With summer in full bloom, Charlie shouldn’t have woken cold. But the drizzle splattering against the wall of the inn seemed to have seeped into her very bones. Now that the fire had gone out, the room seemed still and gray. The threadbare sheet wasn’t quite enough to keep her from shivering.

A moment later, the coverlet, still warm from Anthony’s body heat, landed across her legs. Anthony straightened next, his posture rigid. He looked away, his expression hard as he stretched. “If you were cold, you should have kept the blanket.”

Charlie gathered it to her chest, soaking up his residual body heat. “Perhaps you should have slept next to me and we both would have been warm.”

He exhaled sharply as he looked at her, then away again. Charlie held her breath. The invitation rippled in the air between them, much as it had last night.

Last night, she’d been all but certain that he would kiss her. She’d nearly asked him to. When she’d confessed to trusting him, she’d hoped that would be all the invitation he needed. Unfortunately, he’d chosen to be proper.

Her body hummed at the notion of sleeping alongside him, in his arms. When they’d arrived, he’d lied to the innkeeper and claimed that Charlie was his wife. A man slept next to his wife. He took other liberties while in bed, too. Liberties which, given Anthony’s reluctance to sleep next to her, he was clearly afraid he might take.

Charlie wasn’t afraid. One benefit to having a friend like Lucy, who was detailed in expressing her experiences, was that she always got a lengthy answer to her inquiries—including what it had felt like for Lucy to give herself, body and soul, to her husband.

Charlie might be virginal in body, not wanting to lose her freedom to any man, but she knew what awaited her that inevitable day she decided she’d had enough adventure.

The way her blood sang when Anthony stepped near felt eerily similar to the way she’d felt upon embarking on this adventure to find her father. Kissing Anthony felt as much a victory as bringing Papa aboard the ship. Somehow, Charlie knew that the day Anthony decided to damn what was proper, he could take her to places she’d never been before.

However, the closest she’d been able to come to uttering an invitation of that magnitude had been to suggest that she trusted him. Trust that he did not place in himself. Because you’re an animal? She’d almost parroted his words back at him, but she hadn’t wanted to frighten him away. Unfortunately, she’d seemed to do that simply by existing.

And he seemed in a surly mood this morning because of it. Perhaps he was simply being a pigheaded dolt, due to lack of sleep from lying on the cold, hard floor. Or perhaps her snoring had kept him awake. The bed was so uncomfortable that she’d even snored loud enough to wake herself once. As she felt her cheeks heat, she snuggled deeper under the blankets.

He stared at her a moment more before opting to ignore the fact that she’d offered for him to sleep next to her in the next inn. “If you don’t mind, I’ll wash up first, then see about getting us some breakfast.”

Charlie twisted to look out the window and gauge the time. Not long past dawn at her guess. If they’d slept more than four hours, she would be surprised.

Nevertheless, she nodded. “I don’t mind.” She huddled beneath the blanket as he retreated behind the screen. As the warmth seeped into her, she struggled not to fall asleep. At home, she usually lay abed until noon. Her jaw cracked as she yawned, daydreaming of her soft bed in London or the one at Tenwick Abbey. When at home, she always slept through the night. What a blessing that would be, with Anthony mere feet away.

He took mere minutes to complete his washing and dressing. As he buttoned his jacket and tossed the oiled cloak around his shoulders, he crossed to the door. “I’ll be in the common room below when you’re finished. Please don’t tarry.”

He didn’t look at her before he shut the door.

Had she imagined the longing and desire in his eyes last night? They’d only shared two kisses, and both times, he had been the one to end them. Now he refused to look in her direction. Perhaps she’d made a fool of herself by inviting him to share her bed.

“Forget him,” she mumbled under her breath as she rose.

Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done, especially when she had to share a horse with him. When she emerged downstairs ten minutes later, she found Anthony pacing in front of two bowls of porridge.

Despite her lack of appetite, she tried to eat as quickly as he did while Lieutenant Stills informed them both of the fact that he had procured directions toward Tenwick Abbey from the inn, and the state of Charlie’s horse. Without a farrier near the inn and with no mounts to spare, Charlie had no choice but to sit with Anthony as she had the day before. Her horse would be left behind to save them time.

Anthony said little, not a word of it to her. Even after they finished and settled their account, and he lifted her atop the rump of his gelding, he scarcely looked at her, let alone spoke. As he set a punishing pace for both horse and rider, she had no breath left to speak, in any case.

* * *

The horse danced beneath Gray, restless, as he consulted his compass. He glanced at the sky, then back at his device, then swore. The obscenity made Charlie, seated behind him with her arms around his waist, jump and clutch him tighter. Her body pressed tight along his back, as it had for most of the day. He couldn’t purge her from his thoughts for a minute before she dominated them again.

He’d spent most of the night awake, listening to her fitful snore as he agonized over the future. He had to keep his focus on saving his mother, yet Charlie was always nearby, a temptation and a dangerous distraction.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered, her voice low and intimate.

It pinched him in the gut. He swallowed before he announced, “Our directions were poor.”

Mere feet away, Stills straightened atop his mount. “I followed the innkeeper’s instructions to the letter—”

Gray held up a hand to silence further excuses. “I’m not blaming you, Stills. I should have known when the innkeeper didn’t recognize my family name that she likely wouldn’t know where Tenwick Abbey was located.”

Charlie pressed her cheek into his shoulder. “So… we’re lost?”

Yes. He feigned bravado. “Of course not. We’re delayed, that’s all. By my estimate, we’ve veered too far north, but if we turn around and take the track running east-west, we should be able to find an oft-traveled road that leads in the right direction.”

To him, the confidence in his tone rang comically false. However, Charlie must have believed him because after a moment’s hesitation, she suggested, “Then why are we dallying? Let’s not waste time.”

Lieutenant Stills didn’t seem as convinced, but Gray didn’t leave him room to argue. Turning his horse around, he prepared to dig in his heels. “You heard the woman. Let’s not tarry.”

His mother’s life hung in the balance, after all. This delay was only one in a long line, none of which they could afford. No matter the cost, they had to reach Tenwick Abbey in all possible haste, even if they had to do so with Charlie sitting near enough behind him to rouse his thoughts and his ardor. Even if they reached their destination as soon as tomorrow—which now seemed impossible—this was going to be a very long trip.