Lady, It's Cold Outside by Deb Marlowe

Author:Deb Marlowe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2016-06-30T21:00:00+00:00

5

Ellesworth tossed fitfully most of the night, though he kept ending up on his back, staring resentfully at the smoke-stained ceiling.

Danby. She was going to Danby.

He was doomed to have a dismal Christmas this year, it seemed certain. The pain in his leg was as nothing compared to the torture he faced ahead—being constantly in Miss Bolton’s company while having to keep her at arm’s length. Clearly she was a member of the duke’s family, returning home for the holiday festivities—which the innkeeper informed him were quite infamously elaborate. That simple fact elevated her far above his reach, even as he discovered how utterly perfect she was for him.

He fell asleep not long before dawn, then woke with a start at first light. He sat up, awash in disappointment when he realized that the gingerbread smell had faded.

Giving up on sleep, he climbed out of bed and was still dressing when a servant knocked at his door.

“Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but I saw your light. Wished to tell you that there may be a slight delay. Some trouble in the stables.”

A barbed premonition skittered down his spine. “Trouble?”

“Can’t say what it is, although the maids are atwitter, saying the grooms all drank themselves beneath the mahogany last night.”

Dire certainty grew. He finished dressing and hurried downstairs.

The merchant waited in the entry hall, foot tapping. “I’d hoped to make up for yesterday’s delay,” the man sighed.

“Is the water at the bridge down, then?”

“Someone’s been sent to look.”

Ellesworth still couldn’t shake that sense of foreboding. He stepped out into the courtyard. The innkeeper came shuffling up from the direction of the stables, wringing his hands. The driver of Dowd’s decrepit carriage followed, squinting at the sun and looking sick. “There’s a problem, my lord.”

He’d known it. “What’s happened?”

They all turned as a village boy burst through the gate. “The bridge!”

“What is it?”

The young man shook his head. “Best come and see for yourself. All of you.”

A quarter of an hour later, Ellesworth stood at the top of the rise once more, this time with anger rising to a boil in his gut.

His carriage, the one that he’d hired, sat on the opposite bank. The water had indeed lowered, but he still would not be getting his transport back any time soon. It sat, taunting him, with two teams hitched up and that cursed nursemaid on the box. Behind it stood his erstwhile driver. The impudent villain gave a jaunty salute and rolled a massive wheel out to the edge of the still-rushing waters.

The wheel belonged to Dowd’s carriage. The lumbering, old-fashioned vehicle had been parked in the middle of the narrow bridge, blocking it completely. It couldn’t be moved without the wheel and the wheel couldn’t be easily replaced because of the tiny space left between the axel and the railing.

“Someone has been making mischief all night.”

Ellesworth hadn’t noticed Miss Headley arrive.

As they watched, the driver waved, then sent the wheel rolling into the waters with a splash. The fast moving current caught it up, setting it to spinning as it was swept away.

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