Read Online The Road to Gretna by Carola Dunn - Free Book Online

Penny hardly noticed the snores emanating from Mrs. Ratchett’s post-prandial nap. Angus had put on his steel-rimmed spectacles and, ignoring snores and jolting alike, was reading a book entitled An Epitome of Juridical and Forensic Medicine . Penny had brought a volume of The Quarterly Review in her portmanteau but she was sure she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on it. She wished she’d thought to bring a novel. Failing that, she watched the hedgerows pass.
    Though delayed by a missing postilion when they stopped for fresh horses at Colsterworth, they drove on towards Grantham without seeing Jason and Henrietta. It was well after five o’clock when a bend in the road revealed the tall spire of Grantham’s church, towering over the Lincolnshire plain.
    “We shall spend the night in Grantham,” Angus announced.
    Penny opened her mouth to protest, and suddenly realized that she was aching in every joint. They had been on the road since the early hours of the morning; she had had no proper sleep in thirty-six hours, and little enough before that what with worrying about the elopement.
    “Very well, Angus,” she said.
    Taken by surprise by her meekness, he insisted on justifying his decision anyway. “The human body cannot withstand constant motion,” he began.
    He was interrupted by a tapping at the carriage window. Penny turned her head and saw Lord Kilmore riding alongside. He looked perfectly splendid on horseback.
    Quickly Angus let down the window. “Has some accident occurred to your vehicle?” he asked.
    “No, doctor, we are all quite safe. I simply needed a change from sitting inside. Miss Bryant, Henrietta sent me after you to beg that you will put up for the night at the Angel in Grantham. She feels herself sadly in need of female company other than her abigail.” He smiled at Penny, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
    “Of course, I shall be happy to give her whatever support I can."
    “I had thought to stay at the Beehive, in Castlegate,” said Angus, vexed. “Being secluded from the busier part of the town it is likely to be overlooked by pursuers. But if Miss White..."
    “My dear doctor, we can very well join you at the Beehive. I must ride back to tell my coachman of the change in plans, so you will arrive before us. Hire a private parlour in my name, if you please, and make what arrangements for dinner and bedchambers you consider appropriate. We shall see you shortly.”
    Wheeling his mount, he rode off. Somehow Penny wasn’t tired any more.
    “I dinna care tae be treated as his lairdship’s factor,” Angus fumed. “Hire this and make arrangements for that indeed!”
    “Lord Kilmore was most obliging in changing his accommodations to suit us,” Penny defended him, “and I believe he was entrusting you with the arrangements for our comfort, not ordering you to make them.”
    “It’s only nacheral for a lord to sound like he’s giving orders,” Mrs. Ratchett put in. “‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron.'"
    “Weel, he maun ken he canna rule me,” grumbled Angus.
    "Think how much we’ll save by sharing a parlour,” Penny said. “Besides, if Henrietta really wants my company I should hate to be so unkind as to disappoint her.”
    Angus subsided, merely muttering that he’d had no intention of taking a private parlour at all and wasn’t sure if the Beehive, a modest hostelry, even possessed such a luxury.
    Penny couldn’t help wondering whether Henrietta’s request had really been her own idea, or whether Jason had prompted it. Even a man in love must grow tired of the conversation of a ninnyhammer, however beautiful to look upon. Doubtless his lordship would welcome any distraction, but she dared to believe that he liked talking to her. If nothing more, they shared a sense of the ridiculous and an interest in their surroundings.
    As they drove through the market-place, she saw the Angel, a fascinating-looking medieval hostelry. Jason probably knew a few tales about it.