Hehehe, did you think that I would be so cruel? Really? But I told you that I was a good girl, and here I am fulfilling that claim of mine. Though I will not be posting again for two days, I will leave you at a nice, tame, non-cliffy point. So less talking for now and more uploading!

CHAPTER 14

The rest of the night seemed to pass off in a dream for Rachel. The candle became smaller and smaller as they talked on. After getting over the shock of Andrew’s latest revelation, she spent some more time learning of her supposed double. It turned out that they were actually quite different in actual features and mannerisms, and Miranda’s eyes were very different in shade from Rachel’s own aquamarine ones; they would never be mistaken for each other by someone who had seen her in actuality. But as far as a word-of-mouth description went, she resembled the lady sufficiently to ‘merit’ a closer look by someone in the know, before any further actions could be taken for her removal.

Rachel frowned in condemnation of such rashness. “But wouldn’t it have been more sensible for my kidnappers to have waited till a person recognizing Miss de Manley came and spied on me at Carillon, and take steps only after receiving an affirmation? I mean,” she flushed at the way her words must have sounded, “I am glad for her sake that it did not happen that way, since she might have been recognized through sheer bad luck; but I confess I find my capture to have been rather crudely conducted.”

Andrew could not stifle a hearty chuckle at her childish pout of vexation. A fond note crept into his voice as he teased her, “Oh Miss Warren, if only everyone were as sensible as you! But you must understand that we are talking about mostly-uneducated underlings here, who wanted to get the reward money for finding Mira out before anyone else could muscle in on their turf. When you made plans to go away, they must have panicked about losing their prize and moved swiftly.

“And do not forget that it may not matter so much to them if they made a mistake. I greatly fear that since the de Manley brothers want to keep their plots against Miranda a secret, they will not take the risk of you spreading tales about your kidnapping in case some canny person puts the pieces together. I do not think you were ever intended to return to safety even if you were not the woman they sought; disposing of a mere governess would not be difficult for seasoned criminals like these.”

He had lost all traces of mirth by the end of his reluctant summation and fell silent, letting the peace of the night envelop them and shroud their minds temporarily from the horrors awaiting them somewhere in the world. In the ensuing chill of realization, Rachel shivered in spite of herself. She had known the desperate nature of her circumstances, but it struck her afresh how certain her end would have been if Andrew had not rescued her in time.

She looked at him now, and appraised him in the light of his new identity. His honey-gold hair was not in a queue, but was cut short like working people and currently falling over one eye despite the finger-combing it had received earlier. His clothes were bedraggled and dusty like Rachel’s own dress, and his stubbled jaw was set in severe lines due to their melancholic discussion. His beautiful eyes seemed tired with all that they had seen, and physical exhaustion was visible on his fine features in the candle-light. A large bruise had formed over one cheekbone and his lower lip had been inflamed earlier, though now the swelling had reduced considerably.

He had been beaten into unconsciousness only yesterday; yet, he single-handedly orchestrated their escape from a hopeless situation before traveling over rough countryside for hours with her without slackening his pace. He could have lain low and returned to safeguard his cousin if he had simply acted naive and held his silence; instead of which he had cheerfully become a marked man, doing all he could to protect her out of a sense of responsibility.

Now he was planning to lie under some bush in this foggy weather for the night, without any creature comforts whatsoever – and tomorrow they would once again be on the move all day in an ill-sprung stagecoach. He would be wracked with pain all over, but of course he would neither complain nor ask her for assistance.

Not if she could help it.

                                                             Xxxxx

“What are you saying, Miss Warren?” Andrew looked flabbergasted. “I would never impose on your amiability like that. It is out of the question; no gentleman would agree to such a proposal. Do not worry about my well-being; I assure you I will be perfectly fine outside. I am used to such hardships.”

“But I do worry about your well-being, Colonel,” Rachel said tartly, “and I would never make such a suggestion to someone who was not a gentleman, I assure you.” She could not hold in a giggle of amusement at the look on Andrew’s face, but his troubled visage sobered Rachel up and she explained herself further.

“I trust you completely, Sir. You have proved your honor time and again to me in the past two days, not that I ever doubted your intentions for a moment. Your getting a good night’s sleep is extremely important in light of your recent injuries and our forthcoming travel. I would offer to sleep on the floor to maintain propriety, but,” she held up a hand to stifle the objections forming on Andrew’s tongue, “I am too tired and selfish to do so. Therefore, I believe that we can both share the bed tonight.”

She blushed deeply as Andrew’s incredulous face showed her exactly what he thought she was proposing, before adding in a hurry, “with the sheet tied up like a curtain between us, of course. We can be as secluded as if we were in different rooms, but both can savor the enjoyments of a real bed for the duration of the night.”

“But your reputation, Miss Warren!” Andrew was almost stammering in his agitation. “How can we share a bed like that? If you insist, I can sleep on the floor. Nothing else is possible. It will ruin your name if this matter ever became known!”

Rachel smiled sadly at the ignorant man in front of her. Didn’t he realize that her reputation would be in shreds anyway if word of their escapade ever reached anyone’s ears? No decent lady even walked with a man unrelated to her without a chaperone; and here she was, traveling umpteen miles with this young unmarried man out of sight of anyone, and even posing as his wife before an entire village. God only knew what else they might have to do.

For a moment, she wondered if he understood that a single slip might result in him having to marry her to keep her fragile reputation intact in the eyes of society, at least once everything was over. She immediately hushed that small yearning voice. She would never force him into an unwanted marriage. Risking his life to save hers was more than enough – he would not risk his freedom to save her name as well! She would run away to some remote place and remain an unknown governess forever rather than get married to a man who would consider her a necessary burden all his life, unaware of her desperate love for him...

Love? She started, darting a look at the man sitting before her. Did she actually love Andrew Fairfax? When did this happen? She had always known that she was attracted to him from the start, and enjoyed his company above anyone else’s. She trusted him more than any man outside her family. But when had he become so important to her that she was attuned to every fibre of his being? When had he stopped being the most interesting man of her acquaintance, and morphed into the only man in her universe?

And why did she have to realize this just before they were to share a bed?

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After arguing for ten more heated minutes, Andrew finally grudgingly accepted that since the people of Marsham-in-the-Vale already believed them to be sharing a room, it would achieve precious little to indispose himself to stop non-existent tongues from wagging. As Rachel pointed out, he would be compromising her more if he was caught sleeping in the undergrowth, since that would be indisputable proof that they were not actually husband and wife after all. She ended her case by saying with a perfectly straight face that as long as they maintained a low profile, no one should even remember the young couple who had asked for shelter one night, or connect them later with “the dashing Colonel and the cousin he rescued from her dire fate in a faraway city – in an entirely circumspect manner, of course”.

Andrew could no longer control his laughter and retired gracefully from the battle, only shaking his head and mumbling about “the obstinacy of women” when he thought that the one at his side could not hear him. But he won the argument about the blanket, and a pouting Rachel was ‘forced’ to keep it in order to maintain peace in the room.

They hung up the sheet in the centre of the bed with perfect cordiality, and the blushes which bloomed on both of their faces when their hands accidentally touched during the process were not explained at all by mutual consent. Andrew shuffled out of the room when he saw Rachel holding the nightdress uncertainly, and stayed outside for so long that she was already wrapped up in the blanket to her chin by the time he made his entry. Rachel was not so lucky. The guttering candle threw large shadows on the bed-sheet between them and seemed determined to outline every movement which Andrew was making on the other side of the sheet. Rachel finally closed her eyes in desperation when the dark shadow started taking off its cuffs and rolling up the sleeves of its shirt.

Needless to say, it was a long night for at least one person in the room notwithstanding the comfortable sleeping arrangements.

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As promised to the redoubtable Mr. Phipps, the young fugitives were soon on their way the next morning and were able to catch a coach for hire on the road with reasonable ease. The distance to Brighton was not a lot from Marsham-in-the-Vale, and they reached the portside town well before dusk without enduring any impediments other than the excessive humidity and a slight awkwardness on Rachel’s part. Try as she might, she could no longer look at her traveling companion with the same eyes as a few days before. Her late night epiphany had thrown her out of spirits, and she had to give the excuse of a headache before an anxious Andrew would leave her to sort out her emotions in peace.

Every new sign of his regard was like a jab at her already sore heart, since such evidences of his gentle breeding only made her own inadequacy as a prospective life partner for a man like him more glaring. She sneaked a peek at his muscular frame seated at her side. He had positioned himself there to hide her from the lascivious glances of a man seated inside the coach – yet another example of his caring nature – and was now clasping his strong hands together as stared out of the window at the rushing countryside, though he paused in his contemplation on occasion to look at her yet again. He was concerned for her health, making her feel guilty about the white lie she had told him.

She had nothing to offer him except for a respectable background and her own self, and Rachel was under no misconception that she was a sufficient match for a person as eligible and well-connected as Colonel Andrew Fairfax. Her feelings would only serve to torture her needlessly, and Rachel Olivia Warren set herself the unenviable task of forgetting her first love within hours of its being acknowledged.

She succeeded in at least pushing it away into the recesses of her wounded heart by the end of the morning, and was able to project a passably cheerful demeanor for the benefit of the worried man at her side by luncheon hour.

The arrival at Brighton was something of an anticlimax to their journey towards it. Andrew went quietly to a boarding house which was genteel in appearance and quickly negotiated for a couple of rooms, to be held by them for an undisclosed number of days. The only disadvantage was that the rooms were in the front of the building and looked on the road – Andrew had wanted them to be on the sea-facing side so as to be even more secure from prying eyes, but such rooms were understandably in greater demand and were presently unavailable. Everything else was perfect about their temporary base. The landlady was used to people coming to the health resort on short notice and therefore, had no suspicions about the two new lodgers, even if they seemed a bit more disheveled than her usual clientele.

A quiet dinner afterwards, ‘Miss de Manley’ and Colonel Fairfax parted ways to regain their energy in sleep. Rachel was drained by her emotional upheavals of the day and fell asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow, shedding a couple of tears on the clean linen in her sleep.

She remained innocently unaware of the ceaseless watch Andrew maintained over her door from his own room, until the indigo sky lightened in the distance. He knew that she would object if she found out about his self-imposed vigilance, but he was unsure if they had been followed on the way and would not allow any mishap to occur during the night due to his negligence. At no cost would she suffer for our sakes any more, he determined to himself.

                                                             Xxxxx

They got a chance to inspect their plans for the city of Brighton more thoroughly the next morning after breakfast. They had to make their pursuers believe that Miranda expected to escape quietly without anyone the wiser, but circumstances forced her out in the open. To that end, it was decided that Andrew would have to circulate among the society gathered here since he wanted to prove his identity without a doubt. She, on the other hand, should remain out of sight for most of the time to simulate a skittish woman on the run for her life; but he would arrange for some ‘accidental’ sighting so that the news of Miss de Manley’s presence could be spread in the easiest manner.

Since there was no proof connecting the de Manley men with Miranda’s predicament, Rachel argued that they should try to explain the young woman’s disappearance as prosaically as possible rather than letting any mystery hover around. This would dispel any misgivings on the rogues’ part and they would not perceive the runaways as an immediate threat or take desperate measures to secure their silence. Andrew was of the same mind and the most appropriate tale was harmoniously fixed upon.

It goes against the grain to show Mira up as a brainless creature who cares not for the alarm she caused others with her escapade, though, he thought sadly to himself. And yet, their mental powers were being sorely taxed as it were, what with providing innocent reasons behind each and every facet of the extraordinary circumstances. Rather Mira be painted as a twit than be...not existing.

They were not so cordial over the question of Rachel’s role in Brighton, but Andrew was firm on this point. She could not move around freely in the city, and must not even venture out of the house without his chaperonage. She was not to go anywhere alone. The curtains facing outdoors must remain drawn at all times. She must not initiate too much familiarity with anyone in the boarding-house, either. She must keep to herself – she was, after all, in hiding.

Rachel did not like these stipulations. They would leave her a virtual prisoner over the three days they planned to stay, and she alternately cajoled, reasoned and entreated Andrew to relax his conditions on some account or the other. But in the end, she had to reluctantly accept his superiority in the art of drawing up strategies. Much as losing her independence irked her, she could not deny the real nature of the threat to her life.

But oh, how I long to explore the famed beaches of Brighton like any ordinary visitor, she thought wistfully as she gave in, turning her head instinctively in the direction of the sea. She had never been away from her small village before, unless her trips to London could be counted; and certainly she had never been to a holiday resort in her life. The salty tang in the clean atmosphere was titillating her senses, and her sharp ears were already distinguishing between the rumble of coaches in front from the repetitive roar of the waves behind the house. Everything felt so different! She wanted to whoop with joy and cry her heart out at the same time.

Andrew pitied her, but was firm. He understood that it must feel like incarceration to a lively girl like Miss Warren, and swore to keep her company as often as possible during their stay here – but she should not expect anything on their journey other than constant caution. His companionship, meager as it was, would have to suffice her for entertainment. Even that will not be available to her until tomorrow. Today was going to be utilized in looking up old friends on his part, and complete relaxation on hers.

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 AN: I apologize if the night did not go as some people expected (or hoped for), but what can I say...I am pleased with my perfect gentleman!