Chapter 5

Five

Something was amiss with Lord Lawrence Godwin. Minerva was certain of it as she pulled back the bedclothes on the small bed in her room at the inn that night to make certain they had actually been cleaned for her use. She was reasonably satisfied with the room and the bed, though not quite as amused with the crack at the bottom of the wall that enabled her not only to hear Lord Lawrence shuffling about in the room adjacent to hers, but allowed her to see a sliver of light from his lamp once she snuggled into bed and blew out her own. The rooms had obviously been one at some point, but had since been divided by a hastily constructed wall to make more rooms and therefore more profit.

Minnie did not mind that so much. It was clever and enterprising, and as long as the room she’d been given was kept clean, its size was inconsequential. What bothered her more was the mystery of what could be wrong with Lord Lawrence.

Her first thought was that he was blind or partially blind, but had not told anyone. A sculptor did not need the use of his eyes if he was to practice his art.

Then again, Lord Lawrence worked in marble, which required the use of tools, unlike clay, and he mentioned that he sketched his subjects before committing them to stone. Additionally, his eyes were quite intent in their focus, both as he observed the countryside they passed through on their journey, and when he gazed at her.

Lord Lawrence had beautiful eyes. They were dark and mischievous, with crow’s feet at the edges to show he’d spent most of his life so far smiling. They were inviting and had a sparkle to them that made him seem years younger, canceling out the occasional wrinkle that dared mar his handsome face. In fact, when he glanced across the carriage to Minnie, grinning at something she’d said or plotting some silliness that he was about to say, he veritably shone with?—

Minnie let out a breath and brought her fist down on the bedcovers beside her. What was she doing, extoling Lord Lawrence’s virtues when she should have been attempting to discern his faults? There was no point at all in her taking any sort of a fancy to the man. He was a means to an end, and though she would not treat him cruelly because of it, she had no interest in befriending him.

Except, she was certain Lord Lawrence would be a wonderful friend to have. Perhaps even more than a friend. It had been ages since she’d had a lover, and she quite missed some of the benefits of keeping a man in that way.

But no, she needed to puzzle out whatever was the matter with the man.

Her second thought was that he could not read. More than a few noblemen of her acquaintance had been lazy students, never bothering to learn what they felt they did not really need to know.

But then, she’d handed Lord Lawrence the book of poetry earlier, and he’d spent the better part of the afternoon’s journey reading it. He’d even recited some of it to her, though he’d been silly and changed the words for comedic effect.

Then again, he’d misread Constance and Harland’s gravestone a few days before, mistaking one name for another.

By the time Minnie fell asleep, she’d decided that either Lord Lawrence’s eyesight was beginning to fail, but not so much that he could not function, or he somehow could not read particularly well.

In the morning, she was handed an ideal opportunity to test her theory about Lord Lawrence’s reading comprehension.

“Here’s the bill,” the innkeeper said, sliding a list of items across the table where Minnie and Lord Lawrence sat breaking their fast as Silas prepared the carriage for departure. “I’ll ask that you settle up now so you can be on your way without encumbrance.”

“Very well,” Lord Lawrence said, staring briefly at the bill before reaching into his pocket.

Minnie was alarmed by the total they were being charged, but it all made sense once she spotted several ridiculous items that were clearly added to the ones they’d legitimately incurred. She cleared her throat, staring hard at Lord Lawrence until he met her eyes.

Lord Lawrence looked back at her, puzzled. “Is something amiss?”

Minne rested a hand on the bill and tapped her finger on the paper.

Beside the table, the innkeeper shuffled, looking nervous.

Lord Lawrence stared at the paper with a look Minnie was beginning to see meant he knew he was on the spot and he feared he would fail whatever test he was being given. He hummed and frowned, and if Minnie wasn’t mistaken, his sudden, deep concentration was an attempt to make sense of what he saw on the page.

“Half these charges are not ours,” she said, half for Lord Lawrence’s benefit and half so that the innkeeper would know his ploy would not work. “We did not dine on the side of beef last night,” she continued, putting her finger on the line-item in question, “and neither of us asked for additional bedding.”

A flash of understanding lit Lord Lawrence’s eyes, and he said, “Yes, of course.” He glanced up at the innkeeper with his usual affable smile, but with stone in his eyes. “You seem to have calculated the charges incorrectly.”

The innkeeper coughed and shuffled, then snatched the bill up from the table. “Er, sorry, m’lord. I must’ve brought you the wrong bill. I’ll be right back.”

“We know what charges we incurred,” Minnie called threateningly after him for good measure.

Once the bill was properly settled, Silas pulled the carriage around, and Minnie and Lord Lawrence left the inn, resuming their places across from each other on the carriage seats. Minnie took Clarence from where he’d spent the night on the padded seat and rested him in her lap, stroking his parietal bone as if she were Kat stroking Napoleon.

Lord Lawrence laughed at the gesture and reached over to give Clarence a pat. “Next time, we should bring you into the inn with us,” he addressed Clarence. “I doubt any innkeeper would dare attempt to cheat us with you sitting on the table.”

Minnie smiled, appreciating Lord Lawrence’s attempt at humor, but she saw it for what it was. Lord Lawrence was embarrassed, and he was attempting to cover that with his sunny disposition and easy manner.

It left Minnie wondering how much of his entire mien was but an attempt to compensate for what many might see as a serious defect.

They were quiet for most of the morning as they traveled on. For a blessed change, the sun had come out late the day before, and it shone down with unusual warmth for November. That carried with it the added advantage of drying out the roads a bit so that they could make good time for once.

There were a few spots of mud still, and just because the roads had dried did not mean they were not rutted and rough, sending Minnie, Lord Lawrence, and Clarence bouncing around the carriage a time or two, but all in all, the journey was swifter than the last week had been.

When they stopped for luncheon at a small town with a magnificent view of the verdant Wessex countryside, Minnie was deeply glad to be able to get out and breathe in the fresh air.

“Do you suppose the inn would let us take our meal outside so that we might eat it as a picnic?” she asked, scanning the area for a place they might sit already.

“What is this?” Lawrence teased her. “Has the dark and gloomy Lady Minerva Llewellyn decided that she enjoys the sunshine after all?”

Minerva let out a playfully irritated breath and swatted Lord Lawrence’s arm without thinking about it.

A moment later, she stiffened as the significance of such a physical gesture hit both of them. Lord Lawrence stared at the place on his sleeve where Minnie’s hand had been moments before, then glanced up to meet her eyes.

Of course, it wasn’t Lord Lawrence’s eyes that arrested Minnie’s attention. It was his expressive mouth. His lips were slightly parted, and they had the softest, pinkest look to them. Lord Lawrence was meticulous in his grooming, which meant the idea of kissing that beautifully shaped mouth filled Minnie with carnal feelings that coalesced in parts of her that had been entirely too squashed of late, and not just from traveling.

“I will inquire at the inn as to whether we can take our luncheon outside,” Lord Lawrence said, his voice hoarse.

Minnie hummed, cleared her throat, and nodded. “You do that,” she said. “I will investigate the wall over there to ascertain if it is suitable for sitting on while we eat.”

Without waiting for Lord Lawrence’s answer, she turned and marched off for the wall in question. It was far enough from the inn that they could have a bit of privacy but not so far that they would be in danger from any brigand that might try to accost them for being far from help. Besides that, Silas moved the carriage around to a spot near the wall where a trough waited so that the horses could drink and be fed.

The wall was sufficiently dry, so Minnie had a seat. She folded her hands in her lap and gazed out at the beautiful, sunny view. For once, she was glad for the wide rim of her bonnet. Most of the time, bonnets were a nuisance, but in this case, she was grateful for something to conceal her troubled thoughts from anyone who might pass them by.

It wasn’t that she was immune to love or the wish to be loved. Love was a beautiful thing, as she had observed in her friends who had recently married or would soon marry. It was just that she never imagined it happening to her. She had been raised to believe that a woman’s place was to raise children and keep a home, and she had been treated in a way commensurate to that belief from her earliest memory. It was not until she found the companionship of her dear friends at university that she had learned what love was, and that one did not need to be loved by the other leaves and branches of one’s family tree to experience it.

But falling in love with a man was a different prospect entirely. Men took what they wanted and gave very little in return. They demeaned and diminished women, as she had seen countless times in everyone from her mother to her sisters, and even among some of her old university friends who thought they had escaped the curse, only to have it fall on them when they fell in love and married someone whom they thought would be different.

Lord Lawrence most certainly seemed different, but if she gave her heart away, would that last?

She shook her head and heaved a heavy sigh. Her plan was already in place. She would escape to Sweden, making everyone believe she was dead in the process, and she would start a new life.

Although, perhaps it would be kind to at least inform Lord Lawrence of her plan. He might write to her in Stockholm under her new name.

“We’re in luck,” Lord Lawrence’s voice sounded behind her a few minutes later, just as she was sagging with morose feeling over the idea of only corresponding with Lord Lawrence instead of seeing him whenever her friends gathered with the family they’d married into. “They’ve put together a basket for us.”

Minerva turned to watch Lord Lawrence’s approach. She smiled when she saw his handsome form carrying a cloth-covered basked, like he was bringing her the most precious prize he’d just stolen from a sleeping dragon.

A moment later, her gaze slipped past Lord Lawrence, traveling on to the inn. She gasped, held a hand to her bonnet, and rolled over the low wall to crouch behind it so that she would be completely out of sight.

Owen had just stepped out of the inn.

“What new game is this?” Lord Lawrence asked, laughing as he reached the wall. “Are we to sit on the grass with the wall at our back, hiding away from the world for a while?” He sounded as if the prospect pleased him.

“Yes, yes, hurry,” Minnie hissed, sinking down even lower when Owen turned slightly in their direction.

He did not appear to see them, and a few seconds later, Minnie realized that Owen was speaking to a stable hand of some sort who had just brough a horse to him. There was enough activity around the inn’s yard that Lord Lawrence standing at the wall with a basket did not stand out as particularly odd, but Minnie did not want to take any chances.

Lord Lawrence sat on the wall, setting the picnic basket beside him, and glanced back to the inn. “Is something wrong?” he asked, frowning in puzzlement.

He looked right at Owen as the stable hand helped him to mount, but as Lord Lawrence didn’t know that what he was seeing was significant, his gaze traveled on to a pair of young ladies laughing as they walked up to the inn, another stable hand mucking out the long building where several carriages were parked, and then at Silas as he stood attending their horses.

Silas glanced around as well, then shrugged, and Lord Lawrence turned his attention back to Minnie.

“Is this a game or is something more serious afoot?” Lord Lawrence asked seriously.

Minnie delayed her answer as she watched Owen thank the stable hand, then nudge his horse forward. She didn’t emerge from her hiding place until the odious man had ridden all the way down the lane, then disappeared behind a hill. Even then, she sat tensely on the wall across the basket from Lord Lawrence, convinced Owen might suddenly gallop back and cry out, “Ah ha! I found you at last!”

“Do you know that man on the horse?” Lord Lawrence asked, lowering his voice to a concerned tone.

Minnie swallowed and glanced guiltily to him. She could run from the truth or pretend her life as she knew it was not in danger, but judging by the look in Lord Lawrence’s eyes, he’d figured her out.

“I suppose you have a right to know,” she sighed, distracting both Lord Lawrence and herself from the direness of the situation by pulling the cloth off the basket to see what they’d been given for luncheon.

“Yes, I believe I do,” Lord Lawrence said, taking the cloth from her and spreading it on the top of the wall.

He then removed the meat pies and mugs of weak ale that the basket contained and set them out as if they were at a formal supper.

Minnie considered delaying by picking up one of the meat pies and taking too large a bite of it, but that would have just drawn things out.

“I do know that man,” she said, trembling on the inside, worried that her confession would bring about the end of her journey with Lord Lawrence and her life of freedom. “His name is Lord Owen Scurloch, and…I was supposed to marry him.”

Lord Lawrence, who had picked up a pie and taken a bite, nearly choked. He chewed a bit, swallowed, then reached for a mug to wash the bite down, then said, “ Supposed to marry him?”

Minnie reached for her pie and picked it up sadly. “It was to be an arranged marriage,” she specified. “I wanted no part of it. But my parents insisted they had grown weary of my spinsterhood, my father knows Owen’s father, they have business dealings they want to solidify through marriage, and so I was to be the sacrificial lamb to advance their wants.”

“That is barbaric,” Lord Lawrence said with a serious frown.

Minnie blinked and paused in the middle of taking a bite of her pie.

She quickly finished the bite, swallowed, then asked, “You are not siding with my father on this matter?”

“Why would I?” Lord Lawrence asked, as if it were obvious. “No woman should be forced to marry against her will. I cannot imagine you ever doing such a thing.”

The uncertain sprouts of affection for Lord Lawrence in Minnie’s heart blossomed a little.

“I never would do such a thing,” she agreed, more strength in her voice. “My family was insistent, though. I attempted to leave Wales for the sanctity of London, but my mother caught on to my scheme. She kept me locked in the family castle until the day of my wedding.”

“She did not!” Lord Lawrence gasped, as if she were telling one of her stories instead of the absolute truth. “How is it that you are here with me now and not on your honeymoon?” he asked on.

Minnie smiled broadly. “I escaped from the church before the wedding,” she said. “I had my maid take my trunk to a certain carriage inn. I asked to be alone for a moment to pray before the ceremony, and as soon as my mother left me, I escaped through the vestry and raced to the inn just in time to catch the next coach to London.”

Lord Lawrence took another bite of his pie and studied Minnie while chewing. “On the one hand,” he said once he’d swallowed, “that sounds very much like the sort of thrilling tale you would invent.”

Minnie laughed humorlessly. “I can assure you, it is not invented.”

“That is what I was about to add,” Lord Lawrence went on. He took another bite of his pie, nearly finishing it, then continued. “On the other, that is also precisely the sort of thing I can imagine you doing if you were trapped in an unwanted union. You are not the sort to go meekly to the altar, weeping as you do, and to allow your fate to be decided by others.”

Minnie smiled, sitting straighter. “Why, Lord Lawrence, I believe that is the kindest compliment I’ve ever received.”

“It is sincerely meant,” Lord Lawrence said with a solemn nod, then popped the last of his pie into his mouth.

As he chewed, Minnie finished her tale. “Lord Owen had followed me to London. I cannot be certain if he has been following us since we set out or if he merely believes himself to be thwarted and is returning home to Wales, and that our convergence today is coincidence.”

“Let’s hope it’s the latter,” Lawrence said, smiling as he picked up his mug of ale.

“Either way,” Minnie sighed, picking a flake of pastry from her pie, “I cannot let him or anyone else who might inform my parents and ruin my life see me.”

“Of course not,” Lord Lawrence agreed. “And it is a lucky thing that we are about to veer off the road to Wales so that we might divert to the no longer Lady Wimpole’s estate.”

Minnie sat straight again and smiled. “I’d nearly forgotten our secondary errand,” she said. “Are we very close to formerly styled as Lady Wimpole?”

Lord Lawrence hummed and shrugged. “A day or two south of here ought to get us there. Either way, you have no need to fear being discovered and bundled off to Wales.” He reached across and placed a hand on her thigh as it rested at an odd angle while she sat on the wall. “I will protect you from evil, Lady Minerva.”

Minnie’s heart swelled in her chest, and she feared that she looked like a soppy fool as she returned Lord Lawrence’s look. She’d never had a protector like Lord Lawrence before, and of all things, she quite liked it. He made her feel safe and valued, neither of which were emotions she was at all used to.

“And I will protect you, my lord,” she said, resting a hand on his arm when he withdrew his touch. “I will protect you from whatever trouble we might encounter in retrieving your statue from a lady whom I gather you were once romantically involved with?”

Lord Lawrence cleared his throat. “Er, yes, I was. A very long time ago.”

Minnie couldn’t imagine why any woman would throw Lord Lawrence over, which was partially why she suspected he would need protecting of one sort or another.

“We shall be a team of two, then,” she said, smiling. “Come what may.”

“Hear, hear,” Lord Lawrence said, then downed the last of his ale.

Minnie smiled. She had a feeling that the excitement of their journey had only just begun.