Two of a Kind

by Sasha Cottman

  James offered her the single chair to sit and eat, but she waved him away. “I have been sitting down all day. I need to walk or at least stand,” she replied.

  James followed suit with the food, standing to eat. While he ate, he pondered the situation which they now both faced.

  He had to get Leah to her grandfather without her family discovering where she was. The risk with staying at the coaching inns and travelling by way of the main roads was that it left them exposed to being discovered. They needed a way to get to Mopus Passage without being found by the Shepherd family.

  And then he had an idea.

  “I shall be back shortly. In the meantime, lock the door after I am gone and don’t open it unless you hear my voice,” he said.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To secure us a means of private transport.”

  Leah may well have her concerns about travelling with him, but James was under no illusion as to what he would do if Tobias Shepherd intercepted them en route to Cornwall and tried to take Leah back. With that thought foremost in his mind, he was determined to do all he could to avoid Leah’s father.

  Once downstairs, he had a quiet word with the innkeeper, who promptly pointed him in the direction of the nearest gunsmiths.

  As soon as James was gone, Leah attacked her wedding gown. She tore at the laces with the sharp knife, not bothering to spare either the fabric or the bindings. She found a lose thread and pulled on it hard. The gown was left in satisfying shreds within minutes. When she was finally free of the hideously expensive dress, she rolled it up into a tight ball and stuffed it into her bag, vowing to never wear it again. She retrieved one of her simple day gowns and put it on.

  Leah then sat and finished the rest of her stew in her warm, comfortable attire. She washed it down with the half tankard of ale. The ale was bitter and not something she was used to drinking. Its effect, however, was most welcome. By the time James finally returned to the room, she had just enough energy left to unlock the door and let him back in before she lay down on the bed and promptly fell asleep.

  Sometime in the middle of the night, she woke with a start and sat up. Panic gripped her before she managed to focus her gaze on the fireplace. In the chair by the fire, James was stretched out fast asleep, snoring softly. When she saw him, Leah smiled; James had draped his mother’s woolen cloak about himself.

  She lay in the dark, allowing her mind to ponder the events of the day. This was not the wedding night she had imagined, thank God. But lying listening to James’s heavy breathing, her heart told her that not only was she exactly where she should be, she was also with the right man.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Do you think it is wise for us to take so long to travel to Mopus Passage? What if my father has followed me and is waiting for us when we reach my grandfather’s house?”

  Leah’s question was a sensible one, and it had kept James awake late into the night. They needed a plan.

  He had sworn a silent vow to do everything in his power to protect her from the rest of the Shepherd family. He was not by nature a violent man, but when faced with tyranny, even good men would take up arms. The pistol he had purchased the previous evening lay hidden in the pocket of his coat. He could only hope that he wouldn’t have cause to use it.

  But he was determined that Leah should have the right to choose whom she married. He knew that there was more than a small amount of self-interest in that promise. While Leah remained unwed, there was still a flicker of hope for his heart to be granted its greatest desire.

  For her to love him. For her to choose him.

  James’s plan involved him driving the private carriage he had hired last night. They would travel the main road during the day, but instead of staying at the coaching inns en route at night, they would find lodgings at smaller out-of-the-way villages.

  It would mean they would take longer to reach Mopus Passage. James had weighed up the options and decided that it was the overnight stops where the greatest risk of Tobias Shepherd trying to reclaim Leah lay. Leah’s father could call upon the services of the innkeeper and his staff to help secure the release of his wayward daughter from the blackguard who had spirited her away from her lawful guardian. If that situation eventuated, he would be powerless to do anything to help her.

  Leah took a sip of her tea before setting the cup down. James could tell she was not convinced of the merit of his plan. In the cold light of morning, she seemed less at ease than she had the night before. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  James looked across at her. “What are you apologizing for?” If anyone should be offering up an apology, he knew it was him. Every day he should be telling her how sorry he was for leaving her to face Guy and her father alone.

  “For doubting you. You have had ample opportunities in the past day to tie me up and force me onboard a London-bound coach. All you have done instead is to feed me and give me somewhere safe to sleep. And you have listened,” she said.

  He shook his head. He was not going to accept her apology for not trusting him. Until now, he had given her no reason as to why she should place her trust in him. “How about we both apologize, and agree to be friends? That way, we leave here today with a fresh start,” he said.

  The word friends didn’t roll off James’s tongue as easily as it should. That same tongue now felt the pressure of his teeth as he forced himself not to say anything more on the subject, fearing that if he did, he would say too much.

  He wanted Leah to see that he was more than just someone feeling an obligation to keep her safe. He wanted her to be happy. He ached to be a part of her life, for her to see him beyond being merely Guy’s friend. As far as James was concerned, his bond with Guy was already irretrievably broken.

  “You wish to be friends?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Alright, we can be friends. But you must understand that friends don’t keep secrets from one another. Which means you have an obligation to tell me not only why you chose to betray Guy, but also why you are helping me.” Leah reached out a hand and they locked fingers. “Please, James, help me understand. I want to trust you, but I need to know the truth.”

  “When I saw you run out of the church, I didn’t stop to think about whether I was betraying Guy or not. I saw a young woman who had chosen to flee her wedding and I knew you needed my help. The last thing I was going to do was to grab you and drag you back inside St Georges. I sent some of the wedding guests in the wrong direction, then followed you,” he replied.

  “Guy will never speak to you again after what you have done. I hope for both our sakes that you are prepared for the impact of losing that friendship,” said Leah.

  “I understand what yesterday will have cost me. But you mean more to me that he does,” replied James.

  James really didn’t want to have this conversation so early in their journey west. He wanted them to spend time together so that when he felt it was right to declare himself, Leah would have had the opportunity to get to know him a little better. For them to have strengthened their friendship, and hopefully, for the first buds of genuine affection for him to have formed in her heart. It was not to be.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “What can I say? I care more deeply for you than a mere friend should. When we kissed that night at the ball, you stole a piece of my heart. I want to spend time with you to not only see you safely to your grandfather, but also for you to see the real me.”

  Leah squeezed his hand. “Thank you for your honesty, James. But could we agree to start our journey together with just being friends? I am not sure what else I am capable of feeling right now.”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  She gave him a shy smile. “James Radley, you are full of surprises.”

  They agreed to set out later that morning on the road to Exeter. By leaving later each day, they would avoid the early morning mail coaches as they came thundering through on the main road.

&nb
sp; Breakfast would be taken in the secure privacy of their room, with Leah remaining out of sight as much as possible. At day’s end, they would find lodgings at an inn in one of the villages off the main London-to-Exeter coach route.

  It was comforting to know that someone else had her best interests at heart. James may have failed her by not getting Guy to give up on his marriage proposal, but he appeared to be doing everything he could to make amends. However, his confession of having feelings for her beyond that of mere friends left her wary. She was still undecided as to how much she could trust him.

  The carriage James had hired the previous night was only big enough for his travel trunk and their bags to fit inside, leaving both he and Leah with no option but to ride upfront behind the horse. His profuse apologies over the size of the barouche were touching. She’d politely refused his offer to hire a bigger carriage with a driver. She didn’t want to take any more of his money.

  “This could be fun without a driver. Who knows? You might even let me hold the reins at some point,” she said.

  A single raised eyebrow was the only response she got from James. Leah stifled a grin. She recalled the game of lawn bowls and his silly hijinks with his cousin Francis. James was in possession of a pleasing sense of humor.

  She found herself wanting to get to know him better, to understand the man behind the easy smile. Apart from the odd comment that Claire had shared about her brother, Leah didn’t know much about James Radley at all. She knew him to be a caring man, one who was prepared to race after a fleeing bride and ensure that she spent her failed wedding night under his protection in a warm, comfortable bed, with a belly full of hearty stew and spicy ale. There was a lot to be said about that sort of man.

  While James and two of the porters wrangled his trunk into the back of the barouche, Leah stood to one side and studied him. She appreciated what she saw. Strong muscular arms and broad shoulders spoke of a life which extended beyond the mere social pastimes of the ton. Her gaze settled on his well-formed rear and she softly smiled.

  She turned away quickly from her private observation of him when he reached down and picked up her travel bag. In the cool air of the morning, she felt the heat of embarrassment burning on her cheeks. Her study of James Radley had not been with the right amount of cool, detached interest that society would demand of a young unmarried woman. Leah had broken so many rules over the past day, she doubted she would ever be able to follow the strictures of polite society again. She would live the rest of her life on her own terms. This morning she had woken the same as she had for all her life, a spinster, and for that she was thankful.

  “Are you ready to leave?” James asked.

  Praying that the heat on her cheeks had faded, Leah took a step forward. Yesterday had been a day when she had played out a long-rehearsed scenario. Everything had been planned down to the last detail.

  Today, however, would be different.

  Instead of taking the mail coach alone onto Exeter at first light, she was about to embark on an adventure with the beguiling James Radley. A bubble of excitement sat in her stomach. The fear she had felt during most of the previous week, and especially in the early hours of yesterday morning, was mostly gone. James made her feel if not completely safe, then at least protected.

  James held out his hand. It was a high step into the driver’s seat. Gathering her skirts, Leah looked for a suitable foothold. It would require an inelegant move for her to make it all the way up there.

  “It might be easier if you would permit me to lift you,” he said.

  The notion of him placing his hands on her waist and lifting her into the carriage was more than a little outrageous. The thought had her mouth suddenly going dry. It wasn’t the first time that James had touched her. Memories of that kiss still lingered in her mind. The scent of his cologne had been heady enough. The moment their lips touched; her mind had gone utterly blank. He had held her prisoner in his sensual embrace, their tongues dancing over one another. The taste of his brandy had been a sharp, but welcome . . . oh.

  The sensation of heat racing down her spine, along with other secret parts of her body becoming suddenly warm, had her breathing hard. Her peaked nipples lay flush against the bodice of her gown. She had never been so affected by a man before. Just the thought of his strong hands on her body had her quivering with anticipation.

  She looked at James with his arms held out. It was beyond proper behavior for her to even be considering what he was suggesting. But then again, for all intents and purposes she was already ruined. She had shared a room with him the previous night; them both being fully clothed mattered little in the story of her fall from grace.

  If her father didn’t come chasing after her, he would make damn certain she would never be able to make a suitable marriage. She decided that she may as well enjoy her downfall. A girl could only fall once and if it was going to happen to her, she couldn’t think of a more handsome man to crash to earth with.

  With a nod of approval, she turned her back to him and James placed his hands about her waist. Just before he lifted her, she caught the now familiar scent of his cologne. If her flight to Cornwall ended with her living out the rest of her days as a spinster, then the memory of his manly smell and strong hands would be one she would treasure in the years to come. She would take comfort in the knowledge that for one brief moment, she had been with a man who made her feel alive. A man who made her believe she could be free.

  “Place your feet on the running board, and grab hold of the bar,” he instructed. He firmed his hold on her and lifted her up. Leah placed one foot on the board and reached for the bar. When she began to fall back, James slipped his hands from her waist and pushed hard against her backside. His fingers spread firmly over her buttocks and gripped tight.

  “Oh!” she squealed as she was lifted high into the air. She dropped down onto the softly padded seat with an inelegant “oomph.” Reaching for the handrail, she quickly steadied herself. Only when she finally managed to get her feet settled on the wooden runner and had her hands on the rail did her heart begin to slow its fast beat.

  The sound of raucous laughter filled her ears. She looked down at James. The saucy devil was doubled over. His shoulders shook. When he eventually managed to look up at her, she caught the sparkle of delighted mirth in his eyes.

  Leah giggled; James’s laugh was infectious.

  “Oh, I am so sorry. I am . . . bah ha!” He walked around to the other side of the carriage, still chuckling. She watched him place his boot on the side of the barouche and step up with ease to take the driver’s seat. They exchanged a foolish grin as he plopped down beside her.

  “I can go and hire a driver,” he finally said after several more snorts of laughter.

  Leah shook her head. This was much more fun than they would have with a driver. James was beyond handsome when he laughed, and she wanted to keep seeing his smiling face. She already looked forward to the next time he would have to help her into the carriage.

  “We shall manage,” she replied.

  The journey through to Exeter from Salisbury would take them several days longer than if they had travelled by the fast-moving mail coach. Ninety miles was a long way in a barouche which at top speed would hit somewhere around five miles an hour. James looked up at the grey sky as they turned out of the mews of the inn. Foul weather would impede their progress even more.

  To James’s delight, he found Leah to be even more good-natured in real life than he had imagined in his secret daydreams. Her reaction to him placing his hands on her rump and pushing her up into the carriage had been better than expected. Instead of an angry rebuke for his overfamiliar handling of her body, he got soft giggles. Giggles which had his mind immediately thinking about where else he would like to touch her.

  Leah was temptation. She got to him in ways he was only beginning to understand. The next few days held the promise of more delightful discoveries and of struggling to keep his lustful body under control.

/>   Thoughts of her smile sat in his mind long after they had quietly settled side by side on the driver’s bench and left the inn.

  A little way out of town, Leah turned to him. “Yesterday, you said you were going back to Derbyshire. Was it in order to visit Caroline and her new husband at Newhall Castle?”

  “No. I was going to paint. My father has agreed to support me in my endeavors to become a professional landscape artist. I have two large pieces of work which I am hoping to complete and sell in the next few months. If I can find a buyer for them, then I won’t have to go back to university. I have some preliminary sketches, but I need to go back into the woods in order to get the right sense of light for the paintings themselves.”

  She fell silent for a moment, then placed a hand on his arm. “Could you please pull over to the side of the road?”

  With a gentle tug on the horse’s reins, James guided the carriage over to the grassy edge where they came to a stop. When he looked at Leah, he saw that her face was set in a perplexed frown.

  “James, if you come with me to Cornwall, there is a good chance you won’t be able to reach Derbyshire before the roads become impassable due to the winter snows. By trying to help me you are putting your career in jeopardy,” she said.

  The moment he decided to chase after Leah in central London, James knew he was risking more than just incurring the wrath of Guy Dannon. He was putting his love for her ahead of his dreams of being a painter. “I suppose you could put it that way, but I don’t regret coming after you. As I see it there will likely be other ways for me to make my art pay, but there was only ever going to be one chance for me to come to your rescue.”