Lady Olivia's Forbidden Protector--A sexy Regency romance by Christine Merrill

Author:Christine Merrill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-06-10T20:19:42+00:00

* * *

After a sleepless night, Mr Solomon followed them down to the coffee room, looking fresh and rested. He pulled a coin from his purse, waved it at a passing stable boy and enquired about the next coach for London. He bought two seats and looked expectantly at Alister. ‘If you care to make it three I will not object, but neither will I pay for you. If you are not interested in that, the horse I hired to get me this far is waiting to be ridden back.’ He grinned at Liv and explained, ‘A man on horseback can travel faster than a coach, even when the coach has a head start of several minutes.’ Then he ordered a hearty breakfast and settled himself on the nearest bench to wait.

Once he was a step or two away, Alister pulled her into a corner and said, ‘You are not seriously going back with him, are you?’

‘What choice do I have?’ she said, feeling strangely relieved that it was all over.

‘We can ignore him and walk out through the door right now. We can get on the next mail coach heading north. I can find our driver from yesterday and offer a bribe bigger than the one Solomon offered, and we can continue on our journey.’

‘And he will come with us,’ she said with a sigh. ‘He will dog our every step until I agree to come back with him. He might push you into another ditch, for all I know. Or offer to witness the ceremony and then climb into our bed for the wedding night. Whatever he does, I doubt he will relent. All we can do is return to London and try another day.’

‘If you are serious about marrying me, you will follow where I go,’ he reminded her. ‘But apparently you have no faith in my abilities.’ The tone of the last sounded rather like pouting.

‘I have faith in you,’ she said quickly. ‘But I also know when it is time to admit that we have lost a game, but not the match.’

‘We cannot just give up,’ he insisted.

‘We are not giving up,’ she said, trying to remain calm. ‘We have waited this long. A little longer will do no harm.’

‘You may go back with him if you like,’ he snapped. ‘I have no intention of riding in any coach he is taking.’

‘Then you will be leaving me alone and unchaperoned with him,’ she reminded him, as gently as possible.

‘You shared a bed with the man last night,’ Alister said, loudly enough to cause a lady in the tap room to eye them curiously.

‘I shared a bed with both of you, and you know it was innocent,’ she snapped back. ‘But I would prefer that you not chide me over something that was none of my doing.’

‘It was none of mine either,’ he almost shouted. ‘It was all that damned Solomon’s fault.’

‘He is only doing his job,’ she said, realising immediately that it was the wrong thing to say if she wanted to calm him so that the other passengers would stop staring.

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