They came to the road that led to Malforth Manor but were still some miles away. She would be lucky to reach home before the storm hit. She eased the horse into a trot as they approached a sharp bend in the road, the way ahead hidden by a stand of oaks. Once round the corner, she gasped and pulled the horse up hard.
A body lay in the road.
Highwaymen tried this ruse she’d heard. She edged her horse closer. With a quick search of the landscape, she saw a horse disappear over a hill with its reins trailing. She dismounted and approached the man with caution. Barely a leaf stirred. It was oddly still, and the air seemed hushed and quiet as death before the coming storm. It matched her mood as she stood wondering what to do about the problem before her.
The man sprawled on his side. Judging by his clothes, he was a gentleman. Beneath his multi-caped greatcoat his brown coat revealed the skill of the tailor. His cream double-breasted waistcoat was of very fine silk. Long legs were encased in tight-fitting buff-colored suede pantaloons. His mud-splattered top boots showed evidence of loving care.
He moaned.
Horatia knelt beside him and grasped his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
When he didn’t answer, she struggled to roll him onto his back. A nasty gash trickled blood over his forehead where a bruise would surely form.
The man’s dark hair was sticky with blood. “Can you hear me, sir?” His eyelids fluttered. She shouldn’t stare at him while he remained unconscious, but she couldn’t draw her eyes away. He had remarkable cheekbones. His dark looks reminded her of Lord Byron. More rugged perhaps, but an undeniably handsome face, his skin more swarthy than one usually saw in an English winter. There was a dimple in his chin and a hint of shadow darkened his strong jaw line. She gingerly picked up his wrist and peeled back the soft leather glove, glad to find his pulse strong. An expensive gold watch had fallen from his pocket. So, he hadn’t been robbed. It must have been an accident. She looked around for some sign of what had happened but could see nothing.
A gust of chill wind made her shiver, and she glanced up at the sky. Ash-grey snow clouds now hovered overhead. “I have to move you, sir.”
Horatia stood and looked around. The road ran along the boundary of the Fortescue estate. Over the hill among the trees was a tiny hunting lodge. She’d passed it many times when she roamed the woods, although she hadn’t been there for years. Her godfather, Eustace, lived for a part of the year in the Fortescue mansion, but it was some distance away and the snow had begun to fall.
It was by far the closest shelter, but trying to get the motionless man onto a horse unaided would be impossible. She sighed. That was not an option.
Horatia looked back at him. He was large, tall, and broad shouldered. How on earth could she move him? And what would she do with him if she did? She looked up and down the deserted road with the hope that someone–preferably someone with big, strong arms–would appear to help her, and yet, she dreaded to be found in this invidious position. This was a quiet back road; most folk preferred the more direct route, so she couldn’t expect to be rescued soon.
She wondered if she should drag him under a tree and ride for help. As she considered this, the snow grew heavier. It settled over the ground and the prone man and touched her face like icy fingers. She couldn’t leave him out in the open, prey to the elements while she went for help. In bad weather it would take ages to ride to Digswell village. By the time she located the apothecary and brought him here, the man would be near death. Somehow she had to move him off the road and under shelter, although in the dead of winter, there was little to be had.
Horatia bent down, wrapped his limp arm around her shoulders, and caught a whiff of expensive bergamot. She took hold of his firm waist and tried to pull him towards the trees, but he was too heavy. She eased him down again.
Horatia pulled off her coat and shuddered at the cold. She tucked it around him. The snow had begun to fall in earnest, and worse, the prospect of a blizzard loomed. The wind gathered force. It stirred the tops of the trees around them and whipped the snowflakes into chaotic spirals of white.
Panic forced her to act. She took hold of the man’s arms and tried again to drag him. In small spurts she edged him closer to the scant shelter of the nearest tree, an oak whose dead leaves remained, curled and brown. Forced to pause, she took several deep breaths. He was quite a weight. She broke into a sweat despite the absence of her coat and the frigid air.
Horatia was severely winded and gasping by the time she reached the tree. It was a victory of sorts but afforded very little protection. She propped him against the trunk.
His eyelids rose. Startling pale blue eyes stared uncomprehendingly into hers.
Horatia grabbed her coat and turned her back to button it. “You’ve had an accident, sir.” She lowered her voice. “We’re in for a snow storm. I need to get you under cover. Can you help?”
He nodded then grimaced and put his hand to his head.
“If I help you onto the horse, do you think could you remain in the saddle?”
“You are kind, sir. But that is something I shall not know until I try, n’est pas?” His pleasant tenor voice sounded woolly, and she doubted he could manage much.
“You’re French?” Horatia queried in a gruff tone, relieved because he had not seen through her disguise. She had almost forgotten it herself because his blue eyes were so distracting.
“Oui. But do not be afraid. I am not your enemy.”
She went to grab his hat. She dusted it off and handed it to him. “I’m not afraid, monsieur.” That he was French surprised her. The war with France had ended, but it was still unusual to meet a Frenchman in her quiet corner of England.
She whistled to The General, and the horse came to nudge her hand.
The man planted the brown bevor hat gingerly on his head. He tried to rise with the trunk for support, sliding his back up the bark. “I am as weak as a bébé.” He gritted his teeth and succeeded to drag himself to his feet. He stayed upright with a heavy hand on her shoulder.
Horatia eyed the sixteen-hand horse. She tucked her shoulder under his arm and tried to lift him. “Up you go, monsieur.”
He looked doubtful. “I am no feather-weight!”
The wind began to howl, and The General shuffled about. “We don’t have much choice. Please try.”
The Frenchman placed his foot in the stirrup and seized the pommel. She crumpled under his weight. He staggered, and they almost fell. On the second attempt, he managed with a grunt to throw his leg over. He slumped in the saddle, his body drooping over the stallion’s neck.
“If you can hang on, monsieur, I’ll take you to a nearby shelter.”
He closed his eyes, and she feared he would pass out again, but she wasn’t about to wait for that to happen. She grabbed the reins and led the stallion off the road, up through the bushes, and into the woods. She was glad The General was also sweet tempered.
The wind picked up and moaned high in the tall pines. She shivered. “You’re a good lad,” the man muttered through clenched teeth.
“Not far now.” Horatia worried about the furor her male garb would cause when she rode to the village for help. A terrible scandal would ensue, and her father would be furious. It couldn’t be avoided. A man’s life was at stake. It had always been risky to ride dressed this way, one of the reasons she liked to do it. She would have to leave the village forever, perhaps enter a convent. That thought made her quake. And then other more attractive possibilities flitted through her mind. A governess? She liked children but she lacked the patience to make a good teacher. Treading the boards? Yes, a career on the stage would be more appropriate; nuns would find her very difficult to live with.
Her scattered thoughts served to keep her composed as she trudged along beside the horse. So far, the man had managed to stay in the saddle, but his chin rested on his chest and he looked as if he might fall at any moment. Relieved, she sighted a roof through the trees. “Nearly there. That’s the hut ahead. I’m sorry; t
his must be hard. You can rest soon.”
She hoped the hut was in good condition still. Lord Fortescue had been absent for many years, since he’d shot and killed some lady’s husband in a duel and escaped to France. Her godfather had maintained the property ever since.
They pushed their way through dense underbrush, slowed down by fallen trees, which blocked the trail. Again and again, Horatia pulled her coat free of brambles as she walked beside him. He slipped sideways and shoved himself upright, a hand on her shoulder. Steadying himself, he shook his head and uttered a string of what she assumed to be curse words as he repeated them quite a lot. Heat scalded her cheeks. She’d never heard a man curse, beyond her father’s mutterings under his breath, and so fulsomely. Somehow it sounded even worse in French. Well, served her right!
His heavy hand reminded her that she was alone in a forest with a strange man. This was not the light touch of a dance partner at a ball. It was the hard hand of a man whose countrymen had fought and slain many English. Perhaps he too had been a soldier in Napoleon’s army. She wanted to ask him what had brought him here. But that would have to wait.
Guy gritted his teeth. He had never felt so fragile. He would be dead back on that road but for this kind jeune homme, so determined to help him, the bones of his shoulder slight under his hand.
He had waited to come to these shores through the intolerable years of the Terror, when his family had been driven from France, and the war with England that followed, to claim what was rightfully his.
Now, in the depths of the English countryside, more ruffians had seen fit to assault him. Could he be that unlucky or were they connected in some way? If so, whoever lay behind these attacks was determined to assassinate him, but why?
Chapter Two
In the failing light, Horatia spied the old hut wedged in between two enormous oaks. At first, it looked to be a terrible old ruin, but on closer inspection, the roof seemed to be intact. The lean-to for storing wood would serve to keep The General safe from the storm.
She brought the horse to a halt, and the man slid off and sank to his knees. “Merde!” He rubbed his eyes with an impatient hand. “Give me your arm. I think I can make it inside.” She braced herself and helped him stand. He leaned against her and staggered to the doorway. “Merci beaucoup. I am most obliged to you.”
He wavered, one hand against the wooden planks of the hut as she wrestled with the door. The wood was damp and swollen, and the door stuck fast. Frustrated and aware of the large man who struggled to remain on his feet beside her, she put all her weight behind a kick. It flew open with a bang.
He took two unassisted steps into the room then collapsed onto a pile of horse blankets. She rushed to check on him, but he gave a lop-sided grin and a weak wave of apology.
Inside the hut was bare, apart from a small table and a narrow cot set up in one corner. A few logs lay beside the fireplace, and there was a box of tapers and a flint on the shelf above. Her spirits rose. It they weren’t damp, she could find kindling and get a fire started.
The man lay still with his eyes closed. When she lightly touched his arm, he raised his head and looked at her. Once again, she was caught by the contrast between his tan skin and blue eyes, a foreign and exotic blue like the Mediterranean sky she’d seen in paintings. “I’ll need two of those blankets for my horse. May I?” He rolled to one side with a groan.
“Sorry,” Horatia muttered. She eased them out from under him and sneezed. A thick layer of dust covered every surface, and there was the lingering odor of game birds. A few odd feathers fluttered about in the draught. The storm gathered pace, and the shutters began to bang against the window frames. She had to move quickly but was caught by the sight of him lying there and was unable to drag her gaze away. She gave herself a mental shake. “We need wood, and I must tend to my horse. Would you like me to help you onto the bed?”
“No, merci. See to your horse.”
Horatia hurried outside. The General tore at a patch of grass while the trees whipped around him. Under the slope of the roof, she removed the saddle and threw the blankets over his back then secured them around his neck. A trough nearby was almost full of rainwater but iced over. She picked up a branch and broke the top of it, aware it would form again and she would have to check it later.
She patted the horse’s neck. “I hope you’ll be all right here, boy. If anything happened to you, it would be more than my life is worth.”
Anxiety filled her throat, and swallowing failed to remove it. Already, the spreading boughs of the oaks were dusted white like sugar on a confection, and the ground had disappeared under a blanket of snow. She tried not to dwell on how long she would have to stay here and continue her pretense. Alone with the stranger, she had no choice. Her disguise was her only protection.
Horatia shivered as she left the shelter of the hut, and a fierce icy wind numbed her face. She took the opportunity to answer the call of nature and darted behind one of the broad oaks. The wind slapped at her naked derrière like an unwelcome hand. She did up her breeches and gathered up an armful of timber and kindling, thankful most of it was still reasonably dry. Hurrying back inside the hut, she levered the door shut against the force of the wind with her foot.
The man had managed to reach the cot and had pulled off his gloves. He perched on the edge with his head in his hands. He looked up as she entered. “Wood. Bravo.”
At least she could light a fire. After living in the hot Indian climate, Horatia’s father believed the cold to be healthy; it thickened the blood. He instructed servants not to light fires unless it was mid-winter. Horatia didn’t enjoy a frigid chamber and had learned to light the fire herself. She’d become quite adept at it. The taper alight, she knelt at the fireplace. The kindling caught with a small hopeful flame. It spread, a comfortable sight that would soon take the chill off the small, low-ceilinged room.
Horatia sat back on her heels and turned to him. His long fingers raked through his dark hair. It fell back into a neat wave. She suffered a surprising desire to muss it. “Are you feeling better?”
“I am a little. My head aches, though.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
He shuffled as if about to rise and then had thought better of it. “I forget myself.” He bowed his head then winced. “My name is Guy Trusedale.”
Horatia recognized the name and frowned. “You are a relative of the baron?”
“Oui. I am the sixth Baron Fortescue.”
“I have heard of the fifth Baron. He left England years ago.”
“My papa. I was born in France, but now as the war with England has ended, I am eager to see my ancestral home.”
“You are a few miles from it, my lord. Your relative, Mr. Fennimore, is in residence.”
“You know him?”
“I know of him.” Horatia swallowed. How many lies must she tell? “A groom doesn’t hobnob with such as him.”
“Tout à fait.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “On my way from London, I ran across bandits de grand chemin. They shot at me but missed, fortunately. As I congratulated myself at having lost them in the woods, I rode into a branch. Zut! It almost knocked my head off. I must have fallen off my horse.” He gave a rueful grin. “But I digress. What is the name of my savior?”
Horatia bit her lip. A name hadn’t occurred to her. She plucked her groom’s name from the air. “Simon Rawlings, my lord.”
He nodded. “My most heartfelt thanks, Simon.” As if the gesture hurt him, he closed his eyes, dark lashes resting on his smooth cheeks.
Now that she was more relaxed in his company, she admitted that masquerading as a man had unsuspected delights. She could study this very attractive male at close quarters without censure. Horatia changed her mind when he pulled off his cravat and loosened his shirt. The dark hair at the base of his strong brown throat held a certain fascination but made her uneasy. The room suddenly seemed to close in.
She took a deep breath. “As a rule, we do
n’t see highwaymen around here.”
“Trust me to come across the brutes!” He frowned and pointed to a shelf where a few dusty bottles stood. “Knowing my papa, there will be some whiskey there.”
Glad to move away from the nerve-tingling sensation his nearness created, Horatia jumped to her feet and shook the bottles. One sloshed with liquid, and she pulled out the cork. “Whiskey.” She smiled. “You were right. This bottle is half full. We can sterilize your wound with it and then we should cover it to prevent infection.”
“Does it smell brackish or reedy?” he asked.
She shook her head as spicy oak smells greeted her. It reminded her of her father’s favourite Scottish malt. “No, it’s still good.”
“Bonne.” He reached for the bottle. “Sit here beside me, Simon.”
Horatia’s throat tightened at the thought of joining him on the bed. Desperate, she scrabbled for recollections of how Simon walked and his mannerisms. She strode over to the bed with a masculine swagger and gave the bottle to the baron. He took a long swallow and handed it back to her.
Settled on the end of the bed, Horatia was careful to keep some distance between them. She spread her knees and rested a hand on her thigh, as she’d seen Simon do. The position made her feel oddly exposed. Hot and flustered, she crossed her legs at the ankle. She gave the bottle a wary glance. While she recognized the smell of whiskey, the strongest drink she had ever indulged in was a small glass of sherry or wine served with dinner.
Horatia took a manly swig and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. The fiery liquid burned its way down her throat into her stomach. She couldn’t breathe. She coughed and spluttered until his lordship slapped her on the back. The shock of his touch made her gasp and cough even more as warmth spread over her skin from the spot where his hand lay.
“I gather you’re not used to it?”
His smile had an odd effect on her heart, which gave a little leap. It was quite the most attractive smile she’d seen, his nice mouth and white teeth contrasted by olive skin. He took the bottle from her and put it to his lips. After another swallow, he offered it to her again.
A Baron in Her Bed Page 2
