The Rogue & The Hellion by Connie Mason

Author:Connie Mason [Mason, Connie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-27T01:45:22+00:00

When Olivia’s gaze drifted back to the passing scenery, Gabriel’s thoughts turned inward. He remembered how Cissy looked the day she had told him she was going to marry his brother. She was so beautiful, so ethereal with her delicate features and silvery blond hair. She had apologized prettily for choosing Ned, explaining that her parents had urged her to accept the heir instead of the spare, and so she had.

Gabriel could recall a moment of burning anger, but it hadn’t lasted long. They were all so damn young. He and Ned had been close, and he harbored no ill will toward his brother and Cissy after they wed. Then his mother, in one of her lucid moments, told Ned something that had irrevocably changed his life.

Glancing out the window, Gabriel noted that it had begun to rain. It had been threatening all day, but he had hoped it would hold off until they stopped for the night. He lowered the leather window curtains when wind and rain began to blow into the coach, unfolded a blanket and spread it across Olivia’s knees.

Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled. When the coach began to flounder in the mud, Gabriel realized they couldn’t go much further for fear of becoming stranded on a deserted stretch of road. Rapping on the roof, he instructed Jenkins to stop at the next inn they came to. A short time later, the coach turned into the yard of a dismal-looking inn that Gabriel was certain offered little more than the meanest accommodations. Nevertheless, it was a welcome port in the storm.

Jenkins jerked open the door and pulled down the steps. Water dripped off his nose and he was soaking wet. Gabriel stepped down first, grimacing when mud squished around his boots. He held out his arms for Olivia, and when she would have stepped down into a swirling puddle, Gabriel swept her up and carried her beneath the sign of the Cock and Crow and into the boozy warmth of the inn. Jenkins hurried after them, holding an umbrella over their heads.

Gabriel set her on her feet inside the door and turned to address the coachman. “See to the horses, Jenkins, then warm yourself by the fire. I’ll arrange for accommodations and a hot meal.” The innkeeper hurried up to greet them. “Good evening, milord. Be ye wanting a hot meal and a room?”

“Indeed. Two rooms. The best you have. And a place for my coachman to bed down.”

“The meals be no trouble, milord, but I’ve no rooms to let.” He gestured expansively to the crowded common room. “As ye can see, we’re nigh to bursting tonight.”

Gabriel looked for Olivia and saw that she had wandered over to the huge hearth in the common room. Her shivering form convinced him that even the meanest accommodations were better than none at all. “There must be something available.” He extracted a gold crown from his pocket and offered it to the innkeeper. “My . . • wife is chilled and exhausted.

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