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“Now promise me you won’t do something so harebrained!”
She wriggled uncomfortably under his minatory gaze. Rey was seldom serious, but when he was, one got the feeling he could do things one would regret. He confirmed that with the next words. “If you do, I will tell your brother.”
“You wouldn’t! He would shoot you!”
Lannister’s lips twitched. “I am almost tempted, just to see him try. He has been threatening to shoot me for two years.”
“Oh, do be serious. You wouldn’t betray me to Rob.”
“If you attempt to go off on your own, I will be forced to, for your own safety; or go after you myself.”
“Would you?”
“Of course I would!” he said roughly.
“Oh Rey, you’re so sweet!” She played with her handkerchief a moment, her thoughts a jumbled mess. Then an idea struck her. Sitting up, she fixed him with an anxious stare. “If you won’t let me go on my own, would you escort me?”
“Good God, that’s just as bad, Ava! It’s a three-day trip at minimum, probably four by coach—”
“We wouldn’t go by coach. We could take your curricle, couldn’t we?”
“No, not for a journey of that distance,” he said firmly.
“Oh, very well . . .”
“And how would we explain ourselves? I’m known on the North Road, Ava. I would be recognized.”
“I could wear a veil so no one shall see my face. It would not be out of character for you to be seen with a veiled female, would it?”
“No,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Well then—” She placed a hand on his arm and leaned in pleadingly. “Please Rey! My happiness depends upon it!”
“But what happens when we get there? Even if your brother doesn’t murder me, Ravenshaw will. If we’re caught, you’d have to marry me, not Ravenshaw, you realize that?”
“We won’t be caught,” she insisted. “And if we were, I should just refuse. Rob can’t make me marry you.”
“Well thank you my sweet, but you’re overlooking a minor point of honor. I would be obliged to marry you whether we liked it or not. And as much as I adore you, I’d rather not be forced into marriage at gunpoint. Even with your enchanting self.”
She went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “For I won’t have Haldane now. How dare Rob set it about I had already accepted him! I’m so furious with him. It will serve him right to be worried about me when I vanish.”
“You don’t mean to tell him where you are going?”
“Of course not. He would come after me and stop me. I must reach Ravenshaw before he does so.”
“If he figures out we are both missing, he is likely to think we have eloped. You do realize that?”
“Oh yes, that would be famous, for it will put him off the scent!”
“Ava, you are incorrigible.”
“Yes, I know,” she said smugly. She felt much better now she had a plan of action. She would make this one last effort to secure her future happiness, and if it failed—her heart quailed at the notion—if it failed, she would know she had tried. But she had to believe it would succeed, for if it didn’t, her life would not be worth living anyway.
