turned to face him.  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

He shrugged.

She hesitated a long moment, fingernails tapping the doorknob as she tried to figure
out the best response she could come up with, but nothing—absolutely nothing—came to mind.  She couldn’t very well head out of this inn and go back to London right now.  For one, he was right here to stop her, and second, she had no way of getting a carriage ride back to London.

Letting go of the doorknob, she made a resigned sigh and went over
to the open window.  “Since I’m trapped, I suppose I should make the best of it.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.  He settled on the bed and put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes.  Irritated, she stuck her head out the window and peered down at the people who were entering the inn.  Though she knew it was completely unbecoming of a lady, she let out a shrill laugh.  “Oh Lord Roderick, you really shouldn’t be doing that, you naughty gentleman you.”

To her satisfaction, he bolted
up, stormed over to her, and slammed the window shut.  “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting my own room, my lord.”

“It won’t work.  Now sit in the chair or on the bed and behave.  Dinner will be brought up shortly.”

“I want my own room.  I know very well you can afford it.”

“You’re not getting it,” he replied, his voice low but sharp.

She glared at him for a long moment, her gaze unwavering from his.  She knew full well he was daring her to show a sign of weakness, and she refused to give in.  If he wanted to p
lay this game, then she could as well.  After a full two minutes passed between them, she straightened her back and lifted her chin in the air.

“Very well
,” she relented.  “We’ll share this room tonight.” Giving a show of shrugging as if nothing bothered her, she walked by him, intentionally brushing against him so he’d have to step back.  “The last time with you wasn’t memorable.  I see no reason to think tonight will be either.”

Even as she said it, she knew she was asking for trouble, but something in her had snapped, and she was too upset to care about propriety.  Acting like a lady be damned!  The big oaf had it coming!

“Perhaps if you hadn’t been as drunk as a lady of ill repute, you would’ve remembered what happened that night,” he shot back.

She clenched her teeth.  Blast it!  It was just her luck he was quick with a comeback.  Tilting her head in his direction, she arched an eyebrow.  “And you
have experience with such ladies that you would know?”

“I don’t believe my affairs are any of your business.”

“Neither are mine.  Yours.” She stopped herself and tried to think of the proper way to word her response.  “That is to say that my affairs are not your business either.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes.  “Not very clever.”

She got ready to speak when someone knocked on the door.  Closing her mouth, she watched as he crossed the room and opened it.  A gentleman brought in a table and a chair.  After he set the table down, the other gentleman set a plate full of food down.  The first gentleman set the chair in front of the plate.  The two gentlemen nodded to Roderick and left.

She furrowed her eyebrows.  “So you plan to let me go hungry?”

“I don’t know what you take me for,” he began, “but I won’t let you starve.  You’ll eat here tonight, and I’ll eat downstairs.  I won’t trouble your pretty little head with the details, but there are ways a gentleman can relax from a long day that don’t involve the nuisance of a lady.”

“The nuisance of a lady?” She placed her hands on her hips.  He had a lot of nerve!
  “Being around you is as pleasant as having a nail in the foot.”

Ignoring what she considered to be a clever retort, h
e went to the door.  “Don’t wait up for me.  I’ll return late.”

She
gritted her teeth as he shut the door behind him, leaving her alone.  She went back to the window and opened it.  A quick scan of the area showed her how fruitless it’d be to try to run off, and he knew very well she had no way of getting back to London.  At least not yet.  She’d have to wait until they were at Weston.  One way or another, she was going to get back to London.  Resigned to spending the night in the inn, she turned to the meal on the table and sat down to eat.

***

Nate rolled away from Claire as much as he could in the abnormally small bed.  Funny how the bed hadn’t seemed so small earlier that day when they arrived at the inn, but in the night when everything was dark, it was definitely small.  Perhaps it shrunk.

He gritted his teeth and crossed his arms, willing Lord Edon’s book and the memory of Claire as she stood naked in her bedchamber on their wedding night
from his mind.  Curse them both!  He never should have read that very descriptive book on everything a lady enjoyed in bed.  It actually included illustrations.  And now that he was in extremely close proximity to a lady who felt terribly delightful with curves in so many right places it nearly drove him insane, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

He debated leaving the bed and sleeping on the floor, but then she’d know she won.  And there was no way he was letting her know he was weak!  He could insist she act on her wifely duty, but considering the fact that she didn’t like him any more than he liked her, lovemaking
wouldn’t be the pleasant experience he wanted it to be.  Granted, he wasn’t expecting love and passion, but he had wanted it to be something amiable, something they could both enjoy.

He let out a weary sigh and checked the position of the moon.  Just his
luck.  Dawn was a long ways off.  This was, undoubtedly, going to be the longest night of his life.  And to think he had ordered the innkeeper to give him one room because he wanted to punish her!

He glanced at her, noting her closed eyes and steady, deep breathing.  She was fully clothed—in her morning dress of all things!—tonight, something he supposed he should be grateful for. 
If he was having trouble sleeping next to her while she wore her clothes, he could only imagine how it would be if she wore nightclothes or nothing.  He shook his head in aggravation.  Of course, she slept peacefully.  She knew it would drive him to distraction to pretend that being so close to him in an intimate place didn’t affect her.  She was pretending, wasn’t she?  She couldn’t really be asleep.  Yes, she was pretending.  He was sure of it, and because she was pretending, he couldn’t afford to leave the bed.

Determined to see this night through to the bitter end, he rolled over and—not realizing he was already as far at the edge of the bed as he could get—fell to the floor with a loud thud.  He bolted up, sure that
Claire would open her eyes and prove she hadn’t actually been sleeping after all.  But to his dismay, she let out a soft sigh and rolled onto her side so that her back was to him.

He rolled his eyes and settled back onto the bed, fully expecting her to give herself away by giggling, but no such evidence of her witnessing his embarrassing fall came.  Instead, it was the steady breathing she employed so well.
  She was either truly asleep or very good at pretending.

Not that it mattered.  He’d be better off trying to get whatever sleep he could instead of worrying about what Claire was thinking. 
Perhaps if he stopped thinking about her and focused on something else, he might drift off to sleep.  Willing to give it a try, he took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and closed his eyes.

Napoleon.  He’d think about Napoleon and the battles going on.  But that didn’t work because when he thought of strategic maneuvers employed in wars, his mind unwittingly went to the strategies outlined in Lord Edon’s book—strategies that would ease Claire’s discomfort so she might find the consummation of their marriage pleasurable when they finally did it.  He gritted his teet
h.  Fine.  So strategies weren’t good.  Then perhaps he might consider the differing viewpoints from the Whigs and Tories.  It seemed to him that his marriage was similar.  He and Claire had differing ideas on what a marriage should be like.  Granted, there was a factor of convenience inherent for both of them.  He needed an heir.  She needed security.  Of course, she found security in the form of frivolous spending, but could he be surprised?  Wasn’t that why she went outside at the ball?  So she could snare some poor unsuspecting bachelor into a trap?

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.  This was ridiculous.  He was a grown man.  What was he doing by obsessing about something as basic as sex?  It was merely a means to get an heir.  That was it.  Grunting, he sat up, fluffed his pillow and threw it back on the bed before he settled back down.  Crossing his arms, he gave up on sleep and stared at the ceiling.  There was no doubt about it.  While his wife was going to sleep through the entire night, he wasn’t.  So be it.  There was plenty of
time to sleep in the carriage, and when they arrived at Weston, the very first thing he’d do was make sure her bedchamber was ready for her so he wouldn’t have to share a bed with her for a very long time.