Chapter Twenty-One
Diana returned to the carriage feeling a bit more presentable. She had sprinkled strawberry water on the pertinent places and dabbed on some of the precious Floris Jasmine scent she’d bought the week before. She only hoped that if . . . when they caught up to Winston and Rosy, nothing of her and Geoffrey’s behavior showed. It would be hard to lecture the pair if she and Geoffrey smelled of sex.
She wasn’t terribly surprised to find Geoffrey still talking with the ostler as she approached.
“Here she is, sir.” Geoffrey pressed a coin into the man’s palm. “Thank you for your help.”
Once they were back in the carriage and on their way, she asked, “Any news?”
“We’re not as far behind them as I feared, perhaps even as little as an hour apart.”
She let out a breath. “What a relief. Surely we can catch up to them if that’s the case.”
“I should hope so. And they are indeed in a rented post chaise, so it’s good to have that confirmed, too.”
“Who did you tell the ostler that we were?”
“Husband and wife, of course. But Mr. and Mrs. Brookhouse because he’d remember a duke. It isn’t much of a lie—we’ll be marrying as soon as it can be arranged. I’m assuming your sisters will take on the task of planning our wedding?”
“I beg your pardon? All three of us will plan our wedding. And I might even let you put in a suggestion or two.”
“The only thing I want a say in is the food. I’ve sampled a number of Lady Verity’s dishes, and I am prepared to list them all in descending order of preference.”
“Let me guess. Marzipan anything is at the top.”
“Exactly.”
The conversation stalled as she tried to think of a way to ask him her most burning question.
“Out with it, my love,” he said.
“So now you read my mind, too?”
“Sometimes.”
She decided to just march right ahead with it. “What made you change your mind and decide to pursue marriage to me, despite all the gossip still swirling in Newcastle and the deplorable behavior of your distant relations?”
“Hmm. Well, first of all, four whole days spent not seeing you.”
“Oh, spare me that nonsense. You avoided me for three weeks after our first kiss.”
“Ah, but I hadn’t yet been ‘inside’ you, as you may remember saying.”
She felt heat rise in her cheeks. “True. Although we also barely saw each other after that.”
He held up a finger. “But not on purpose. And I lived for those glimpses of you. They were one reason I got up the courage to tell you the truth.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “After which, you gave me a lecture and chided me about not telling my sister and mother.”
Her heart began to pound. “Oh, no. Is that why Rosy ran off with Winston? Did you tell her?”
“I told Mother and Rosy, yes. And I don’t regret it. Thanks to that—thanks to you—I learned things I didn’t know. Like Rosy knowing more than I realized. And the fact that Mother had already heard gossip in town about the laudanum. Granted, she’d thought he’d had an accidental overdose of laudanum, but she did say my father was a fool for thinking an apothecary and a doctor would keep laudanum use a secret. At least she knows now that there was nothing she could have done. He’d been planning it for a while, apparently.”
“And Rosy? How was she?”
“Upset. Angry that he entrusted me with his secret and not her, too.”
“That’s to be expected. I think she gets tired of you getting all the attention and her getting none.”
“So she did this to get attention?”