Suddenly, without warning, in the peculiar way it has of doing in the deep South, the rain increased to a drumming roar on the roof of the carriage. They came to a stop under the spreading limbs of a giant tree that overhung the road, and the sound of the rain diminished to slower, heavier drops. Nelville climbed down from the driver's box and stood outside the carriage door, the rain pouring off his hat brim and running down the back of his waterproof poncho.
"How goes it with you, ladies?" he asked. "Does this sieve leak too much?"
"We are a good deal drier than you," Mary Louise told him with her eyes dancing above her masque and blithely ignoring a steady drip that had splattered them both and made a great wet spot on the seat beside her.
"We're fine," Amelia said, laughing at the undauntable Mary Louise.
"I can't see to drive, and the horses need the protection until it lets up," Nelville said suggestively.
"Come in with us," Amelia said immediately, opening the door and ignoring the snort Mary Louise gave that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
With his usual quickness, he stripped off the poncho and hat and left them on the carriage floor, while he slid on to the seat beside Amelia. She started to slide over to give him more room, but he caught her hand, holding her where she was as he smiled down at her.
In the dimness of the carriage, his green eyes were dark and unreadable, and her hand felt small and cold in his warm grasp; but, she smiled, feeling safe and secure, while the rain fell wet and heavy on the roof.
It was a long way to Texas.
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The Secret of Mirror House Page 18