Alyssa let go of Griffin long enough to drop a graceful curtsy, then took hold of her husband’s hand and backed out of the regent’s presence.
“Go on,” Lord Weymouth urged. “Lady Weymouth and I will beg a ride from your parents.”
Alyssa nodded.
Although his demeanor gave no indication of it, Griffin leaned heavily against her as Alyssa led him to his father’s carriage.
Griffin sank down into the cushions of his coach and heaved a sigh of exhaustion.
Alyssa spoke to the driver. “Take us home.”
Myrick lifted an eyebrow in question.
Alyssa nodded. “Home.”
* * *
Alyssa stared out the window as the coach rumbled through the countryside. Griffin dozed on the opposite seat. Her last journey to London marked Alyssa’s first trip to town as Lady Abernathy. This journey marked her first trip home as the Duchess of Avon.
It was only the fifth journey she’d made since her marriage. The first had been her wedding trip to the manor and the second and third trip had been her travel to Weymouth Park and Tressingham Place over the Christmas holidays. Her fourth trip, made two days ago, had been from the manor to London in the company of Lord Grantham.
Alyssa smiled at the flood of memories. She was traveling the same post road she and Griffin had traveled on the day of their wedding, but this trip was markedly different. She had slept in the coach on her wedding day and awakened in Griffin’s arms. She and Griffin had done things in this coach that made her blush and at the same time, ache with longing for her husband.
Now Griffin slept fitfully, sprawled in the corner of the coach. They had barely exchanged two words since he climbed inside it. Griffin had simply closed his eyes and fallen asleep.
Yes, Alyssa thought, this trip was very different. The last time they’d traveled to the manor, they had played a game of seduction. Griffin hadn’t wanted a wife, but he’d wanted her. This time, he wanted neither.
He intended to let her go. His Free Fellows League past had come back to haunt her. He had told her he was going to do what was best for both of them and let her go. But letting her go wasn’t best for Alyssa and from what she’d seen tonight, letting her go wasn’t what was best for him either. He might think so. He might hope so. But she knew better.
She loved him.
And whether he knew it or not, Griffin needed her. And as long as he needed her, Alyssa intended to be by his side. Be the thorn in his side if necessary. Whatever it took to convince him that letting her go would be a terrible mistake for them both.
If only she could persuade him to play a nice little game of seduction…
Chapter Thirty
“My husband has been elevated to the rank of duke. I am now the Duchess of Avon. The thing I did not want to be has become the thing I am. Unfortunately, Griffin intends to set me free. Fortunately, I recognize a challenge when I see one. My husband needs to know if I think he’s worth fighting for. Worth saving.
—Alyssa, Duchess of Avon, diary entry, 05 July 1811
Griffin awoke shortly after they changed horses at Shepherdston Hall. He yawned, then stretched his arms overhead, scraping the ceiling of the coach with his knuckles. Opening his eyes, he looked at Alyssa. “I must have dozed off.”
“You might say that,” Alyssa answered.
“How long before we get home?” he asked, automatically reaching in his coat pocket for his timepiece, only to remember that he no longer had a timepiece. He patted his pocket. “I seem to have lost my watch.”
“About three hours.”
Suddenly alert, Griff sat up in the coach. “Three hours? It doesn’t take three hours to go from Carlton House to Park Lane.”
“We aren’t going back to Park Lane,” Alyssa told him. “We’re going home to Abernathy Manor.” She leveled her gaze at him. “You might say I’m kidnapping you.”
Griff raked his hands through his hair before he narrowed his gaze at Alyssa. “You’re kidnapping me? For what? Ransom? Do my parents know about this?”
“No one knows,” she answered.
“They’ll be worried sick,” he predicted.