They traveled northeast on foot for about three miles before coming to the natural beauty of the tiny village of Knockholt. The people there were friendly and quite helpful. They hadn’t yet felt any of the effects of the pestilence. They let Elias and Lily in and claimed to have seen a man traveling with a younger woman and child. He said he was going to north to Downe.
Elias and Lily thanked them and were given two horses. They traveled onward, relieved to be off their feet. They could make it to Downe before nightfall.
The village of Downe was quiet. No one came outdoors to greet them. They stared from their windows. Lily dismounted and glanced at Elias watching her. She was going to find little Eddie and she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her. Not even a village.
“I’m looking for a woman and her babe. They have been taken from my village in Sevenoaks by a terrible man. Have any of you seen them?”
Silence.
Lily waited another moment and then dug her heels in and shouted in a circle so everyone could hear. “You should all know that the man behind me is a cold, merciless beast much,muchworse than the man who took my friend. If I do not hear from someone in the next few moments, I will unleash him on every house until no one is left but the ones we seek!”
“And what d’ye propose to do if no one comes oot?’ Elias asked with an amused grin on his face.
She looked up at him. “Stop smiling and look mean.”
When he obeyed, she had the urge to tremble and smile at the same time. She wasn’t sure if he was more magnificent when he smiled or scowled.
“I will unleash him!” she shouted one more time.
“Aye,” Elias muttered quietly behind her. “I believe ye will.”
“Miss?” an older man called out from his opened door.
Lily saw that he wore a thick piece of wool around his nose and mouth. He didn’t leave his doorstep and he held out his hand to stop her when she took a step toward him.
“The people you seek are not here,” he called out, keeping his eyes on Elias. “As you can see, we do not open our doors to anyone. We did see who you are looking for but they did not stay. Now, do us the courtesy of leaving before you bring whatever disease you have to all of us.”
“Tell me which way he went and if the woman and child looked well,” Lily insisted.
“They seemed well but that was yesterday.”
Lily felt relief wash over her and almost turned to smile at Elias.
“They went north,” the man concluded and retreated back inside.
London. Emma had said London.
Lily prayed they did not end up in London. But for now, there was nothing to do but move forward.
“How is he moving so fast with Clare and little Eddie?”
When she heard what had just come from her lips, another possibility came to her. What if he no longer traveled with them? She looked at Elias and it appeared he had the same thought.
“We will find them,” he assured her with a practiced smile.
She nodded, trying to remain as hopeful as him.
They reached the area of West Wickham by nightfall and were given a room at the inn, as there was only one room to be had.
Lily beamed when she looked up at the moon and a spray of twinkling stars from an open window on the slanted roof above the bed. One bed. She wondered if Elias would sleep on the floor. She didn’t want him to. She wanted him to hold her tonight, just for a few hours while they rested. But she had no idea how to go about getting him in bed. She had no idea what to do about anything really. But she was not one to sit back silently and wait for things to happen. She would learn as she went.
Instead of telling him what she wanted, she asked him to turn away and then began untying the laces of her kirtle.
Letting her skirts fall to the floor, she looked over her shoulder at him, a bit shyly, for she had never thoughtfully seduced a man before.
He’d turned away but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He seemed to grow bigger, more needful before her. He came to where she was standing with her back to him. His hands came around her slowly and, with exquisite thoroughness, cupped her waist through the worn linen of her chemise, clutching fistfuls of it across her belly, quickening her pulse with the thought of him tearing it from her body. But she knew that later, when she had only one chemise left, she’d regret it.
He didn’t tear her clothes away. He ran his callused fingers over her erect nipples and tugged gently. He scooped her hair off her neck and kissed her pulse, slipping one hand down past her belly to between her legs. She gasped a little bit. She’d be content to die after this. No. She would want more.