Page 11 of Snowed In with the Runaway Bride

“I have headache powder right here, miss. I can mix it up for you.”

“No,” Penny said, more sharply than she intended, and the woman looked at her, taken aback. “Thank you, but no. A hot posset with chamomile will work better for me.”

“Very well, miss.” Sally bobbed a curtsey and exited as Penny sank into the chair, keeping the back of her hand on her forehead.

She waited five beats after the door to the hallway closed before springing back up. Speeding to the dressing room, she grabbed the largest traveling bag she could carry by hand. Rapidly, she filled it with all her necessities, adding three woolen dresses along with her chemises and stockings. She included her coin purse and shoved the whole bag under her side of the bed with only a little effort.

She would go to her Aunt Nelson in Bath, her mother’s relative. She was a spinster lady who lived there with her companion of many years, and surely would be willing to shelter Penny until her mother’s temper cooled. Carlisle was no more than a day’s journey away by mail coach from the nearest village, and she could get another coach to Bath from there.

Even if she was stopped before she could reach Bath, she only needed to be gone for a day or two for Kendal to be willing to throw her over. The scandal would be far too much for him to stomach. After that, she would have to weather her mother’s rage, but it would be worth it.

She was willing to do almost anything to prevent the disaster of marrying a man her sister loved.

Footsteps in the hall sent her dashing back to the chair set next to the fireplace, where she arranged herself into a drooping posture. A frowning Pippa pushed the door open and came to stand over her.

“Really, Penny. It was terribly rude of you to leave like that.”

“I’m sorry. My joints were aching so dreadfully I just couldn’t continue on.”

As she’d known they would, her words made Pippa soften in remorse. Penny steeled herself against the guilt for manipulating her sister. It was for everyone’s own good.

“If you feel that dreadful, you should be in bed. Where is Sally?”

“I sent her down to the kitchen to fetch me a posset.” Out of the corner of her eye, Penny could see the edge of her bag just poking out from under the bed.

Pippa wandered over to sit on the edge of the bed on her own side, thankfully away from the tell-tale bag. “Mother read me a scold about O—Kendal turning the music for me.”

“As she should.” Penny was indignant all over again. “I scarcely saw Kendal at all, he was so interested in talking to you.”

Penny immediately regretted her sharpness when she saw Pippa’s hang-dog expression of guilt. Perhaps she ought to tell Pippa what she’d overheard, what she thought she knew. Surely they could solve this problem with a little plain speaking.

Instead, Pippa looked at her with a new firmness. “He was speaking of you the whole time. He is very much looking forward to the wedding.”

“I see.” Penny did not know what was worse: that Pippa was in love with her betrothed, or that she continued to lie about it.

Penny had felt an estrangement between them ever since her illness. During her recovery, Pippa had doted on her until Penny wanted to scream, but always with an air of resentment Penny did not understand.

She thought she understood now, and wondered again in hopeless frustration why Pippa refused to confide in her, even now. The stubborn set of her twin’s jaw told her Penny would never be able to shake the truth from Pippa in time to stop the wedding.

Penny set her own jaw. It didn’t matter now. The important thing was to ensure the betrothal was well and truly broken so neither she nor Kendal could be forced into going through with it.

She refused to dance to a dead man’s tune one minute longer, whether it was her grandfather’s or the old duke’s.

With a theatrical stretch, Penny yawned. “I really am dreadfully tired. I shall drink my posset when Sally returns and then prepare for bed.”

“Then I shall as well,” Pippa declared.

Penny did her best to hide her alarm. The last thing she wanted was for her sister to see her completing her preparations to leave. “No, I… I am worried the posset won’t help me sleep. Could you read to me?”

“Of course.” Penny frowned. “I don’t recall what books we brought with us.”

“All the books we brought are too interesting to put me to sleep. Surely Kendal’s library will have something more… more…”

Pippa’s lip twitched. “More dull?”

“Exactly!” They both laughed. Impulsively, Penny stood and kissed Pippa on the cheek. Her sister smiled back at her, clearly puzzled.

“What was that for?”