She would get a better sense of the situation as they traveled up to Scotland. She released a soft breath and nodded. “Yes, it is a good plan. May I send notes to Lady Withnall and Lady Dayne letting them know I am safe and will be traveling with you? I would also like to let Marigold and Gory know. I don’t want them to worry about me.”
“Of course,” he said, releasing her to rub a hand across the nape of his neck as the impact of what he had proposed and she had accepted now fully hit him. “I’ll leave word here for Ambrose and Julius. I don’t want my brothers worrying about you, either. We can write our missives before we retire. But I am sleeping in here with you, Syd. I want to be clear on this. You do not leave my sight from now until the end of our journey.”
“Whatever that end may be,” she muttered.
He strode to the fireplace, turning his back to her as he warmed his hands by the fire. She skittered over to join him, for her insides were still chilled. More than that, she was not used tohaving anyone take care of her as Octavian had been doing ever since they met, and she quite liked it.
She enjoyed being near him.
Perhaps one day she would admit it to him.
He wasn’t overbearing, just went about the business of protecting her. Why could her family not be like this? Instead, they all used her. She had a mother who did nothing but moan and complain about her lot, always seeking pity but never doing anything to help herself, and a father who was reckless, foolish, and kept repeating the same mistakes.
She fervently hoped she would not turn into them as she grew older. In truth, she wasn’t sure how she had been born to them, for she was nothing like them. For one thing, she adored books and learning. The medical research she and Gory conducted at the Huntsford Academy was a dream come true for her. Had she been a man, there was no doubt she would have studied medicine at some distinguished college of higher learning and contributed to advancements in medicine for the greater good.
But her parents disapproved of her volunteering at the Huntsford Academy and would have stopped her from pursuing all academic endeavors if not for the fact that they were distracted with their own problems. Of course, it appalled them that an earl’s daughter should be devoting all her efforts to gaining forensic knowledge, but they got around what they perceived as a scandal by telling friends and acquaintances that she was a devoted and tireless fossil hunter.
Apparently, hunting for dead bones was all right.
Studying cadavers was not.
What right did they have to judge her? Her parents never read and did not seem to ever learn anything from their life experiences. At times, she believed she was a faerie changelingbecause she could not understand what she had in common with her own family.
In truth, she was ashamed of them.
What good was a vaunted title and fancy homes when her father was constantly running from his creditors? Their elegant life was all a facade. None of the supposed privileges of being an earl’s daughter had ever felt real to her. Nor did it strike her as fair that her father escaped most of his creditors because he was an earl and those creditors could not touch his entailment.
“Syd, you are lost in your thoughts again.”
She turned to Octavian as the deep rumble of his voice invaded her musings. “Sorry, I was just thinking of my parents.”
He frowned. “Are you afraid they will worry about you? We cannot tell them what we are doing or else your father and Sir Henry will try to stop us.”
“I know. I would not be so foolish as to write him a note and alert him. He thinks I am spending the night with Lady Withnall at her residence. He’ll know the truth by tomorrow, but it will be too late by then. As for Gory and Marigold, they know better than to tell him anything beyond that I am safe. Octavian…”
He turned to her. “What is it, Syd?”
She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him fiercely. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
He closed his arms around her, obviously surprised by this show of affection because she held herself back so often. “This is thanks enough.”
His hold was light, allowing her to draw away whenever she was ready. In truth, it was uncanny how well this big man seemed to know her. She smiled up at him when she did finally step back. “Shall we write our letters now?”
He cast her a devastating smile in return. “Yes, we had better get them done and then try to get as much rest as possible. I want to leave at first light tomorrow.”
She watched him stride to his writing desk and take out paper, ink pot, quill pen, blotter and sand. “Octavian, I think you ought to sleep in your bed. I’ll take the pallet on the floor.”
He removed the stopper off the ink pot and turned to her. “No, Syd. You take the bed. I’ll be fine.”
“But–”
“It will be like being on board my ship, only more comfortable because I’ll have a fine, thick carpet beneath me and a fire to warm me.” He pulled out the chair by his writing desk and motioned for her to take a seat.
“All right, but we’ll take turns with the bed when we are on the road and sleeping in coaching inns.” She sank onto the chair and took the quill in her hand.
She was about to dip it into the ink to start her first note when Octavian cleared his throat. She turned to him with a questioning arch of her eyebrow.
“I would like to make a rule,” he said.
