Page 57 of Road Trip With a Rogue
“Thank you.” Vaughan reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin that he flipped to the groom, who caught it with a deft swoop of his hand. “For your trouble.”
“Thank you, sir.” The man nodded his appreciation and gave a gap-toothed grin. “I’ll get right to it.”
Satisfied, Vaughan turned back to her and gestured toward the door. “Shall we? Perry and Violet will be wondering where we are.”
“Perry and Violet won’t even have realized we’re not there,” Daisy said grouchily. “A grenade could go off next to them and they wouldn’t notice.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized how insensitive they were, considering Vaughan’s wartime experience. She clapped her hand over her mouth with a gasp. “I’m so sorry! It was just a figure of speech. I never meant to make a joke about your injury.”
Luckily, he seemed amused, and not mortally offended. “It’s fine. Really. You don’t have to watch what you say when you’re with me.”
“I really am sorry,” she repeated.
He laughed at her mortification. “You promised to discuss any topic with me on this journey, Hamilton. That includes this. Nothing is off-limits. Not with me.”
Something squeezed in her chest at his words, and she felt the oddest pang of melancholy. She’d loved that aspect of the past three days. The unexpected liberation of being able to say whatever she wanted without watchingher tongue. Without worrying that she’d be judged for being too inquisitive, too brash, too curious. Too educated. The fact that their journey together was over left a hollow ache of regret. She’d miss their candid conversations. She’d miss him.
Damn it.
She turned away to hide the ridiculous prick of tears that suddenly burned her eyes. “You go inside. I need a bit more time out here to get the stink of Letty Richardson out of my nose,” she muttered.
He paused, as if to argue, but she hurried off down the row of stalls and stopped to pat the nose of a friendly black mare. She saw him leave from the corner of her eye and pressed her forehead to the rough boards of the stable door with a choked little sob.
She’d just refused to marry Lucien Vaughan.
Five years ago, she’d have said yes in a heartbeat.
Three days ago, she’d have happily stabbed him through the heart.
Now she said no, even when half of her wanted to say yes.
Bloody Hell.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Daisy surreptitiously wiped her eyes as two more grooms entered the stables and started speaking in low tones with the man Vaughan had asked to take the horses to Finch. She’d spent long enough moping about in here. It was time to go back inside and pray she didn’t encounter Letty again before they left.
She straightened her spine and turned, only to see the three men blocking the doorway.
“This the one?” the tallest of the three asked his friend.
“Aye. That other lady called ’im ‘Yer Grace,’ which makes ’im a duke. And I ’eard ’im sayshewere to be ’is duchess.”
Daisy took a step back as the back of her neck began to prickle. It was a sensation she’d experienced several times before, in places like Limehouse and Seven Dials, where danger lurked in every alley. There was something about the attitude of these three that made her distinctly uneasy.
She slid her hand into her pocket and palmed one of her knives as the second man took another step towardher. He sent her an insulting, appraising full-body glance and his top lip curled in a sneer.
“Duchess, eh? ‘Ain’t no accountin’ for taste. I like a woman with a bit more meat on the bone. You sure she ain’t just ’is fancy piece? Look at ’er. Why’s she dressed like a boy?”
The first man gave a snort. “Maybe ’e’s a molly? You know what these nobs are like. Bunch o’ perverts, the lot of ’em. Either way, ’e’ll pay a pretty penny to get ’er back.”
Daisy’s heart sank. She put her left hand in front of her, palm out, in a placating gesture. “Now, gentlemen, there’s clearly been a misunderstanding. I’m not his lordship’s woman. I only met him this morning. He let me sit up on the box when I was walking from Carlisle.”
The man Vaughan had paid spat into the straw. “She’s lyin’. They was just arguin’ about gettin’ married.”
Daisy glared at him. “If you were eavesdropping, then you presumably also heard me refuse him. I’m not his fiancée. We’re not even friends. In fact, hekidnappedme. That’s why I’m here, in this godforsaken place.”
The second man scratched the stubble on his chin. “If ’e kidnapped ye, then ’e wants ye, don’t ’e? Man like ’im can get any woman ’e wants for the toss of a coin, so if ’e’s gone to all the bother of kidnappin’ ye, ’e must want ye somethin’ fierce.”