* * *
Thaddeus feltas though he had tumbled from his horse. His heart raced, and a hot, urgent, yet unknown sensation coiled in his gut. Her husband. Had they been in Scotland, her pronouncing them married in front of witnesses would have been enough to do the deed. But he wasn’t in Scotland anymore. It meant little to her, save for a roof over her head tonight.
He cleared his throat. His voice emerged brusque, with more of his native brogue than usual. “Aye, that would be me. Mr. Crawford. We’ll be needing two rooms tonight, one for me and my man and one for the ladies.”
The innkeeper’s thick eyebrows crawled closer to one another. “The ladies?”
Thaddeus nodded to the pair of women by the hearth. Engaged as they were in trying to fend off the greetings of the nearest men, they were far from inconspicuous. “My…wife is traveling with her companion and maidservant.”
The innkeeper assessed Lady Perdie once more, his expression blank. Then he addressed himself to Thaddeus. “My apologies for the misunderstanding, sir. I’ve two rooms upstairs for you. Will you be taking a meal tonight?”
“Yes.”
“And a bath,” Lady Perdie interjected.
Thaddeus couldn’t object to that. He could do with one himself.
The innkeeper spared her barely a glance and a nod before he beckoned for them to follow. Lady Perdie paused to catch the eye of her companions. When she’d satisfied herself that they would follow, Thaddeus held out his arm.
“My dear Mrs. Crawford. Shall we?”
She didn’t blink at his droll tone, though she narrowed her eyes. With so much attention upon them, she could do little but slide her hand onto his arm and accept his escort. Her touch felt like a butterfly’s kiss, so soft it might have been his imagination.
“Thank you. For…”
“Say no more,” he answered in a low voice as he led her through the tavern. “It’s my pleasure.”
She muttered something darkly that he didn’t quite catch. Something that sounded suspiciously like, I’ll wager it is.
They nearly had to part ways in the narrow corridor leading to the rickety stairs, but he managed to squeeze them both in. She pressed against him, her figure reminding him again that she was certainly of marriageable age. And, if she was claiming him as a husband, unmarried.
Well, unless they’d been in Scotland. Then it would have been their wedding night.
Above stairs, the innkeeper showed them along another corridor, one with floorboards worn smooth with the passing of feet and time, to a pair of closed doors. He pulled two keys off a ring on his belt and offered them both to Thaddeus.
“I’ll send me wife up with the tub and water for your baths.”
Despite the fact that she was being overlooked, Lady Perdie drew herself up to her inconsiderable height and said with clipped words, “We will take our meals in our room as well."
For the first time since Thaddeus had stepped up beside her, the innkeeper acknowledged her with a word. “Of course, madam. I’ll send them up straight away.”
He left them without another word, squeezing past the other two ladies to return to the common room below. Thaddeus tried first one key, then the other, in the lock to the nearest door. When it turned, he presented the key to Lady Perdie without examining the interior.
“I suppose I’ll send Lionel down for your valises, as it doesn’t seem likely the innkeeper will offer.”
Bright, piercing eyes met his. “Thank you for agreeing to my scheme.”
“I have always wanted to marry a bonny lass like yourself. One with a fiery and stubborn temperament.”
She blinked. “Are you always such a teasing rogue?”
“I am nothing of the sort, lass, just an honest husband. You do ken we are now married?”
A choking sound came from Perdie, her lovely eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink. Thaddeus tipped his hat. “Good night, Perdie. I suppose we'll be seeing more of one another than we expected.”