Into Thin Eire by Sheri Cobb South

Author:Sheri Cobb South
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bow Street Runners, romantic thriller, Regency Mystery, married sleuths, historical cozy
Publisher: Sonatina Press
Published: 2019-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

THE HOURS THAT FOLLOWED seemed to Pickett like a nightmare from which he could not awaken. The lamps mounted on the outside of the post-chaise only served to make the darkness beyond seem even darker by comparison, meaning he could find no distraction in the unfamiliar scenery they passed along the way. About an hour into their journey, Carson conceived the happy notion of whiling away the time in singing, at the top of his lungs (or so it seemed to Pickett), a selection of bawdy tunes of the sort most frequently heard in London’s less discriminating public houses. He was possessed of a fine, if untrained, tenor voice, to which Thomas very readily contributed his own baritone. Jamie soon added his own voice to the mix, and finally, Pickett himself joined in, albeit halfheartedly; it was easier than resisting Carson’s constant urging, or deflecting his insistence that there was, after all, nothing Pickett could do for his wife at the moment—a fact of which he was all too painfully aware. To his surprise, it actually helped, as much as anything could; it was, after all, difficult to form horrifying theories as to what torments Julia might be suffering when he was trying to recall the words to the next stanza of “The Jug of Punch” or “Drink Old England Dry.”

At last they reached Bristol and soon located a posting-house, where Jamie sent his companions inside to procure a couple of rooms while he gave instructions for a vehicle and fresh horses to be ready for their departure at dawn the following morning. It was quite late by this time, and the innkeeper was not pleased to be rousted from his bed at such an hour, but was forced to comply nonetheless; unlike the village of Dunbury with its one inn, Bristol was a city of considerable size, and if he were disinclined to oblige the latecomers, they would have no difficulty in locating a more welcoming establishment.

Entering the quiet chamber which he was to share his brother-in-law, Pickett noted that it appeared to be clean, and was somewhat roomier than the lodgings provided by the Cock and Boar. Not that it appeared to matter much to Jamie either way, Pickett noticed with a pang of envy; having spent more than a dozen years in the army, the major had acquired the ability to sleep anywhere. Soon the stillness was interrupted only by the rhythmic sounds of his breathing.

Alas, with nothing else to distract him, the demons Pickett had previously held at bay came rushing back to torment him. But now, instead of wondering where Julia was at that moment and what was happening to her, his thoughts drifted back to the last night before he’d left for Dunbury, and their farewells at dawn the following morning. She’d teased him about making her a formal offer of marriage, but he could tell that she was speaking only half in jest. Why hadn’t he done it? Partly—mostly, perhaps—because he didn’t know how to put in words the depth of his love for her.

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