Page 14 of Just Think of the Scandal (The Fairplace Family Novellas #2)

A fter a moment, Eliska asked, “Will the rain slow the train much?”

“Perhaps,” Theo answered after a pause. “It’s been raining for days. Sometimes bridges get flooded and tracks are washed out. I think we’re going slower than normal.”

“My journey from Prague was slow,” Eliska commented.

“Tell me about it.” Theo looked rather snug and cozy, wedged in the corner of his seat, the gray blanket tucked under his chin.

“My papa died in a hunting accident. A cousin of the Habsburgs shot his rifle too soon and it killed him.” Eliska swallowed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I started telling the story that far back. That has little to do with the sleeping trains I traveled across France on.”

“No,” Theo said gently. “Tell me about your father. I’d like to learn more about the people who raised you.”

Eliska swallowed again. “My papa had the largest, thickest mustache you’ve ever seen. And it tickled when he kissed me. He was away often, at Court, but when he traveled home or we joined him in Austria, it was always special. When I was little he’d throw me in the air and my mother would scold him, but then she’d laugh and I was so happy.” Sadness settled over her like a shroud. “Papa was Czech, so he had to work extra hard at proving himself among the Austrian nobles. He couldn’t speak Czech, but I remember falling asleep in his arms once while he sang an old Czech lullaby he must’ve learned from his nurse.

“Czech nationalism worried him, though he never talked to me about it,” Eliska said. “He felt caught between both sides.” She cleared her throat. “Austria was neutral during the Crimean War, but he traveled with a diplomatic entourage to Turkey to see what was happening. He wouldn’t talk to my mother about what he’d seen among the British soldiers. He said it was too awful to speak of. So she and I sneaked newspapers and read them together when he was gone. He’d begun discussing finding me a husband. He had one picked for me when I was sixteen, but the man died of influenza.”

“Did you love him?”

The question took Eliska by surprise. “What? No. I scarcely knew him. We’d met twice and that was all. But last year Papa began looking again.” Her vision blurred and her eyes burned from unshed tears. “Obviously that was cut short. He was still grieving Mother, but he felt it was his duty to join the Court again. I stayed behind in Prague because I didn’t want to leave our home yet.”

“And your mother?” Theo prompted, voice soft and gentle.

“The Bohemian Lands had a bad wave of cholera. I mean, it always comes around each summer. But this time it was worse than normal. We thought we were safe in our Prague townhouse. Papa was traveling, otherwise he might’ve perished, too. Our whole household caught it.” Eliska shivered, remembering the horrible sickness that had descended upon family and servants alike. She had vomited endlessly, spitting up any water she had managed to swallow, ruining her bedsheets with waste, and at the end had no one left to tend her. When she came to, her skin a bluish-gray, she’d crawled from her bed to find the damp sponge a servant had left and sucked it dry.

“Our scullery maid died first. She first showed symptoms at dawn, and she was dead by nightfall.” Eliska clenched her jaw, refusing to relive the terrifying memories. How fear and disease had stalked through the house and they had no way to stop it. Then the hall boy, Cook, and her mother’s lady’s maid fell ill next. Her mother had locked Eliska in her room to keep her away from the foul odors and bad air. The butler had called for a doctor, but so many households were suffering no one knew when the doctor might arrive.

For two days it spread through the household. In the end, Eliska and her mother fell ill around the same time. Eliska voided her bowels all over the red velvet chair in her room. Her embarrassment faded almost immediately as the disease ravaged her body. Her tongue had felt swollen and dry. She craved water more than anything, but nothing would stay in her body. And when she woke again, she discovered the disease had left her and three parlor maids and a footman alive, though so weak they could scarcely crawl through the house. Cook, the hall boy, the butler, and her mother were dead.

She’d never forget opening a window to see dawn crest across the city, watching sunlight limn the gothic towers of Old Town, and feeling like it was still midnight in her home. That the sun would never rise again in her heart.

“You don’t have to tell me how she died,” Theo broke into her thoughts. “Tell me the good things. How did a British lady meet and wed a Czech noble?”

“She met him through family friends,” Eliska told him, grateful for the distraction from her memories. “Her best friend was part of an old, aristocratic family in Prague. Mother spent Christmas with them one year and met Papa by the Christmas tree.” She smiled wistfully at the good days far gone. “My mother looked like Uncle Erswich. Stout with a round face and thick, wavy dark hair.”

“You take after your father?” Theo asked, surprise in his tone.

Eliska nodded. “The hair.”

His eyes flared. “I like your hair.”

She had the sudden, ridiculous urge to pull all the pins out and let it fall around her shoulders just to see his expression. The kiss last night had almost turned into more. Eliska didn’t have a pocket watch, but she’d guess it was around teatime. If she hadn’t run, they’d be married now.

“If I hadn’t run,” she said impulsively, “Where would we be right now?”

Theo smiled. “On a train, headed to London.”

Eliska laughed, but she shook her head. “Truly?”

“Yes. But in first class and with all our luggage in the break van.” He glanced down at the worn leather valise on the floor between them. “I assume this is all you brought?”

Eliska nodded. “I shall send for the rest of my things once I find a hotel in London.”

Theo’s voice turned velvety and sensual. “We’d be on a train because, as your husband, I’d take you away from all the nonsense at Blatherwycke. I’d have sent a telegram ahead to warn the housekeeper I was returning early with a wife.”

“A telegram? Sounds expensive just to communicate return times with your housekeeper,” Eliska murmured.

“I want the house ready and prepared for you,” Theo said. “I’d ask if you wanted supper at a restaurant near the train station, but secretly I’d hope you will say no.”

Eliska raised her eyebrows. “Why?”

His smile made her toes curl. “Because it’s our wedding night, love.”

Heat unfurled in her stomach, spreading to every inch of her body. She was sure her face was flaming red. Try as she might, she couldn’t look away from his magnetic gaze. She cleared her throat, trying to sound prim and proper as a British governess. “Are all men like this?”

Undaunted, his smile only grew. “If all men were married to you, they’d never leave your bedchamber.”

Eliska’s face burned hotter than the sun. “You’re…you’re just saying that,” she managed.

“I’m saying it because it’s true.” He paused. “Do you want to know something wicked?”

“Yes,” she blurted, leaning forward. She shouldn’t be encouraging him. Her plan was to return to Prague and live with one of her mother’s friends while refining her next response to the court, wasn’t it? Even if the reason she jilted him had been a misunderstanding, the betrothal had been ridiculous from the beginning.

“Last night, when I fell asleep, I was thinking about how you’d look in my bed with your hair down.”

A thrill shot through Eliska at his words and the gleam in his eyes. The heat in her belly moved further south, pooling between her thighs. “Truly?” she breathed.

“Oh, yes.” Theo’s smile turned absolutely sinful. “I imagined licking your ears again. Then running my tongue down your skin here.” His hand reached out and his index finger traced a line down the side of her neck.

Eliska shivered. Distantly, she knew this was inappropriate. They weren’t married. It was bad enough they were sharing a closed compartment for hours without a chaperone. But the touch of his finger ignited a fire beneath her skin. She wanted to bite his finger. She wanted it in her mouth so she could show him just how much he affected her.

“And when I’d used my tongue to find the length of your collarbone, I’d go lower still.” Somehow, they were both leaning forward, knees touching, his index finger hovering just above the buttons that concealed her breasts. “I also planned to explore your feet. I’ll cover you in kisses, and—”

The train jerked to a sudden, screeching halt.

Eliska grimaced, putting her hands over her ears. “What is happening?”

Theo nearly toppled into her lap. He shoved himself back into a sitting position as the train shuddered. “I’m not sure.”

“We’re not at a station, are we?” Eliska glanced out the window but could see only rain streaking the glass.

Theo shook his head. “It must be the weather.”

“But why would we stop?” Eliska asked aloud. “Surely that’s dangerous.”

After a moment of tense silence, Theo sighed and reached for the door. He opened it halfway and stuck his head out into the drizzle, looking up and down the line.

Eliska waited for him to return and shut the door behind him.

“We’re stopped before a bridge, it looks.” Theo ran his hands through his hair to rid himself of the excess water. “My guess is that the water level is too high to cross the bridge right now, and we’re waiting to see if we can back up to the last station.”

“This seems dangerous.” Eliska flushed with embarrassment that her impulsive decision had put them in this predicament. The compartment had darkened as the day wore on and the rainclouds didn’t abate.

A loud thud hit the door, followed by further pounding.

Eliska jumped.

Theo leaned forward and opened the door. Rain drizzled onto the threshold, and a dark, sodden figure loomed in the doorway. “Yes?”

The man outside adjusted his cap, revealing tired, baggy eyes set in a warm, brown face and a full black beard. Rain beaded on the waterproof cape over his navy wool uniform. “We’re stopping for the night,” the rail worker announced.

“The whole night?” Theo clarified.

The man nodded. “It’s rained for over a week straight. The engineer’s decided it’s too dangerous to travel the bridge now, but the water’s beginning to recede. In the morning we’ll check again and continue onward. I’m going up and down the carriages letting everyone know.” He gestured with his thumb. “If you’ve any luggage in the break van, you’re welcome to come retrieve it. But I’m not delivering anything.”

Eliska leaned forward. “Which station will we backtrack to?” On the way to England, while she’d been somewhere in France, a landslide had taken out some of the track. The train had reversed course, going back to the previous station and let passengers off for the night. The next morning, they reboarded and set off on a different route.

But the man shook his head. “We aren’t. We’re staying put.”

Eliska stared at him. “All night? We’re spending the night on the tracks?”

He nodded. “This branch doesn’t have solid signaling. Everything is run by timetable. If we back up, we throw the timetable out the window and run the risk of another train hitting us from behind.”

Eliska blanched.

“Are you handing out any food and extra blankets, then?” Theo glanced around. “Or more oil for the lamp?”

“I’ll see what we have in the break van, but I doubt it’s much. We expect passengers to purchase whatever they need at the stations.” With that announcement, the man turned and stomped through puddles to the carriage behind them.

Theo shut the door, and they stared at one another in dismay in the growing shadows.

“Can you light the lamp?” Eliska gestured toward the lamp bolted to the wall opposite the door. A small, tin container of oil hung from the arm of the lamp, and she assumed a matchbook rested somewhere nearby.

Eliska tried to keep calm as Theo worked the lamp. When a flame sparked, filling the compartment with weak, yellow light and the smell of paraffin filled the small space, she focused on the scent and flickering shadows. “I’m such a fool,” she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

“Why do you say that?” Theo shifted in his seat, probably trying to find a position that didn’t numb his rear.

Eliska sighed. “I bet you wish you’d just let me go and not followed.”

After a pause, Theo said, “I don’t, actually. I think this is where I prefer to be.”

Eliska gave him a look of pure disbelief.

He laughed, the shadows highlighting the handsome contours of his face. He adjusted his blanket, making his shoulders shift and upper arms bulge. Eliska caught her breath. In another world she’d be preparing to make love to him right now. Maybe they’d explore one another’s bodies on the train to whet their appetites. She bet Theo had plenty of practice, based on his looks. Or perhaps not. He did seem content to fade into the background in crowds. Eliska had overlooked him at first, though now she realized how foolish that had been.

In another timeline, another world…she would’ve enjoyed going to his home and falling into his bed with him.

“I like you,” Theo admitted, breaking into her thoughts. “I think you’re brave and intelligent and resilient and…intrepid.” In the low light it was hard to be sure, but it looked like he blushed at the last word, as if embarrassed by waxing poetic.

Eliska glanced down at her hands clasped in her lap.

Theo reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She nearly started at the sudden warmth of his hand. But it felt right and good, like he should’ve been doing that all along. She looked up at him through her lashes. “I like you, too. I think you’re kind and honorable and unswerving.”

“I have no doubt we can make a solid go at it.”

“We’re not betrothed anymore,” Eliska reminded him for the hundredth time.

Theo just smiled.