His evident relief caused her brows to raise in surprise. "But Alexander, I thought you were enjoying it here. That the therapy was helping you."
"I have enjoyed it, every moment. And the Baths are the very thing that's helped me become more mobile. But I want to be alone with you, in our home, with our acquaintances. The townhouse is lovely, as is Bath, but it isn't our home."
She stroked his cheek and kissed him. "We'll go to the Baths now, and the concert tonight, but I shall tell Bob and Alice to start packing."
He hoist her in his arms and spun her around until she giggled, then laid her on the bed and began to kiss down the length of her torso until he drew level with her nest of soft curls. "I can't wait. But since I'll have to, I might as well pass the time as pleasantly and delectably as possible."
He lowered his head, and she soared to the stars.
They had a peaceful afternoon together, with a final trip to the Abbey to hear his friend the organist, and play one last time. Then they went to Sally Lunn's and had buns and chocolate. Next they called in at the booksellers to pick up the volumes they had ordered.
"Anything else we've forgotten can be delivered to the Duke's. They will send the parcels on," she reassured him as they strolled through the Bath churchyard.
"I haven't forgotten anything except how good it will be not to be confined in an enclosed space."
"You sound as if you'll even be willing to ride when we get back," she teased.
"Yes, I will. I'm actually looking forward to it. I can't wait to be home with you."
He looked so happy at the prospect that she refused to put a damper on his enthusiasm by reminding him that the vicarage belonged to Jonathan and his wife.
Sooner or later they were going to have to leave. Possibly sooner if she didn't carry well and her pregnancy began to show.
She looked up into his handsome face and also found herself wondering how long it was going to be before his curiosity about his past was renewed.
Their two accidents had rendered her most uneasy. Was it possible someone knew who he was after all? That the danger she thought was only in his mind was REAL?
Chapter Twenty-seven
That evening, as Sarah admired the glitter of the stately Octagon, she felt the concert was a lovely and fitting end to their trip to Bath. The music was glorious, and Alexander most demonstrative. They sat holding hands during the whole performance as the airs and cantatas soared to the rafters.
Alexander was at his affectionate and sensual best, sitting close, murmuring intimate and even erotic comments in her ear until she blushed and stopped his mouth with a heated kiss.
"There's something very romantic about Bach," Alexander observed as they walked up the hill towards the townhouse, having told the carriage driver to go on without them. He was holding her tightly against him, hip to hip, with his hand curved around her waist cupping her pelvic bone, his thumb riding in the dip most suggestively, perilously close to her soft mound, sliding seductively against the silk with every step she took.
"He had twenty children you know. Two different wives."
"I'm sure you know the old joke-that his organ didn't have any stops." She giggled at the witticism. "As for me, dearest Sarah, I'll settle for ten children with one wife," Alexander said, his breath catching in his throat at the grave import of his words.
"Have you any lady in mind?" she asked pertly.
"More than in my mind. In my heart, my bed. And soon to be in front of the altar at a church, if she'll have me," he said earnestly.
"Oh, Alexander--"
He paused to kiss her so powerfully that she thought she heard rumbling in the distance. No, not thunder, a firework. It was a popping and crackling sound.
Sarah whipped her head around and heard running feet. She tensed, but released a sigh as she realized they were heading away from her.
"What is it?"
"It sounds like rain," she said quietly.
As she walked past the high wall Alexander had been kissing her near, she noted the pockmarked surface and the chipped plaster. "Come, we had better hurry before the downpour starts."
She shivered, and almost ran all the way home, towing him along by the hand, his marriage proposal all but forgotten amid her confusion and terror.
Much later, as he was drifting off to sleep with his head pressed against her breast, he whispered, "We need to talk tomorrow. I seem to recall I was about to ask you something."
She held him close, her heart full to bursting. "You know what the answer will be. Yes, Alexander. You know I can deny you nothing. I love you so very much."