Page 51 of Snowed In with the Runaway Bride

For the first time that morning, he smiled down at her. “It would be no sacrifice if it would make you happy.”

Penny nodded and pulled her hands from his to walk away, mind reeling. She had never imagined for a moment he would be willing to give up everything he had built to stay with her.

What was she to do?

Hugo watched as Penny walked away. Now that the words had been said, he felt strangely peaceful. It was a change he never would have predicted for his life, but he was willing to do it. For Penny.

She would have everything she needed to be safe with him if he left the Navy. It would be a more sedate life than he had planned as they joined the social round, but surely he could adapt to it. He had not lost all of his gentlemanly manners at sea.

There were things gentlemen did. He could join a club. Perhaps politics would be a good fit as an occupation, though he was unsure Penny had any desire to be a political hostess. There would be hunting and fishing. House parties and balls.

If it all sounded a little dull, that was not important. Penny was important—her life and her health.

He tried to picture her living in London, making social calls, shopping at the Arcade, dancing at balls, preferably with him.

Instead, his mind insisted on giving him a picture of how delighted Penny would be the first time the ship was escorted by dolphins that leaped and played as they passed. Or how she would look as they entered a new port, eager to see as much as she could even if it was from her position behind the rail.

A sedate life would be better for her health. Will she, nil she, he would protect her with everything he had.

Even if it meant never leaving England again.

Penny remained silent during supper, and Hugo seemingly accepted it, keeping up a light patter so she could nod her head while she continued to think. But she kept returning to the same conclusion over and over again as they finished their meal and returned upstairs.

She could not let him do it. She loved him too much to allow him to give up his career in the name of keeping her safe. Not when she knew how fleeting safety could be.

Hugo stood by the clothespress to hang up his jacket. She walked to him and embraced him fiercely. He bent to kiss her, and she flung her arms around his neck, keeping him pinned to her for a long moment before she loosened her grip and stepped backwards.

"You look so ferocious," he said with a laugh. "What on earth are you thinking?"

She paused for a long moment, drinking in his beloved face. The stubble on his cheeks and chin combined with his over-long hair gave him the look of a pirate. The kind of buccaneer who would carry her away with him without a second thought.

But that was not the sort of person Hugo was. He would always think about his duty and the people under his care. That was why she needed to save him from himself and leave.

"It's nothing," she said. “Let’s go to bed.”

She would enjoy what they had tonight and worry about her future tomorrow.

The rattle of a stagecoach in the courtyard brought Hugo abruptly awake, and he reached out to discover Penny was not in bed.

Disoriented, he sat up. Her side of the bed was cold to the touch. Her traveling bag was missing. And her bonnet was gone.

Penny was gone.

He leapt to his feet and scanned the room. No note.

Washing and dressing with haste, he sped downstairs to the empty taproom where Robson stood polishing empty glasses with a melancholy air.

“Where is she?”

“Took the stage to Carlisle, Captain.” Robson nodded to a folded piece of paper next to him.

His name was written on it. The handwriting was clear and crisp as a clerk’s. Captain Dalston.

Fury pounding through his temples, Hugo whirled on the man. “Why did you let her go?”

“‘Twasn’t my place to stop her.” Robson held a glass up to the light with a thoughtful expression, and wiped a smudge away. “I told you, didn’t I? A woman like that can’t be ordered about.”

“What would you know about it?”