Anita Mills by Newmarket Match

Author:Newmarket Match
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

11

It was agreed, since she’d brought no maid or abigail, that the wisest course would be to marry immediately, return to Rowe’s Hill to collect whatever she required of her meager possessions, and then press on to Richlands. There she would remain, mastering the running of her new household whilst he took Two Harry to Doncaster. To Harriet it was as though she were in a dream from which she hoped she never wakened.

After sharing tea with Agnes Plimly, Richard propelled his betrothed to his carriage, saying they must hurry if they were to avail themselves of the special license he’d brought with him that day. Thus it was that Harriet found herself in the parlor of the rector of St. Michael’s and St. Paul’s Church in Bath, listening to Richard explain the need for speedy nuptials. The words were spoken, the ring he usually wore on his little finger was slipped on hers, and the marriage lines duly witnessed. By dusk she was lawfully Harriet Rowe Standen, Viscountess Sherborne.

“I had thought to break our journey at the Black Lion Inn some fifteen miles from here,” he told her as he handed her up into his carriage. “Unless, of course, you should wish otherwise.”

She had to blink back tears, for never in fourteen years and more had she been asked rather than told what she would do. “ ’Twill be fine,” she managed, settling into the seat across from him. “Oh, ’tis ever so much more comfortable here than in the mail coach.”

“I should hope so. What the devil were you thinking of, my dear? You could have been molested—or worse, you know.”

“So I discovered,” she admitted ruefully.

“Thing is, I don’t see how you managed to leave Rowe’s Hill without being detected. I mean, ’tis not as though it were in town.”

“Well… I do not suppose you would tell Hannah of it anyway, would you? No, of course you would not,” she decided. “ ’Twas Thomas. I persuaded him to hire his brother, who is in Squire March’s employ, for he often goes into the village in the cart. Thomas took my portmanteau when he rode over to engage him, and then I walked across the back fields to the next lane, where, for the princely sum of ten pounds, I was met the next morning. I caught the mail coach in Cambridge, transferred in Wallingford, and arrived here today. It was not, I fear, a very comfortable journey, for I could scarce sleep.”

“Well, you will never have to face such an ordeal again, Harry, for I mean to take care of you.”

He spoke as though he thought of her as a helpless child, she thought, and while his words were meant to comfort, they did not satisfy that in her which wished desperately for his love. But aloud she said, “ ’Tis to be hoped we shall take care of each other, isn’t it?”

He could not fail to note the wistfulness in her voice, and he leaned across, covering her folded hands with his.

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