A Road to Romance Read online

  “I think that would be extremely uncomfortable,” the Marquis remarked. “What I was thinking was that they would not expect you to stay at a small and remote inn. Therefore, as it is getting on in the afternoon, we should look for a little village which your followers would think was not smart enough for you.”

  He was wondering, as he was speaking, if he should ask her name and who her parents had been.

  Then he thought she would expect to want to know his and he somehow disliked lying to anyone who was as young and pretty as the girl riding beside him.

  “You are so sensible,” she said, “and I am so lucky to have found you. I feel sure if I had been alone I would have done the wrong thing and gone to a hotel in a small town.”

  She gave a little laugh before she added,

  “I was really thinking of my stallion, Fireball, who is very particular where he lays his head.”

  The Marquis laughed.

  “I am sure that Samson feels the same!”

  “Oh, that is an excellent name for him! He is just magnificent,” the girl said. “I am sure Fireball is charmed to meet him.”

  “Well, as they are introduced to each other,” the Marquis replied, “perhaps we should do the same. As you are in disguise, you need only tell me your Christian name and I will tell you that mine is Neil.”

  “And mine is Velina and I am so glad to meet you.”

  “Now we are formally introduced to each other,” the Marquis announced, “the sooner that we ride on and find somewhere to rest our heads the better.”

  “On behalf of Fireball I am very grateful to you,” Velina said solemnly. “I was worrying about how I could possibly give him good food if I had to sleep in a ditch.”

  “I cannot imagine anything more uncomfortable for both of you. I am sure that we will find a nice inn where we can be well looked after and safe.”

  “I am praying that is true,” Velina said, “and now because we are still near home I am worried about the men following me and I would like to go a little faster.”

  The Marquis did not bother to answer her.

  He merely allowed Samson to gallop as fast as he could and Fireball had no trouble keeping up with him.

  It was now nearly seven o’clock and the Marquis was wondering what had happened to local small villages when they came to one which he thought looked ideal.

  There was a Norman Church, a few houses and a number of picturesque thatched cottages.

  He looked for an inn and found it on the other side of the village.

  It was, of course, on the traditional green and there were several old men sitting outside smoking and drinking beer.

  They rode round to the back of the inn.

  As the Marquis expected, there was the usual yard and quite a large stable which, with satisfaction, he realised was empty.

  They put their horses into separate horseboxes and then while he was unsaddling Samson, Velina was doing the same to Fireball.

  In fact she was so expert at it that the Marquis knew that she must, when she was at home, look after her own horse instead of leaving it to a servant.

  He brought in fresh water from the pump in the yard and saw that there was plenty of food in the mangers.

  Carrying one of the bags that Herbert had attached to the saddle, he looked to see if Velina was ready.

  She was also carrying a saddlebag, but it was very much larger and fuller than his.

  She saw him glance at it and said,

  “I brought as little as possible with me, but I will not have to eat dinner in my riding clothes, which I am finding are rather heavy.”

  “I think it will be difficult to have a bath if you are thinking of that,” the Marquis commented.

  They were walking out of the stable yard when he stopped.

  “I have just thought, he said, “that it will be very difficult for you to stay here with a different name to mine. It will also, apart from anything else, make the publican curious.”

  “I did not think of that!” Velina exclaimed. “What shall we do?”

  “I suggest that I say you are my sister,” the Marquis answered.

  He almost added that, if he said they were married, they would be expected to share a room. He felt it would be not only an unnecessary remark but would make Velina feel shy.

  “Oh, you are clever!” she replied. “And I am very delighted to be your sister. I often wanted one myself.”

  “I might say the same,” the Marquis added. “I was the only child and would have loved to have had brothers and sisters to play with.”

  They had reached the door into the inn and, pushing it open, they found themselves in a passage that led past the kitchen to the front of the building.

  An elderly man came out of what was obviously the bar and offered,

  “Can I do anything for you, sir?”

  “My sister and I would be grateful if we could stay with you for the night,” the Marquis replied. “We are on our way to the North and it will soon be too dark to go any further.”

  The publican scratched his head.

  “Well, we’ve got two rooms,” he said, “but we’re not often asked for ’em and so you might not think ’em very comfortable.”

  The Marquis was rather surprised that he should be expected to want comfortable rooms.

  He had no idea that because he looked so handsome and dignified, his well-worn clothes were not really a very good disguise.

  “I am sure they will give us a good night’s sleep,” he said.

  “I ’opes so,” the publican replied.

  He went a few steps down the passage and shouted,

  “Missus! ’Ere be two guests who wants to stay the night with us. Come and look after ’em.”

  “I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” a woman replied.

  She came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and said to the Marquis,

  “We don’t often ’ave visitors who stays the night because there be an ’otel just down the road.”

  The Marquis had noted it when they passed it some minutes ago and he thought then that it was just the type of hotel the usual traveller would stay in.

  “I think your inn looks delightful,” he said aloud. “I am sure that you will be able to give my sister and me something nice for dinner.”

  “We’ll do our best, sir,” the woman answered going ahead of them. “But, as me ’usband said we don’t ’ave many visitors who wants to stay ’ere. They just drinks and be orf.”

  The Marquis smiled at this and then he realised that Velina was smiling too.

  At the same time he thought that the inn was just what they wanted, somewhere where no one would expect to find them. And at least they would be able to have a peaceful night.

  The rooms were small but clean and the beds were not entirely comfortable, but at least, he reckoned, Velina would feel safe.

  “There be water in yon jug,” the publican’s wife was saying, “but if you wants it ’ot you’ll ’ave to come and fetch it from the kitchen.”

  “I expect we can manage with cold for now,” the Marquis replied, “and then ask you for some hot when we go to bed.”

  “That you shall ’ave,” the woman promised. “Now I must ’urry back to make you somethin’ warmin’ for your evenin’ meal.”

  She was gone before he could reply.

  The Marquis smiled at Velina before he took the room where the window overlooked the stable yard and he left her to have the one with the view of the green.

  “We are lucky,” she said as she went into the room. “If there was anyone else staying here, we would have had to go on further.”

  “I think that I am the lucky one in finding you,” the Marquis replied with a smile.

  It was the sort of answer he would have made to any woman because it was polite and pleasant.

  But Velina gave a little cry.

  “You must not say that yet! If we are lucky to be sure of anything, it is that you have been kind and help
ful to me. But we have still have a long way to go.”

  “I know that,” the Marquis affirmed. “But forget about that at the moment and think about your dinner.”

  He went into his own room as he spoke, but then he heard her laughing.

  ‘I wonder,’ he said to himself, ‘if the Duke would count this as an adventure? It is certainly something I did not expect.’

  He washed and brushed his hair.

  Looking at himself in the small mirror on the chest of drawers, he decided that no one would suspect him of being anyone but just an ordinary countryman or perhaps a salesman of cheap goods.

  But then he had no idea that Velina was already thinking of him as a gentleman.

  ‘He must have perhaps lost his money and is going North to find a job,’ she thought, ‘which is not available to him in the South.’

  It was strange that he had such a magnificent horse, but he might have had it loaned to him or he had perhaps sold everything he possessed to buy Samson.

  ‘Anyway,’ she told herself, ‘he is very kind and I would never have managed if I had not met him.’

  She felt herself shiver at the thought that she would have been too frightened to go to an inn all on her own, as she had always understood that a woman travelling alone would not be allowed to stay at a respectable hostelry.

  She took off her hat and her jacket and then decided that she would be much more comfortable if she took off her boots and put on one of the dresses she had packed in her saddlebag.

  She was quite certain that her aunt would buy her new clothes when she eventually reached Yorkshire and it would be too hot to sit down to dinner in her riding clothes.

  The Marquis, waiting for her in the small dining room, was wondered why she took so long.

  He had not expected her to change and, when she walked in, he was astounded at how pretty she was.

  In fact, it was right to say beautiful.

  Her hair, which was naturally curly, was very fair and she had brushed it into place and arranged it neatly at the back of her head. Nevertheless small curls fell neatly into place near her forehead on the side of her cheeks.

  It had been difficult to look at her when they were riding so fast.

  He saw now that her eyes were not the pale blue of the forget-me-nots, but the deep blue of the Mediterranean and her skin was exactly as it should be, pink and white.

  There was no doubt that she was not only beautiful but exceedingly well born.

  Her dress was plain and of very thin material which made it easy to pack and had not creased in the saddlebag. It was very pale green and the white collar might have been the colour of snowdrops.

  “I am sorry if I kept you waiting,” Velina said as she sat down opposite him.

  “I have had already two glasses of a rather good sherry,” he replied. “What would you like, Velina?”

  “I expect there will be some cider, although I would rather have lemonade if they have it.”

  The Marquis left the dining room to go to the bar, where there were young men asking for glasses of beer.

  The publican hurried to fetch the lemonade Velina had asked for and the Marquis decided that he would drink it too.

  He felt sure that any wine offered by the inn would be cheap and unpleasant and, as he had an excellent cellar of his own, he disliked cheap wine of any sort.

  Dinner was rather what he expected.

  There was a rabbit soup, which was quite pleasant and this was followed by roast chicken, but with nothing to go with it and it proved to be rather dull.

  He was, however, much more interested in Velina than in anything else and they talked about pictures, books and, of course, horses.

  He found that Velina was very interested in racing and she had not had any chance, she told him, of going to many race meetings.

  However, she followed what was happening on the turf by reading the newspapers.

  The Marquis found that this was so different from most women, who were only interested in going to Ascot or one of the Classic meetings where they were far more concerned with what they were wearing than with what the horses were doing.

  “I would love to own a racehorse,” Velina sighed wistfully.

  It was with difficulty that he just prevented himself from telling her that he possessed a number of them and they had won quite a few Classic races.

  “Now what you must do,” he said as they finished their meal, “is to go to bed and sleep peacefully. I will call you early and we should set off as quickly as possible.”

  He thought that she looked surprised and explained,

  “It is always best to ride in the cool of the day. If it gets much hotter, we may have to rest the horses when the sun is blazing.”

  “Of course we will,” Velina agreed. “But I would not have thought of it if I had not been with you.”

  She paused for a moment before she went on,

  “Thank you! Thank you for being so very kind and so understanding. When we reach Yorkshire, I know that my aunt will thank you, too.”

  “That is some way ahead. Now as I have already said that I think it is time for bed.”

  She smiled at the Marquis.

  Then she walked up the stairs and he was aware, as she did so, that she had an exquisite figure and she moved with an elegant grace that he appreciated. So many young girls, especially debutantes, were clumsy and rather rough in their movements.

  He felt as if Velina was almost flying up the stairs, her feet hardly touching the steps.

  She reached her room and stood still for a moment until the Marquis joined her.

  Then she said,

  “Goodnight! And thank you again, Neil.”

  “Thank me when we get safely to where you want to go,” the Marquis replied. “In the meantime I should be thanking you, because I have enjoyed your company when I thought that I would be entirely on my own.”

  “Good night and God bless you,” Velina said as she closed the door of her room.

  It was a long time, he thought, since anyone had said ‘God bless you!’ to him.

  He remembered that his mother had said it, also his Nanny, but then the women he had slept with had seldom referred to God.

  He was just about to undress when he thought it wise to take a last look at the horses to make sure that they did not need anything or perhaps they had been joined by newcomers and there was indeed plenty of room for them.

  He was always afraid that, because his horses were outstanding and so different from those ordinary men rode, that they might be stolen.

  He therefore went quietly down the stairs and let himself out by the back door that led into the courtyard.

  There was no one to be seen and, when he walked into the stable, he found that both horses were lying down, and so he did not disturb them, but merely made sure that there was water in buckets and food in the manger.

  Then, just as he turned to leave the stable, a cart carrying three men and drawn by two horses, clattered into the stable yard.

  As he did not want to be seen, he moved back into the doorway.

  Two of the men then clambered out of the cart and walked into the inn, while the third man sat in the driving seat obviously waiting for them.

  The Marquis stayed exactly where he was, thinking it a mistake to show himself.

  He did not realise at that moment that they could be the men Velina was afraid might be following her.

  The man in the cart lit a pipe and then the two men came out from the inn.

  The Marquis, who had left the door ajar, saw one of them go to talk to the man in the driving seat.

  “I thinks we’ve found ’er,” he heard the man say.

  “You ’ave!” the other exclaimed.

  “Well, I thinks so. But I’m just goin’ to ’ave a look at the ’orses in the stable. So if you asks me, Fireball’ll be there and then we can be certain.”

  The Marquis moved quickly to the other side of the stable, where there was straw and ha
y in the stalls.

  He slipped behind the hay and, kneeling down, was now completely out of sight.

  A few minutes later two men came in through the stable door and they moved at once to the stalls.

  “That one there be Fireball right enough!” one of the men exclaimed.

  Then another man answered him,

  “Yes, I recognise the ’ead of that ’orse. But the old man inside said she be with her brother. I didn’t know ’er ’ad one.”

  “Nor did his Nibs for that matter,” the other replied. “If you asks me, she sent for ’im and slipped away, as we know, so that no one were aware of it until ’er be gone.”

  “That be a fine ’orse in the other stall,” the man he was speaking to muttered. “If you asks me, if it ain’t ’er brother, it be a man who can afford the best.”

  “We’re not concerned with ’im,” the first man said, “but with the girl. If we don’t get ’er back to ’is Nibs, ’e’ll be furious and won’t pay us what ’e promised.”

  “Well, I can’t drive no faster than we ’ave today,” the other man said, “and, if we’ve now found ’er, let’s ’ave somethin’ to eat and drink before we takes ’er away.”

  “Now don’t be stupid,” the third man said. “We’re not goin’ to take ’er so that the man who owns this ’orse’ll make a scene. If ’e really is ’er brother, though I never knows she ’as one, ’e’ll be within ’is rights.”

  “I didna think of that,” the first man mumbled.

  “Well think about it now. If ’e’s ’er brother or ’er lover ’e won’t be prepared to let ’er go back quietly wiv us. So we’ll ’ave to steal ’er, so to speak.”

  ”Steal ’er!” he exclaimed. “’Ow can we do that?”

  “Well, we ’as to wait until everybody be asleep and then carry ’er out afore she makes a big fuss or attracts the attention of that there brother.”

  “’Ow do you know they ain’t sleepin’ together?”

  “You ’eard what the old man told us. ’E said they took two rooms and seemed a very pleasant couple.”

  “All right! If you be certain it be ’er, tell us exactly what we ’as to do.”

  “What we ’as to do, boys, is to creep into ’er room. As I’ve done afore, so it’d better be me. As she be sleepin’ I’ll put somethin’ over ’er mouth which’ll prevent ’er from makin’ a sound. Then we’ll bring ’er down the stairs into the cart and drive orf.”