Page 54 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

Damian heard enough and started to go after Georgie.

“You match the description of complaints that we have had. You will no longer be allowed to purchase passage with this company,” he heard the driver say just as he stepped behind the inn in search of Georgie.

He could only assume that she was in the necessity and paced outside and waited.

What if something had happened to her when she was out of his sight?

What if she wasn’t in the small building at all but had been taken off by someone intent on harming her.

His pulse hammered in his veins as he marched forward, determined to pound on the door until it was answered, except it opened just as he neared.

“Are they dealt with?” Georgie asked as if nothing was amiss.

Had she not been concerned that they had nearly been robbed or that she had caused him nearly to panic when she had been out of his sight?

“Yes! They have been,” he ground out. “You should have waited for me.”

Georgie blew out a sigh and started back for the mail coach. “I was perfectly safe, as you can see.” She turned and offered him a half smile. “You worry too much, Damian.”

He hurried to catch up. “Need I remind you that we were nearly robbed?”

“I was there and it was not so long ago, but we were not because we both woke in time.”

He shook his head. There was no point in wondering what could have happened when nothing had and he should be grateful that he hadn’t been deeply asleep.

Besides, that wasn’t what had truly caused his deeper anxiety. It had been when he feared that something may have happened to her.

*

If that couple had taken her funds, Georgie wasn’t certain what she would have done because she needed her money for passage home for her and Grace.

She supposed she could have written to her father and asked for assistance, but that would leave her in England for nearly five or six months because it would take that long for a letter to reach him and for him to return a response.

“If anyone else joins us, I want you to sit right next to me, lean into me and sleep if you would like.”

“Why?” Not that she had any complaints about sitting close to Damian, even falling asleep on him again because it had been quite comforting the first time. She was also certain that there was a reason that had nothing to do with him wanting her in his arms.

“You sit on the side where my purse is tucked into my suitcoat, which will make it doubly difficult for anyone to lift it.

“What about my satchel?” she asked.

“What is inside?”

“Clothing and my funds.”

“Do you not own a reticule?”

“I do not need one,” she responded.

“Yes, you do. We will purchase one at the first opportunity.”

The last thing she wanted to do was to purchase an item that she did not need. The book had been frivolous, and because of boredom and so she did not spend her time worrying about Grace. It had also been a mistake because Georgie wasn’t certain if she would ever be able to finish it. As for a reticule, she had two at home and brought neither with her because she had left dressed as a man and had not anticipated needing one when they sailed back to Italy.

She did not need one now, which she would tell Damian when the time came.

By the time they reached the mail coach, three other passengers had joined them. A woman sat at the far end of the bench facing the front of the coach and the two men were on the opposite side. Georgie took the same seat she always seemed to occupy, in the center, and Damian sat next to the door. He then put his arm along the back of the squabs and she moved closer, aware that this was more about protecting his funds and not so much that he wanted her against his side, much to her disappointment. The near kiss was behind them and would never happen again.

“Get some rest,” he whispered into her hair.