Sweet Tannenbaum Read Free

to a man she hoped to only know for a few days. The carriage swayed again, causing her to tip towards him, but she held on to the door for dear life. Three days, or perhaps a few more. She could keep her distance from him.
     
    * * *
     
    In his experience, women were chatty. They commented on scenery, fashion, the weather, or any other thing that crossed their minds. They were taught to be conversational, encouraged to engage a man in a polite exchange of pleasantries, if nothing else. Frau Rokiczana seemed disinclined to do any such thing. Her brother had been the one full of entertaining chatter. Casimir was like Henry in that way, too clever of mind not to entertain themselves in conversation with others. Casimir's sister, however, seemed closer in character to Hans' own taciturn nature. Oddly, that made him want to strike up a conversation with her. It would only be polite, would it not? But after some moments trying to come up with a topic, he realized that her aloof demeanor and his own reticence made any conversation unlikely. She seemed perfectly content to stare out her window at the passing scenery, carefully keeping to her side of the carriage. When he finally spoke, however, her reaction had signified an alert tension and after their short exchange she had pushed herself even closer to the door.
    Hans knocked twice on the ceiling, the arranged signal to tell Erich to stop as planned. The village had a rather large inn, and the horses could be traded if they did not recover overnight.
    "We're stopping?" her voice had taken on a different quality, a bit breathless.
    "In a bit," he said. "It would be too dangerous to continue past nightfall."
    She nodded and turned her attention back to the failing light outside. "Just three more days at this pace, yes?"
    "Three or four to Calais," he agreed carefully. "Depending on weather, horseshoes, and other surprises. Then we need to cross the channel and make our way to London. All told it will be at least five or six days."
    She nodded again and he heard her give a tiny sigh. "It would have been faster on horseback."
     
    * * *
     
    She would certainly say that Von Rosen and his man were solicitous of her needs. They hovered over her in the stable yard, escorted her through the inn, and ensured a bath had been ordered before leaving her alone in an admittedly spacious room. Her escort would be sleeping in the adjoining room, and his man would stay with the carriage. Although she wanted nothing more than to continue their journey, she couldn't insist that they risk the horses and themselves in the dark. Instead, she chose to luxuriate in the provided bath and curl up under the warm if rustic blankets. Were this to be her last adventure before marriage, she would try to enjoy it as best she could. Mama was undoubtedly worried, but Krystyna was sure she could talk some sense into Casimir and be home before the end of the year, even if her escort was traveling at a slower rate than she hoped. Hopefully if Mama sent men on her heels from the hints of her plans in the note she had left, they would be too far behind to catch up even at this speed.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Soldiers, as a rule, were adept at sleeping whenever and wherever they could. At the moment sleep was eluding Hans. As a supposed newlywed he hadn't wanted to stay down in the tavern for long. However, that meant listening to Frau Rokiczana take her bath. He wrapped the pillow around his head in order to not intrude into her privacy in even this unintentional way, but then he became concerned that she could slip or need help, which in retrospect were terrible excuses, but it meant that he lay there in the dark listening to her humming and soft splashes for nigh on a quarter of an hour. Shortly after that, the pale candlelight shining under their adjoining door was snuffed out, and he heard the creak of her climbing into her bed.
    He had never thought very deeply about taking a wife. He always supposed he would at