Page 75 of His Sinful Touch

“We’re going to stop at every church from here to Andover?” Sabrina asked. “That will take hours...days.”

Alex grinned. “Then we’d best get started.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

THEY STOPPED IN the next village, which was only a few miles away. The church was on the main thoroughfare. It was a small structure made of gray stone with a modest spire, its only unique feature lying in the fact that it did not face the road but lay sideways to it. A vicarage of similar design stood behind the church, and it was there that Alex and Sabrina made their way.

The door was opened by a smiling, dimpled woman who was obviously pleased to receive company. She showed them into the vicar’s office. Alex noted that he looked far less pleased to see them than his housekeeper. It was also clear that he did not recognize Sabrina.

Still, Alex asked him about any recent weddings he had performed, this time spinning a story of a fictitious cousin who had eloped.

“Young man, I am not in the habit of marrying any stranger who passes through town,” the vicar told him with a disapproving frown. “I don’t like this practice of marrying with a special license, and I can tell you that I have not done so anytime in the past year. Indeed, I have not performed a wedding ceremony, even with banns read, for over a month. St. Edward’s is a very small parish.”

“Would you know if there were any other churches in the area they might have gone to? A vicar who is not averse to marriage by special license...or to strangers?” Alex asked, taking a new tack.

“I should think not.” The priest looked horrified. “I imagine your cousin went to Scotland for that.”

Thanking the clergyman, Alex and Sabrina left. He looked down at her as they walked to their vehicle, noting the paleness of her face. “You know, I saw an inn as we drove into town. I think we should stay the night here.”

“Don’t you think we should press on? Drive on to the next village?”

“What I think is that you should rest.”

“I’m fine,” she said stoutly.

“Well, I could use some rest.” Alex gave her a wry grin. “Our horse could, as well. Besides, we should get organized instead of continuing in this haphazard manner. We need to look at a map and figure out your route, as we talked about earlier. I’d also welcome something to eat. Breakfast was a very long time ago.”

“You’re right.” Sabrina rubbed her temples. “Perhaps food will help me think better.”

He turned the gig around and drove back to the small inn they had passed as they came into town. It was a quaint little building, with only a few rooms, and as there was no tavern attached, it was pleasantly quiet, as well. They were the only guests, and Alex was pleased to find that attached to the bedroom was a small sitting room where they could eat their meals and discuss their plans in privacy.

Sabrina went into the bedroom to freshen up, and by the time she emerged, tea and cakes had been brought up and set on the small table. She had taken down her hair, and Alex’s abdomen tightened at the sight of her loose black curls tumbling down about her face. He could not keep from thinking of the nearby bedroom and the night ahead.

“Ah...” She breathed a sigh of relief as she sank into one of the chairs. “How lovely. I hope you don’t mind—I had to unpin my hair. It was making my head hurt.”

He smiled faintly. “Mind? No. I love your hair down.” He came up to stand behind her and placed his fingers on her temples, rubbing them gently. She let out another soft sigh of pleasure, and that made the desire coil even more tightly in him. He slid his fingers into the thick mass of her hair to massage her scalp, telling himself that it was only to ease her headache. Nothing more—no matter how arousing it was.

Sabrina’s head fell back against him, as if too heavy for her neck to hold. His hands slid down to her shoulders, rubbing out the weariness there, as well. He should stop this before he could think of nothing else but taking her to bed, but he could not bring himself to move away just yet. “How do you feel? You look less pale.”

“I’m not dizzy or nauseous anymore, and I think my headache is disappearing. But I feel so...adrift.”

“Adrift? Why?” The concern her words raised in him made him drop his hands and sit down beside her. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure I do.” She made a self-deprecating little moue and reached out to pour the tea. “When I came to your office, I was desperate to find out who I was, to settle my mind. But now that I remember it all, I feel even stranger.” The words tumbled from her mouth now, as if once begun, she could not stop. “It’s as if I’m two different people. When I saw that inn, it wasn’t just that I remembered my name and the things that had happened to me. I suddenly was me again. The same person I used to be, with all my old feelings and fears and hopes and beliefs.” She looked at him inquiringly.

“I understand. I would think that’s natural.” He kept his face composed, not showing the tendrils of anxiety that were winding through him. Had his fears been right? Had her feelings for him disappeared when she regained her memory?

“But I’m also still the person I’ve been the last few weeks. And these two people are now struggling to somehow become one.” She glanced at him ruefully. “I know I must sound mad.”

“No, not at all.” He paused for a moment, then said carefully, not looking at her, “Now that you have regained yourself, do you...do you feel differently? Than the way you felt last night?”

She looked at him in surprise. “About you? About us? No, no.” She put her hand on his arm. “I meant everything I said last night. That hasn’t changed.”

Everything in him eased, and he smiled, taking her hand and bringing it up to kiss it.

“What I feel is more... Well, it’s as if I were a girl before and now suddenly I’m a woman, but there was no gradual change in between, no growing up. I’m that girl, and at the same time I’m the Sabrina I’ve been the past several weeks.”

“Is there so much difference between the two of you?”