“Excellent idea,” he said as he climbed out of bed and reached for his clothes.
As he dressed he realized that he was both pleased and disappointed that she had not given him any idea of her feelings for him or pushed for any declaration from him. It was foolish for he had no intention of doing so, returning either words of affection or offering promises. He knew he had feelings for her, probably deep ones, but now was not the time to speak of such things. They were running for their lives and he knew that could confuse one. It could easily be that which drew them so close and once the threat was gone, that closeness would fade. Any decisions on the future had to wait until their lives were back to normal. He hoped she had similar thoughts for the very last thing he wished to do was hurt her.
Primrose handed her letter to the boy with a few coins and sent him off. There was a chance she and Bened would reach Uncle George before Simeon did, but she had decided that it was best to warn everyone anyway. She looked around for Bened and saw him leading the horses out of the stable. He was so beautifully big and strong. She had spent all morning struggling to decide what feelings she had for him and if she had any chance of stirring any feelings deeper than passion in him. No answers had come to her.
Life was just too frantic and dangerous at the moment, she decided. She did not trust what she felt. Kept asking herself if she was just enamored of him because he was her shield, her savior, and was helping her try to save her only brother. Desire she could trust. It was not a deep emotion but a bodily need. She had heard of enough women who indulged their desires without getting overly attached to the men who fed them to realize that not every woman gave her heart right along with her body. Before she offered up her own heart she wanted to be very, very sure that he was the man who had actually won it.
She secured the basket with her puppy in it to her saddle and watched Bened grin when the dog’s small head popped out and the animal looked around, growled softly at the stableboy, and then disappeared back into the basket. On the other hand, she thought, if Bened made any more jests about her man-eating dog, she might decide he was not worth all this fretting she was doing about the true state of her emotions.
“That’s a relief,” he drawled as they rode out of the inn yard. “I feared your man-eating dog was about to snack on the stableboy.”
“She is not a man-eater. She would never have eaten that bit of ear if it had not been in her mouth. And it would not have been there if the fool had not yanked her off while she was latched on so tightly.”
Bened laughed. “I am certain that when that man gets asked what happened to his ear, your dog will immediately grow ten sizes in the telling.”
Primrose smiled. “I know. So, you do not think they will be hanged?”
“No. They are locals and we were not hurt, they were. It becomes their word against ours. The one I knocked to the ground broke both legs and the other is missing most of his ear. Since I got the feeling they have grown up in this village, it is very likely it will be decided they have paid enough for their crimes. It will all depend on whether they have caused trouble for any of the villagers as well.”
“That seems wrong since they had every intention of killing us for a few coins.”
He shrugged. “The villagers do not know us.”
She nodded and sighed. It was not right but it was often the way of things. It would not even be reported to anyone higher up than the local magistrate. The very last thing any village wanted was to have it known some of their local men had killed two of the gentry. Since the men had failed then no one would see the sense of bringing that sort of trouble down on their heads. And, it was also her aunt who was really the one behind it all yet she still rode around free.
“Do you think my aunt is still close?” she asked.
Bened could feel an itch on the back of his neck but could see nothing threatening and he nodded, deciding the proximity of the woman who wanted them dead was what caused it. “Do you think she will give up?”
“No. I think she has been planning this for a very long time. When small actions gained her nothing she decided to be bolder. Killing my father with no repercussions following probably made her think she could do as she pleased.”
“Even if you had found what she used, it might not have been enough to stop this. Poisoning is very difficult to prove unless you actually catch the killer with the poisoned item in hand while her victim dies at her feet. The fact that she is a gentle-bred lady would only mean you had better have very hard proof.”
She noticed how he kept looking around as he spoke and asked, “Do you sense someone?”