Page 39 of Discovering Her Earl

A few minutes later, Lainey was standing next to Julian, waiving at the carriage as it rambled down the lane at a brisk clip.

When they could no longer see the carriage, they turned to face one another and exchanged a rather uncertain look.

“I believe I will take my dinner in my room. I’m rather tired,” she said when he opened his mouth to speak. It was clear by his reaction, he had not been ready to suggest the same thing.

“Very well then. I shall see you in the morning?” He bowed formally.

“Yes. The same time.”

He looked relieved. “Good. I was concerned we would have to call our expedition short.”

She understood his concern.

“Do you want to return to London?” she asked.

“Nay. Definitely not. But I would, of course, defer to you if you wanted to go. You hadn’t planned for it to be only the two of us, and if you felt I wasn’t suited to help you as you needed, I would understand.”

That was very considerate of him. She shouldn’t have needed to be reminded he wasn’t a selfish nobleman who didn’t care about anything but the adventure he was promised.

“I believe you have proven yourself since we have arrived. I have no concerns that you’ll not be able to assist me on this expedition.”

His smile was brilliant and tugged at something tender in her chest.

“Thank you for saying so, Miss Bantham. I won’t let you down. I promise.”

For whatever reason, she found she believed him. Even though he’d let her down before. Many years ago, before they’d even been introduced, she’d expected something from him and he’d disappointed her. Broken her faith in people in general, but particularly in young men.

As she continued up the stairs to her room, he bid her a good night with that wide grin that brought out the dimple on his left cheek.

She almost wished she hadn’t made plans to eat in her room. It might have been nice to share a meal and talk with him. She’d missed him while the Leightons had been there.

She shook her head. It wouldn’t do to admit to such a thing as missing him. She would be smart not to count on him. He would only disappoint her again.

Chapter Thirteen

While Julian never would have wished for anything to happen to the Leightons’ daughter-in-law, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit, at least to himself, that he was happy to have Elaina to himself again.

Even their morning ritual felt different as he teased her about taking all the bacon and leaving him only a few pieces.

“A gentleman would never accuse a lady of stealing food,” she said primly with a small twitch to her lips.

“Ah ha! A lady only points out what a gentleman shouldn’t do when they are guilty.”

“Perhaps a little.” Her nose scrunched up in the most adorable fashion before she let out an indignant huff and reached into her shirt to pull out three pieces of bacon she’d wrapped in a napkin. “Very well. Here…”

She held it out to him and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Are you offering me… bosom bacon?”

She was also laughing.

“As if you are so picky. Just two days ago I saw you drop a biscuit on the ground and then eat it without so much as brushing off the grass.”

“Damn. I didn’t think you were looking.” He was guilty as charged. A little grass was of no matter when he had been starving. He wouldn’t point out that Mrs. Leighton laid waste to the luncheon before any of them even got there. That would indeed be considered ungentlemanly.

“Let that serve as a warning. I am quite skilled at watching you without your knowing.”

“Is that so?” He raised a brow, intrigued by her admission.