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The man puffed out his chest, all fatherly concern in a way that reht tears to her eyes Seeing her wobbly smile, the man nodded kindly towards her and assured her he would send up soht away

Silence settled around her as she eyed the large bed sitting in the middle of the room Even from the door she could s in the air, and eyed thein solitary splendour on the dresser A spindle chair and a table were the only other items of furniture in the room, but despite the lack of embellishments the room had a cosy air that immediately made her want to toe off her boots and relax

Mentally sending a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens, she had barely taken two steps into the room when there was a discrete knock on the door and a s of water which she quickly deposited on the dresser with a thump

“Thank you so htly at the startledclean took her attention and she moved to the dresser

“There’s another irl assured her before quickly leaving Sure enough the door had barely closed before the rattling of pots could be heard directly outside

Eliza didn’t knohich to go for first The need to wash the grime away battled with the need to eat but thefrom the tray

Edas stea He hadn’t asked to find her While he had and been reluctantly agreeable to escorting her to Peter’s, he hadn’t expected events to unfold as they had Battling and even killing ar the wo that stuck in his craw and he hated it Hated failing at any iven

Well, he hadn’t actually been given this mission per se, he reluctantly admitted Rather it had been forced upon him but now he had become involved he wasn’t prepared to stand back and allow matters to be taken out of his control He had to have closure on it otherwise he couldn’t return to his new estates and have any hope of settling into a life ofover unfinished business and, if he was co

Until she was ensconced safely at his brother’s house, he couldn’t consider the matter closed That meant that whatever happened, he had to find her and persuade her to trust hiht last night that he had done enough to garner her trust, but clearly not

He was so annoyed with her right now, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to paddle her backside, rant and rave at her or just kiss the living daylights out of her for worrying him senseless

He had seen the way she had softened last night when he had given her his cloak The startled look of wonder she had shot hi for a long time, and his simple act of kindness had touched her deeply It had taken every ounce of fortitude not to kiss her there and then

He had no intention of beco willed, deterht and scowled anew at the stone edifice of the sh tiny in co the major routes, this one had a well kept and homely look to it that iood as it looked

Exhaustion beckoned and he turned Guinness into the coaching inn without thought He wasn’t sure if the delicious scent of pie that hung teasingly in the air was designed to lure hungry travellers across the threshold, but it certainly worked on hi the ostler instructions, he was about to turn towards the side door to the inn when one of the horses caught his attention He paused and frowned, studying it closely

Although he had never seen Eliza’s horse in daylight, he knew the mount they had purloined from their pursuers was bay with a blacka bushel of hay

“Good day” He greeted the startled innkeeper with a friendly smile, well aware that he had unnerved the poor man both by his sudden arrival and his appearance With his black hair and equally dark clothing he rim reape