Free Surrender to the Earl by Gayle Callen

mind.”
    She rose to her feet. “We leave just after dawn, do we not?”
    “It would be best, considering that a carriage with two extra horses tied behind will have to drive at a slow pace. It will take us near two full days.”
    “Oh, I had not realized,” she murmured, her forehead wrinkled with doubt.
    “You can’t be nervous to be alone with your fiancé,” he teased.
    “I’ll have Molly with me. We’ll be perfectly respectable.”
    But she still looked nervous, and that amused him.
    A udrey ate a simple breakfast as she felt the first touch of the sun’s morning rays on her face. She only nibbled toast and eggs because Molly insisted.
    Strangely, she was almost too nervous to eat. She was leaving the only home she’d ever known, where she knew every piece of furniture, and every person’s distinctive footstep. She was going off into a dark world she couldn’t see, in the hands of a man she’d only just met—Martin’s friend. Shouldn’t she have considered that more closely? she wondered a bit wildly.
    No, he was an earl, a former captain in the Queen’s army. He would not mistreat her. He said he owed her his assistance, because he felt so badly about Martin’s death. She would have to trust in that.
    “There you are,” Robert said.
    “You sound almost relieved,” she answered lightly.
    “I thought someone might have changed your mind.”
    She’d certainly been worried her father might try. But she hadn’t seen him yet this morning.
    “You should eat before our journey,” she told him.
    “I did, since I had to meet the carriage when it was delivered. The footmen are already loading your trunks.”
    “Thank you,” she said, feeling surprised. It was so rare for someone to do things for her, or on her schedule. She had so much to get used to.
    “Audrey?” said her brother as he entered the dining room.
    “I’m still here, Edwin. Please share this last meal with me. Is Father—”
    “No, he’s in his study,” her brother said, “and doesn’t wish to be disturbed.”
    If that was how he wanted it, then fine.
    “I . . . had some things I wished to say to you,” Edwin began, his words awkward. “I was never home much, and I think I was so concerned with myself, I never . . . thought much about you. It was wrong of me, and I ask your forgiveness.”
    Audrey blinked at the sting of tears. Wasn’t this just what she’d wished, to improve relationships with her siblings? It took her leaving to make her brother treat her better, she thought with faint irony.
    “I accepted Father’s certainty that you could never handle the outside world,” Edwin continued, “especially after Blake abandoned you as he did. But that was wrong. I saw how you were with my friends, how—normal everything seemed. Forgive me if that sounds cruel, but I hope you understand what I mean.”
    Robert said, “Collins—”
    “No, Robert,” Audrey said firmly. “It is all right.” She turned toward her brother. “Edwin, I accept your apology, and I want you to know how glad I am for it. When I write to you, I hope you’ll answer.”
    “I will,” he said, relief in his voice. “Now I must go. My friends are just rising and will be departing soon.”
    “Go. Enjoy yourself, Edwin. We will keep in touch.”
    When he’d gone, Audrey turned to Robert. “I know what you might have said, that Edwin’s words couldn’t make up for years of neglect. But I consider his words a good start. And accepting them—forgiving him—is my choice, not yours. Again, you’re trying to do too much for me.”
    “Perhaps you’re assuming too much,” he said. “You didn’t know what I was going to say. Please do me the courtesy of not scolding me unless I need it.”
    The awkward moment felt strange to her, for everything had been so easy between them so far. “Very well, if I was mistaken, then I apologize.”
    “ If you were mistaken?” he echoed.
    She couldn’t help but smile ruefully. “Ah, these word