Page 21 of Snowed In with the Runaway Bride

She took a deep breath and lowered her feet back to the floor. She flexed her legs as best she could and began to shuffle around the bed, supporting herself with the mattress and the footboard until she reached her traveling bag, which Hugo had tossed in the corner the night before.

With a sigh, she pulled the flannel nightgown from her bag. There was no use in getting fully dressed right now. Perhaps for supper later tonight, if she was feeling better.

In the meantime, she seated herself on Hugo’s side of the bed and washed as best she could before pulling the nightgown over her head and flinging her discarded chemise towards her bag. After a moment’s contemplation, she pulled her legs up onto the bed and rolled to her own side rather than trying to inch her way around again, somehow managing to get back under the covers without creating a hopeless tangle.

She had not had a bout of pain like this for several months. She had nearly forgotten how bad it could be when she overexerted herself.

But… she was alive. Not frozen in a snowbank or fallen into a half-frozen bog to drown. Hugo had found her in time, and she was alive.

She intended to stay that way—and stay away from Gaitskill Castle—for as long as possible.

Hugo tapped on the door, balancing a tray on one hand with a few linen towels draped over his arm as he waited for Penny’s answer. If she delayed too long, he would assume she had fallen back asleep. Her call in return seemed to be affirmative, so he unlocked the door and came through, moving the key to the inside to re-lock it once he was in.

Penny had propped herself up using most of the pillows and seemed to be awake for now, if pale with fatigue. She had changed into a sprigged flannel nightgown that buttoned all the way to her chin. It would have seemed demure if her nipples had not gone hard beneath it in response to the chilly room.

Her weary expression changed as soon as he walked in.

“There you are. Can you please fetch my book?”

“All right.” Hugo set the tray on the hearth and went to locate her bag. As he rummaged through it, his fingers brushed against a familiar shape, and he looked down, startled.

The tiny wooden swallow he had carved for her was in her bag, half-wrapped in a handkerchief to protect it.

Afraid to give any meaning to the bird’s presence, he redoubled his search for the book, at last finding it at the bottom of the bag. There was only the one book inside, and he handed it to her.

She beamed at him like he had handed her the moon, and his heart made a little flip. “Thank you. I was going to be dreadfully bored all day without it.”

As she settled back against the pillows, book propped against her cautiously raised knees, he spread the linen towels on the fire-warmed flagstones and added wood as he prodded the fire into a larger blaze. “The innkeeper’s wife had poached eggs and toast.”

“Lovely,” she murmured, already deeply absorbed in her book. He handed her a plate and she accepted it without looking up.

“What are you reading?”

“Turkish Embassy Letters,” she said, forking a piece of egg into her mouth.

“Weren’t you reading that three Christmases ago?”

“I like it.”

Hugo shrugged and turned his attention back to the towels. He flipped them over to heat better on the other side and picked up his own plate, settling onto the stool in front of the fireplace. They ate in companionable silence punctuated only by the turning of the pages and the crackling of the fire.

Penny turned one more page, sighed in seeming contentment, and closed the book. She took up her toast and began to munch on it as she lay back against the pillows. “Have you ever been to Turkey?”

“No.”

“Russia?”

“Yes. But only long enough to provision the ship.”

“You’ve seen so many places.”

“Not for very long. Usually a few days at most. That’s why this posting to Bermuda appeals to me. Even if I must travel to other islands in the Caribbean, I will be harbored for longer periods of time. There will be more opportunities to explore the area.”

“Have you ever thought of settling in one place? Leaving the Navy?”

He shook his head. “I would not be happy without the sea. Even if I left the Navy, I would sail merchant ships.”

Penny shook her head thoughtfully, toast still in her hand. “I would like to travel, but I’ve never been further than London. Or Cumberland, I suppose. Though even that is not all that far from Birmingham.”