Unfortunately, that was impossible while he sat across from Lady Gwyn. He wasn’t about to thrust his booted foot beneath her elegant green carriage dress. For one thing, he didn’t wish to soil it, or the expensive-looking cloak she wore over it. For another, even if she didn’t misinterpret his actions, he feared the very idea of having his boot beneath her skirts would starthisimagination roaming to other forbidden places.
Yet no matter how he tried to arrange matters so he sat across from his aunt, who probably wouldn’t care if he encroached on her space, he always ended up across from Lady Gwyn. Either his aunt or Thornstock or both were behind that. He couldn’t imagine that Lady Gwyn had anything to do with it. She’d been quiet ever since he and Thornstock had begun discussing the military.
After a while, she fell asleep. Only then did he dare to slide his boot beneath her skirts, but it was too little, too late. So when they stopped in front of the Golden Oak Inn, he practically leaped from the carriage in his eagerness to escape the confined quarters. All he wanted now was a short walk to get the feeling back in his leg, a fine meal, a glass of brandy, and a chance to sit before the fire soaking his bad foot and calf in a bucket of warm water.
He was glad he would get to do all of it alone if he wished, because the duke had informed Joshua that he would have his own room. Being a “war hero” apparently had its advantages.
“Where are you going, Gwyn?” he heard his aunt ask.
“For a walk, Mama. I need some fresh air. I won’t be long.”
Bloody hell, the woman was even now heading across the innyard in her fancy cloak and hat, bound for the archway they had just come through. Thornstock, who was already escorting Aunt Lydia into the inn, halted long enough to nod to Joshua. Obviously, Joshua’s post as bodyguard startednow.
Barely suppressing a curse, he altered his course to head for the young woman. “Lady Gwyn!” he called out.
She paused to look back, clearly surprised. “No need to come with me, Major. I’m sure you want a mug of ale as badly as Thorn.”
“You cannot walk in a strange town unaccompanied, madam.”
“Why not?” She turned to continue on. “I walk alone in the country all the time. And it’s not even dark yet.”
“It will be dark shortly.” He caught up to her. “And anyway, dark or not, Malet could have been following us the whole way, watching for just such a chance to kidnap you.”
“I doubt that. He—” She halted, as if realizing she’d been about to say something unwise. Then she drew her cloak more closely about her. “Fine. But I fully intend to see Great St. Mary’s Church before I return. So are you sure you wish to go that far? That walking with me won’t . . . um . . . pain your leg?”
He debated whether to speak the truth, and finally decided he had nothing to gain by lying. “Notwalking would pain it after such a lengthy ride in a coach. My leg cramps if I sit for too long in one spot.”
“Oh, dear,” she said, sounding genuinely upset. “I had no idea. Is there anything we could do to help?”
Let me thrust my foot as far under your skirts as I dare tomorrow? Take my leg in your pretty hands tonight and knead it until I fall asleep?
Damn. “No,” he said curtly. “It’s something I’m used to dealing with.”
“Well, I do hope you’ll tell us if we can make it better.”
“I will.” Time to change the subject before the image of her making it “better” in any number of lascivious ways sent his mind down unwise passages. “So, I’m curious about something. What exactly did your brother do or say to this Hazlehurst fellow that made the man run off to war instead of staying around to marry you?”
“First of all, it wasn’t certain that Hazlehurst would have married me even if hehadstayed around.”
“Were you an heiress back then?”
“Yes.”
“Then he would have married you.” The minute the words left his mouth, he realized how insulting he sounded. “My God, that was not—”
“For your information,” she clipped out, “I didn’t mean that he might have chosen not to marryme. I meant thatImight have chosen not to marryhim.”
“Of course. Pardon me, Lady Gwyn. When it comes to matters of marriage and the heart, I tend to be cynical. It colors every word out of my mouth.”
Silence was all he got for that answer.
He tried again. “It goes without saying thatyouwould have your pick of the men, but I figured any man would be a fool not to marry a woman as beautiful and accomplished as you, especially when a fortune was also involved. You and your brother had already made it clear that this Hazlehurst didn’t have the sense God gave him, so—”
“Oh, do stop, Major. My feelings aren’t so bruised that I would fall for that balderdash. I can tell when someone is flattering me.”
That took him aback. Though her tone was peevish, it certainly didn’t sound insulted anymore. Bad enough that he’d gushed like that to a woman who probably received compliments as a matter of course—he wasn’t about to admit that he’d meant every word of that “balderdash.”
They walked a little way in silence, past the carriage house and the stables next to it until they emerged onto the main road in Cambridge. Their inn was in a less-populated part of town, so they were mostly alone for their walk.
