To Win a Wallflower by Liz Tyner

Author:Liz Tyner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-24T18:00:38+00:00

* * *

Annie woke to the sound of three quick raps at the door. Barrett was gone from the bed.

Another knock. ‘Miss. Your husband sent me to see if you need any assistance.’ The innkeeper’s wife. Annie looked around, saw she was alone and rushed to open the door and let the woman in. She carried a tray of bread fresh from the oven, the aroma preceding her. A platter of butter and jam. A pitcher finished out the arrangement. She put the tray on the table.

‘He’s a mite impatient,’ the woman spoke. ‘And he’s managed to talk my husband out of a horse with a side-saddle brought from the Andrews’ house. I can understand why the two of you might bicker. He’s snappish.’

‘Not always.’

The older woman shook her head. ‘The man is more surly than an ill-tempered dog.’

‘He’s just used to having his way.’ Annie grabbed a roll, quickly buttered it and said, ‘He’s a viscount’s son.’

‘That thinks he’s a prince,’ the woman grumbled. ‘And we ain’t the type what princes prefer.’

She pulled out a cloth tucked into the waistband of her apron and wiped her hands on it. ‘You’ll be leaving him again, miss, unless you have much more patience that I do. Only next time, take my advice. Plan better.’ She stepped out the door.

Annie rushed through breakfast, then hurried downstairs to a man standing with crossed arms, who’d not shaved in several days, had slept in his clothing and looked as if he might chew up the devil himself and spit him out.

He took Annie’s arm and led her outside, handing her a strangled rag of a bonnet.

She took it, surprised that he would be thinking of her complexion at a time like this, but strangely pleased. The couple was wrong about Barrett.

‘The sun is hardly shining,’ she said.

He gave a growl from the base of his throat. ‘But there’s enough of it to see your face. I don’t want you recognised when we arrive.’

She stood in front of the horse—a beast that looked no different than a hundred other horses she might see along the way to London. She touched its brown pelt and looked at its uninterested eyes.

She patted the horse again. She really didn’t want to get on it and go back to her old life. She’d rather liked having Barrett with her.

From behind, two hands grasped her sides and lifted her straight into the heavens and out of her breath.

Before she knew it, he’d told her to hang on and stood ready to catch her for the first few steps of the horse.

‘Secure?’ he asked.

She nodded, aware of the determination in his face and in his hands. He couldn’t make it any more plain that he wanted her out of his life.

After the way they’d talked last night, she would have expected him to be friendlier. But instead he seemed even more distant. Perhaps he regretted telling her the things he had.

She could hang on to the horse, but it was Barrett she kept wanting to reach out to.

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