Chapter 6
A smart series of raps on Lucy’s bedchamber door brought her out of exhausted slumber.
Who the devil can that possibly be?
When the sound didn’t come again, she rolled over and snuggled again into the bedclothes as the sound of steady rain fell upon the roof. Her eyes had just drifted closed and the knock came once more, frantic this time, and accompanied by a hissed whisper.
“Lucy!”
What was Colin doing in the hall at this time of night?
Still, a tiny thrill went down her spine before common sense took over.
He wasn’t on the other side of that door for a midnight tryst, especially not with his daughter in the room.
Plus, he hadn’t shown interest or even admiration for Lucy throughout the trip.
Was it perhaps subconscious hope on her part?
Don’t be silly.
As another series of insistent knocks rained upon the wooden panel, she huffed a sigh and slipped out of the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Ellen asked in a voice garbled with sleep. “I thought I heard Father’s voice.”
So did I. Perhaps it was nothing but a foolish dream. “I’ve no idea, but I’ll find out.” Lucy slipped on a dressing gown of faded lavender silk. She padded over the worn hardwood and then cracked open the door a few inches…
…only to stare into the countenance of Father Christmas, or rather Colin dressed as that long-ago saint, complete with a ragged white beard she assumed was glued on as well as matching hair beneath a dark red cap that hung down and trailed over one shoulder.
Her eyes widened as she raked her gaze up and down his person.
Where had he procured a robe of dark red velvet and gold brocade?
And perhaps more to the point, was he even properly dressed beneath the wide-sleeved garment that hung to the floor?
“What is the meaning of this? You do realize it’s the middle of the night and—”
“I am aware.” His eyes flashed in the dimness of the hall. “It’s about an hour before dawn, but we must leave now.” Urgency flowed through his voice.
“I don’t understand.” She crossed her arms over at her chest, and briefly he dropped his gaze to her bosom. Her heartbeat fluttered. “What is the hurry?”
“It’s none of your concern but trust me when I tell you that we must leave as soon as possible, before things grow worse.” He jerked his chin to indicate the stairs at the end of the hall. “Dress and then bring your bags down this instant.”
“I won’t, until you tell me what’s going on.” Lucy resisted the childish impulse to stamp her foot.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not reveal the reason.” He drew himself up to his full height of five foot nine inches and glared down at her, but the beard and false hair took much of the power from his glower. “Just do this for me.”
“Is the inn on fire, Colin?” she asked in a shocked voice as she opened the door wider.
“I don’t smell smoke in the air.” When he narrowed his eyes, she continued.
“Are we under attack? For I don’t hear the explosion of mortar shells.
” A swath of hilarity swelled in her chest, and she couldn’t stop teasing him.
“Ah, I know. Perhaps there’s a highwayman on the prowl and he’s sneaking through the corridors in the attempt at separating guests from their valuables, and you wish us to flee into the night ahead of him. ”
“Lucy!” Colin grabbed her shoulders and gave her a bit of a shake. “If I tell you the reason, will you pack and dress without further argument?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, not while his hands remained on her person and the warmth from him seeped into her skin.
“Very well.” The ire went out of his expression, and as if he just noticed his touch, he dropped his hands and took a step backward.
His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow.
“I thought the innkeeper stared overly hard at me last night, but I didn’t remember ever making his acquaintance.
” He kept his voice to a whisper, as did she.
“Had you?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Briefly and in passing.” Colin shifted his weight. “Turns out, he is the brother of a woman I might have had… relations with.”
“Might have?” She eyeballed him. “You’ve had so many that you cannot remember?” Why was she not surprised? And disappointed. Her stomach muscles clenched, and she cast a glance over her shoulder. Ellen sat bolt upright in bed, staring at them. It wasn’t to be helped.
“Spare me the lectures at the moment.” He tugged at the cravat buried beneath his robe, which, upon closer inspection, was a rather shabby affair and stank of…
Lucy took a surreptitious sniff and reared backward.
Ale and tobacco. “Yes, I had an affair with the man’s sister—more of a one-off sort of thing really—I’d come this way on a trip to visit a hunting mate of mine, stopped here, had a few drinks, saw the woman, things… happened—”
“Ugh.” Lucy held up a hand. “Skip that part.”
He nodded. “Well, I recognized the chap the same time he did me, for that day a couple of years ago, he’d discovered me in his sister’s bed here—his married sister—and he none too gently threw my arse out in the street with the threat that if he ever saw me again, he’d kill me.”
Merciful heavens, did he not realize his indelicate actions would continue to cause him trouble if he didn’t change?
Was warming the bed of a willing woman worth that?
She blew out a breath that ruffled an escaped tendril of hair from her braid.
“Why did he not follow through on the threat last night, for I assume you two came into contact in the tavern?”
Of course he’d been drinking again. Oh, Colin, stop destroying yourself.
“There were many people milling about. Rain brings in the patrons, apparently.” Colin’s shrug was everything negligible.
“So I retired, but I’m sure he’ll be waiting for me at departure time.
” He made a gesture with a hand meaning get on with it.
“Anyway, here we are, so you need to dress and pack, and we need to go with alacrity.”
Perhaps it was time to face some of the demons of his own making. “I hardly doubt the man will kill you, and I will not flee into the night as if I were the guilty one.”
“Come on, Lucy. Please?” The puppy dog pleading in his lake-blue eyes wore her down more quickly than she’d like.
It would seem that around him, she possessed no willpower.
She’d do well to remember that for the duration of the trip.
“If this man threatens violence, and something happens to me, what will you and Ellen do? Who will remain to protect you?”
A queer little tingle went through her lower belly.
“Do you think you’re our champion?” When he didn’t answer, she offered a small grin.
“I’m quite certain your daughter and I can look after ourselves.
In fact,” she couldn’t resist teasing him.
“If you are laid up, we shall simply continue our journey without you. Perhaps, she can even pick you up when she comes back after the holidays.”
Then her grin died. For I will not come this way again. London life is behind me.
“Do be serious, Lucy.” But his growl didn’t have the amount of bite it did before.
“Fine.” She relented, only because it was the height of scandal to stand there, dressed as she was, with this man. “I’ll meet you in the common room in thirty minutes.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Outside. I’ll rouse the driver and help him with the horses.” He stepped away then paused. “Perhaps we’ll arrive at Lancaster Hall that much sooner.” His expression suggested that was the preferred plan.
Then he was gone, loping along the corridor and plunging down the wooden stairs like a man possessed. He certainly didn’t worry about maintaining stealth.
With nothing for it, Lucy closed the door. She spun about to face Ellen, who’d lit a lantern. “There are times I don’t think your father is quite right in his upper story,” she murmured as she crossed the room.
Ellen snorted. “It’s good that you’re finding such a thing out now, for it won’t come as such a shock to you later.” She cocked her head to one side. “We are leaving now?”
“So it would appear.” A trace of sadness cycled through her for a misdeed that still affected Colin’s life. Will he never learn?
“Why is Father dressed so bizarrely?”
“That, my girl, is a long story we do not have time for.” It wasn’t her responsibility to inform Colin’s daughter about his indiscretions.
“What about breakfast?”
Lucy chuckled. “Do you always think with your stomach?” In that regard, she was very much like Simon.
“Not always, but traveling makes me hungry,” the girl said with a grin.
“I’ll make certain your father stops somewhere so you can have a proper breakfast,” Lucy promised. “Now, we best dress, else he’ll come up here again, and I wouldn’t put it past him to spirit us away, fully clothed or not.”
As they dissolved into giggles, they accomplished the tasks at hand.
December 22, 1821
They’d been on the road for less than an hour before they passed a sign that gave Lucy an idea, mostly because Colin had yet to remove the Father Christmas disguise.
She tapped him on the knee, startling him from a half-dose.
Could she blame him for wanting to sleep since they were roused from slumber early and it still rained, which rendered the confines of the coach rather cozy?
No, but it was his fault they were here with the dawn, and he could very well reap the benefits of an early riser, plus do a good deed.
“Tell your driver to go back. I want to turn down that lane we passed.”
“Why?” Colin glanced out the rain-streaked window glass. “We’re free of the inn, but not nearly as far away as I’d like to be.”
She leveled a look upon him. “I think you owe it to me for dragging us from our beds so early, and in the rain as the roads grow muddy with each passing hour.” When he stared right back, she sighed. “It’s time to remind you what Christmas is about.”