Home. But Rebecca’s ideas of home had changed. She bid farewell to the shopkeeper and then tucked her arm through Adam’s as they walked toward his waiting carriage. His grooms grinned upon their return. They’d known what was going on inside the shop and most had stood lookout with the magistrate’s men. Adam tossed his new canes up to one and then helped Rebecca enter the carriage.
She sat back against the squabs and sighed in pleasure, glad to be alone with Adam at last. “This is a very comfortable town carriage.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said as he sat beside her.
The carriage got underway, and Rebecca leaned a little toward him. “I’m relieved its over.”
“Very satisfying, madam,” Adam agreed. “I never met the man before, but I did enjoy watching him squirm when you confronted him.”
Rebecca shook her head sadly. “He wasn’t even embarrassed that he’d been stealing from me. Do you think he took very much from his other clients?”
“Hard to say,” Rafferty said. “Sir John will investigate as promised.”
“I never imagined Charlotte would do such a thing.”
“She was poor and saw a way to better her life,” Rafferty murmured and turned. He brushed his fingers over her cheek gently smiling. “But no matter. You’ve another friend to play with now.”
She glanced at Adam’s face. “Only friends?”
“More than that,” he promised. “In fact you have a family just waiting to be claimed. Tonight in fact if that is not too soon for you?”
She understood what he wasn’t saying, but she had to check. “Did you arrange to get a special license to marry me?”
“I did indeed. Presumptuous, I know but I took a leaf out of your book and made a list—with only one item on it. I have a vicar waiting for word from me to marry us at a moments notice. Why we could be married in a few hours and then you could put your husband to bed too.”
Rebecca laughed softly. “Is sex all you think about?”
“I think about you,” he confessed and then looked down. “But it is hard not to think about intimacy when your fingers are gripping my thigh like that. Is there something more I can do for you today, madam?”
“A child, Adam,” she whispered. “I want a family.”
Rafferty kissed her fiercely and drew back to stare into her eyes. “A babe might take a little more time than a few hours to bring about, but in the meantime, I assure you Ava is desperately keen to call you Mother.”
“I want to see her right now,” she whispered.
Adam knocked on the roof urgently. “To the townhouse as quick as you can, Mr. Chapman. We’re getting married.”
The carriage immediately picked up speed. “Is that not a dangerous request to make when we are alone in a carriage?”
Adam captured her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “What matters is that we are together and soon will always be.”
“And I you,” she promised. “Whoever would have thought we might make a match of it?”
“No one at all.” He laughed. “Will it not be the most delicious shock to your family when we return to Suffolk as a family?”
“When will that be?”
“Whenever you want to return to Stapleton I suppose,” he promised with a wink. “I mean to be an accommodating husband. If you need to be at Stapleton, I’ll not complain as long as I may join you there.”
Rebecca’s eyes misted with happiness at his announcement. It meant so much that he considered her need to be with her family. “And I will be a very good wife to you.”
She slowly dragged her fingers down Adam’s chest, noting with pleasure he’d taken to wearing muted colored waistcoats recently. She assumed he’d done it to please her sensibilities, and that gave her hope for the future. She lowered her hand further until he groaned.
“Yes, love. Tell me more,” he whispered. “Show me.”
A little impropriety wouldn’t even matter if they were to marry tonight. She captured him and squeezed gently through his breeches as they made a hard turn that had them sliding sideways into each other. “I’ve got you this time,” Rebecca promised.
“Be careful. Our future is in your hands,” Adam warned, but he was grinning widely. “I love you for this and every other way you’ll look after me, Becca.”