Page 24 of The Duke and Lady Scandal (Princes of London #1)

Allie woke with a start, and it took her a moment to realize where she was.

Then she felt the soothing warmth of her husband’s body against hers and smiled. Now she remembered. She’d settled onto his lap an hour ago after discovering that you can indeed make love in a carriage.

Ben stroked his fingers down her cheek and offered her a sleepy smile in return.

“Was it a good nap?”

he asked, his voice deep and husky as if he’d nodded off for a bit too.

“It was,”

Allie told him as she shifted onto the carriage bench next to him. Every inch of her body that had been pressed against his was deliciously warm, and she was tempted to snuggle in closer and doze off again. “But we should arrive soon, if the weather holds, and I want to remember as much as I can.”

Allie was determined to imprint this trip upon her mind and detail it as thoroughly as she could in writing. Though she didn’t know if she’d ever print her travel journals—and she hoped there would be many more—she’d decided when they’d set off from London that she’d record her impressions the way her mother used to during her journeys with Father.

County Mayo was such a lush, vibrant green it took her breath away, and tonight they would be arriving in Newport, near Rockfleet Castle, purportedly the principal stronghold of lady pirate Grace O’Malley. Allie couldn’t wait for her first sight of what remained of the fifteenth-century structure.

She noticed Ben had set aside his journal too.

“What were you writing?”

She glanced down at the brown leather-bound volume. “Or sketching?”

He’d only revealed his sketches to her recently, claiming they weren’t quite up to snuff. But they were, and Allie loved seeing what he found interesting enough to capture with his pencil. He’d explained that he came by whatever skill he possessed via his work as a detective, since he’d often sketch out what he saw at crime scenes. His style was loose but vivid, as he’d trained himself to capture his subject quickly.

“May I see?”

she asked, reaching out to tap her fingers against the journal.

He scooped the volume up for her and flipped to the page he’d been working on.

Allie leaned in, expecting to see the Irish countryside—a thicket of trees, fluffy sheep, or even the windswept clouds. Instead, she found studies of her. Half a dozen profiles of her sleeping, but he’d managed to capture something unique in each of them. The way the light caught the slope of her cheek and cast the rest of her face in shadow. A slight smile on her lips as if she’d been dreaming of something pleasing. The pinched lines between her brows when a dream turned troubling. He noted her every freckle and beauty mark as if he was drawing a map.

Ben had captured her in much more detail than his usual drawings.

“How did you manage all this with me practically in your lap?”

she asked in an awestruck whisper.

“I’m a very determined man.”

He winked and smiled, a full-bodied one that crinkled the skin by his eyes and made a dimple appear in his cheek.

The carriage began to climb what felt like a rather sizable hill and Allie clutched at Ben’s lapel to keep herself steady. One discovery she’d made about travel was that hours of jostling in a carriage did not make her stomach very happy—especially now.

“I’ve got you,”

Ben reassured her, and wrapped his arm a bit more tightly around her.

“Perhaps our next journey should be on a boat,”

she told him with a chuckle.

He shot her a dubious glance. “Seasickness is quite unforgiving, or so I understand.”

The prospect did not sound appealing.

“But at least we’d be on the sea with plenty of fresh air.”

“I’m game if you are, wife.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then let out a concerned hum. “You are quite warm, love. If you’re feeling unwell, we can ask the driver to stop for a bit.”

She’d noticed that she ran hotter of late, especially when queasiness overcame her.

“I’m all right. We should arrive soon and then we can walk or rest or do whatever we please.”

He used his free arm to reach for a flask of brewed tea that had long gone cold but that had proved oddly soothing to her stomach. She took a few sips and then drew in a few deep breaths. Which caused the oddest stitch in her middle.

Ben noticed her distress—he noticed everything where her needs and well-being were concerned.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

Allie looked into his green eyes, so full of tenderness, love, and concern, and though it was not the moment she’d hoped for, she could not hold back anymore. She wanted to share everything with him. Always.

“I’m not ill, Ben.”

He frowned and then let out a relieved sigh. “Well, thank God for that, love, but you seem ill at ease. Is it just the confines of the carriage?”

He lifted her hand that still lay against his lapel and kissed her fingers. “Is it just being trapped in here with me for hours on end?”

Allie laughed and swept her fingers along his stubbled jaw. “Don’t be silly. I love being with you anywhere we are, and you’re so busy of late that it feels quite decadent to get you all to myself.”

His private detection services were in high demand, and he relished the autonomy to handle cases on his own without the machinations of someone like Haverstock above him.

“Then what is it, Alexandra?”

His voice held a note of concern that she immediately wanted to soothe.

Nibbling her lower lip, she clasped his hand and lowered it to her belly.

“I suppose it’s not entirely accurate to say I have you all to myself,”

she told him, capturing his gaze to see if he’d read her meaning. “If one wishes to be thoroughly accurate.”

He dropped his gaze to her stomach, then arched one brow, followed quickly by the other.

“Are you saying . . . ?”

He swallowed hard and his brow furrowed even as his mouth began to curve in a smile. “A child?”

“Yes.”

Allie couldn’t help beaming. She’d waited weeks to speak to Helen about her suspicions, and they’d only been confirmed two days before beginning their trip.

She’d planned to tell him over their first dinner on the west coast of Ireland, but now she wondered why she’d waited at all. The joy should be shared.

But the longer she smiled, she couldn’t help but notice that Ben’s had already begun to falter. A flutter of fear skittered through her.

“You are happy to hear the news, aren’t you?”

He reached for her then, and Allie went into his arms. He buried his face against her neck and left a trail of kisses along her neck, behind her ear, against her hair.

“I am happy, love.”

But Allie could hear the hitch in his voice. She arched back to meet his gaze.

“Then why do you sound so worried, Ben?”

Rather than answer, he cast his gaze out the window a moment, his brow still furrowed.

In the six months since their marriage, Allie had come to realize that he was a pensive man at times. His brand of cleverness required time to mull, assemble clues and sometimes his thoughts, before he was ready to explain an idea or a conclusion he’d come to.

Allie strove for patience in those moments, and even now when she so desperately wished to know what he felt about the news that their family of two would soon grow.

“I never knew my father,”

he finally said, turning a pained look her way. “And the men who took up with my mother never came close to earning the title.”

Everything in her yearned to rush in with reassurances, but she could see that there was more he wished to say. She squeezed his hand but said nothing as she waited.

“What if I don’t know how to be a good father?”

“You do,”

Allie told him with utter certainty. “You know how to love, to protect, to guide. You have loved and supported me, believed in me, as no one in my life ever has. Do the same for our child and they will flourish.”

She kissed his cheek, nuzzled the soft stubble along his jaw.

Ben turned his head and captured her lips in a gentle kiss. “You will be a magnificent mother, Alexandra.”

She laid a hand across her belly again. “It feels fitting that they’re coming with us on our first journey.”

A lump welled up in her throat and she swallowed it down. “I never want our child to feel as if they’ve been left behind.”

“We’ll take them with us on our travels whenever we can,”

Ben assured her.

“They’ll know they’re accepted by us and encouraged no matter what endeavor they wish to pursue.”

Ben let out a grumble of protest. “If they wish to pursue a life of crime, my encouragement may have its limits.”

Laughter burst from Allie and she pushed playfully at her husband’s chest. Then she stilled, realizing he may have meant the quip quite seriously. Perhaps he was thinking of his brother and how he had fallen in with a dangerous lot.

Ben ducked his head to catch her gaze. “Sweetheart, I do not truly fear our child will have criminal inclinations.”

“Nor do I.”

Now it was Allie’s turn to fall into pensive musings. “When I think of our future and our child, my only thought is that we’ll love each other through all of it. The joy and the challenges.”

Ben didn’t answer in words. He bent his head and kissed her, a tender yet dizzying exploration that made Allie breathless. Then he bent to touch his forehead to hers.

“I am a better man for finding you, and that is how I know all will be well for our child. When we’re together, everything feels right. I love you.”

“I love you.”

It did feel right. From the moment she’d walked into his office, she’d felt a draw, an undeniable spark. And now she felt a sense of belonging she’d begun to doubt she’d ever feel.

The carriage swung and dipped and then began to slow. They both looked out the window to watch their approach toward the village where they’d spend the night.

She’d made it all the way to Ireland, finally, but what felt even better was being in her husband’s arms and going on this journey—and that they’d take all future journeys—together.