Chasing Eliza (Cavendish Mysteries 3)

“Then lie down and get to sleep.” Edward ordered as he lay back down. He watched and waited for several moments until Eliza sighed and settled on the very edge of the bed. As far away from him as she could get without actually lying on the floor.

Edward was nonplussed at her need for distance. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

He said, breaking the stilted silence that had settled over them when he couldn’t stand it any longer. It would have been better if she had shouted at him, or thrown something. The wounded silence grated on his nerves like nails on wood and made him grit his teeth, digging deep for his waning patience.

After several moments of her cold shoulder, he swore fluidly and sat up, dragging dragged her across the bed and into his arms, yanking the sheet out from between them and throwing it across the room in disgust. He ignored her startled protests and dropped a heavy leg across her hips the same time as he slid an arm over her shoulders, dragging her stiff body into his arms.

She lay rigid against him to begin with, clearly unwilling to relax in his embrace but his persistence won and eventually she began to soften until she was lying flush against him with each dip and hollow of her luscious body pressed against his masculine hardness.

“Now sleep.” He ordered softly, pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead and staring into the fire blankly while he waited for her to relax.

For him, sleep would be a long time coming. He couldn’t quite believe that after all of his determination, he had succumbed to the fiercely tempting woman in his arms. Oh, she was beautiful, by far the most stunningly attractive woman he had ever met. She was strong and determined without being domineering. She was calm and unflappable without being masculine or disinterested. She was by far the most appealing woman he could consider being married to. But still, she was a bundle of trouble. There were men after her, whether to kidnap or kill her nobody was certain, and she had an errant sister who was now facing the gallows.

He thought about his conversation with Sebastian at his wedding ruefully. The tangled web had been so easily woven around him. A web that if he was completely honest, he wasn’t certain he wanted to be free of now.

Chapter Ten

Edward was in a fierce temper. He had woken up just after dawn to find Eliza already up and about – and clearly avoiding him. Throughout breakfast she had entered into a continual flow of conversation that made even the curtest ‘good morning’ barely possible.

Although she had willingly taken part in last night, she had been untried and clearly unused to such intimacies with a man. Was she embarrassed about the morning after? Or did she have regrets and want to pretend it hadn’t happened? He thought about her withdrawal last night and decided it was the latter.

He wished he could ask her and find out for certain. As a man of action, it annoyed the hell out of him that he was left to patiently wait for the opportunity to raise one of the most important issues of his life with her.

Briefly he contemplated embarrassing her and asking her outright there and then, but immediately dismissed the notion. As soon as his brothers found out they would insist upon marriage, whether Eliza wanted it or not and that scenario was something he had to avoid. What had happened last night had to remain strictly between them for now.

At least until he had the chance to decide what to do about asking for her hand in marriage. In reality he had now compromised her, so should marry her at the earliest opportunity, even though the timing was lousy. He could hardly push her into a marriage she was clearly reluctant to consider, while her sister – her only surviving relative – faced death by hanging.

He wanted her. If he was honest he had deep affection for her. But was it enough to spend the rest of his life with her? She certainly had the ability to raise his temper quicker than anyone else, he mused as he watched her chatting amiably with Peter as they rode along. The passion between them had been a revelation to him. He had slept with numerous women before but nobody had ever made him forget himself to such an extent that he had simply forgotten to withdraw in time to prevent a child.

But they had not spent any time together in ‘normal’ circumstances and given Jemima’s dire situation, it would be several weeks more before they were able to spend any time together in a family setting without any threats or worries. That was assuming that Jemima was given a pardon sparing both Eliza and Peter untold grief.

His thoughts turned towards his brothers and the happiness they had achieved in their marriages. Dominic had spent several days with Isobel before going to Norfolk, and then spent several weeks alone with her when she reappeared in Leicestershire. Although she had been ill at the time, they had been given the opportunity for their relationship to develop. Sebastian had spent several days alone with Amelia prior to kidnapping her and taking her to Tingdale. Several days during which he had opportunity to get to know Amelia without interruption. They had also spent several days at Tingdale together, albeit w

ith the remainder of the family there, but they had been in Sebastian’s home and free to spend time together as they chose.

The only time Edward had spent alone with Eliza, they were being chased by smugglers, and had been fleeing for their lives. In reality he had only known Eliza for a few days, and then hadn’t gotten the opportunity to really learn much about her as a woman. He knew about her family history, her current circumstance but didn’t know what her favourite foods were; whether she preferred winter or summer; whether she liked to sew, read or play the piano forte. Could he really enter into marriage to someone whom he knew so little about?

Making love with her hadn’t really brought them any closer together. They had been physically intimate, but not emotionally and that bothered him. He wanted her to be married to him because she cared about him. He wanted to marry her because he knew she was the right choice, not because of any child they had created.

They rode until it was too dark to see, contemplating riding through the night only briefly before Sebastian argued that it was too easy for Scraggan’s men to stage an ambush during the darkest hours. At least during daytime they were easy to spot, although nobody could fathom why Scraggan wasn’t making any attempt to capture Eliza. It felt as though they were almost being herded towards some unseen destination and that kept everyone tense and watchful.

By the time they rode into the stable yard of the coaching inn, they were all in a bad temper. As they entered the tap room, everyone became silent and watched them warily for several moments, before conversation resumed albeit in an altogether quieter tone.

Edward glared at the innkeeper as he requested five rooms, the private parlour and demanded that most of the rooms should overlook the stable yard.

The innkeeper swallowed nervously. Sweat broke out on his forehead and he shuffled from one foot to the other as he tried to decide which of the four men he should break the news to. Eliza sighed and pushed her way forwards to stand between Edward and Peter.

“Please excuse my associates.” Eliza offered the innkeeper a brief smile. “If you have the rooms available we would be much obliged.” She knew from the look of the man that he hadn’t and was giving him the opportunity to decline their request without the men behind her lynching him.

“I-I’m afraid we don’t have that many rooms my lady.” The man stammered, clearly worried what would happen to him by refusing their request. “We only have three rooms, and one of those is on the main street. I-I’m so sorry.”

“Will any of the other inns in the town have the rooms we require?” Eliza queried, considering the run down tavern they had passed a few miles back with a shudder. It reminded her too much of her old workplace.

“I’m afraid they don’t take guests my lady.” Meaning they were bawdy houses like the one she used to work in. Eliza thought with a shake of her head. “Then we will take the three rooms you do have. Do you have a private parlour?”

“Yes ma’am, I can get it ready for you right now.” The Innkeeper declared with no small measure of relief on his face and with a bow, scurried off to undertake his task, completely forgetting to show them to their rooms.

“Great, I suppose we help ourselves, do we?” Edward muttered in disgust, watching the Innkeeper bustle off.