CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
"How much of a head start do you think they have?" Valentine asked, when the horses had slowed to pass through a village.
Simon glanced up at the sun in the sky, impatience rippling through his muscles as he watched the wagons and pedestrians on the road ahead. "The groom said the carriage left a good hour before us. But a carriage is always slower. I hope to catch up with them very soon."
"I suppose you would know — having done this before quite recently."
Simon felt the potentially awkward moment slip away as he glanced in surprise at the younger man and saw his wry amusement at the situation. "Yes. But I was chasing two relatively sensible, if momentarily muddled people. Grimthorpe is a different matter altogether."
Valentine smiled grimly. "I now understand how you felt when you pursued me. If I had Juliet here with me, I don't know if I'd embrace her or berate her. What could he have said to convince her to elope with him?"
"Grimthorpe is no love-struck swain. Perhaps he told her some tale." He did not want to speculate on his darker fear — that the girl had been forced. It was entirely possible, but if her brother didn't think of it on his own, Simon had no intention of mentioning it aloud.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps Juliet told him some tale."
"Is she that like Miranda?" Simon smiled.
Valentine looked at him curiously. "That was said like a satisfied husband. May I be so forward as to ask if your health has taken a turn for the better?"
"Decidedly so." He laughed, thinking of the shocks he had suffered today. None of that mattered, though. He could leave both his father and mother behind him to start a new life with Miranda. "The rumors of my early demise are completely groundless, I am happy to say." Not to mention miraculous. But that was a secret for he and his wife to savor once they were well away from here.
"I am delighted to hear it."
Simon saw the shadow of hesitation that clouded Valentine's features. "Do you have some doubt about my ability as husband?"
Valentine looked at him in surprise, and then shook his head. "No, I am truly delighted for you and Miranda. But I have a favor to ask you and I am not certain of your reception."
"I will not help you elope."
"Of course not." Valentine's eyes shone with indignation.
"It had to be said." Simon offered the only apology he could and was relieved when Valentine nodded in acceptance.
"I suppose Miranda has been trying to convince you that is the proper way to mend things." He looked away, at a young carter with his arms around a woman who beamed at him like a new bride.
"You need to ask? Knowing your sister?" Simon turned his gaze away quickly, trying not to think of tonight, with Miranda. He could not allow himself to be distracted or he might find himself coming back to her as a corpse instead of a lover. He felt a flash of sympathy, understanding, at last, what Valentine had lost when he lost Emily. "I am sorry for the way things turned out. I hope that you find another like Emily."
Valentine sat up in his saddle. "Thank you, Your Grace. And I assure you that I will not attempt to see your cousin or influence her into a poor marriage with me. I have investigated her betrothed, and he is a good enough man."
Startled, Simon could not help a question, "You investigated him?"
He cleared his throat. "It is just that I could not bear to see her hurt by a brute. But this man seems decent enough."
"I understand." And he did, for hadn't he had a similar dilemma five years ago when, even knowing that he could not ask Miranda to marry him, he had not wanted her to become Grimthorpe's pawn?
The Fairy Tale Bride Page 44