She knelt next to him on the loam, feeling the slight dampness through the fabric of her skirt. “Let me see,” she demanded, trying to gentle her voice so as not to frighten the youngster
Although if the first sight of Raven’s Hollow itself hadn’t managed to scare the boy off, there was little that Charlene could do to frighten him.
The boy shook his head. “There’s blood,” he said, like that should warn her off.
Charlene rolled her eyes and carefully pried his hands away. The boy, Eric Cumberland, reluctantly let her, his eyes curious as she tore a piece of fabric from the hem of her skirt and wet it from her waterskin.
The girl dabbed at the wound, wondering what had caused it. As she wiped away the excess blood, though, it was obvious what had happened. He had been bitten by an adder.
Charlene gave the boy a troubled look. “Did you see the adder that did this?” she asked.
“Only for a moment,” he admitted, and Charlene could hear the pain in his voice. “Pale, with brown splotches. I don’t know how I missed it initially.” He shivered slightly, and she could tell that it was more than just his body going into shock at the bite.
The girl grimaced. Venomous, she was sure of it. From everything she knew, which admittedly was nowhere near as much as her father, he still had time. She dropped her basket beside him and darted off to find the herbs that she needed.
She was breathless as she retraced her steps. The boy hadn’t moved; he just leaned back against a tree, his eyes closed, his lips drawn tight with pain.
Charlene threw herself back on the ground. She didn’t have a mortar and pestle with her, but she made do with some jagged rocks, making a thick paste with the herbs that could save his life. She only hoped it wasn’t too late.
She pulled Eric’s hands away from his wound, noting how much weaker his grip was already. Or maybe it was just that he knew better, by now, than to fight her. Charlene would never go so far to presume that he trusted her, but he had to realize that with no help at all, he wasn’t going to make it.
She used another strip of her skirt to bind the poultice to his ankle. Dr. Ellington was going to be irate when he found out that she had ruined one of her frocks, but what else was she to do?
Besides, it wasn’t as though the mud stains at the knees would ever come out satisfactorily. Might as well ruin the whole thing.
Eric’s blue eyes flicked open again, and he seemed to be considering Charlene for a moment. “What is it?” he asked, gesturing weakly towards the wrap.
“They’ll draw out the poison,” she promised him. She bit her lower lip. “You still need more help, though. I expect the fever to set in, and then you’ll need water and someone to bathe the wound and reapply the paste. I can’t do that here.”
The boy gave an experimental push, like he was going to try to get to his feet. Unsurprisingly, he was unsuccessful at it. “I don’t think I can walk,” he said, sounding worried.
“Of course not,” Charlene said impatiently, pushing him back down with a firm hand on his shoulder. “You stay here. Don’t move.” She grabbed his arrows and put them within arm’s reach of him. “Hopefully you won’t see another adder, but if you do, try not to get bit again. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone there, not in the condition that he was in. She didn’t know what else she could do, though. There was no way that she could get him back to her father’s on her own. He was too tall and muscular in comparison to Charlene herself.
Charlene couldn’t lift him, and she certainly couldn’t navigate her way over logs and such to get out of here with him draped over her shoulder. She needed her father’s help
She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, knowing that in spite of the poultice she had applied, each moment was crucial to the boy’s survival.
Fortunately, it didn’t take much to find Dr. Ellington. He stared at his daughter’s bedraggled state as she rushed into the apothecary but didn’t say anything as he finished packaging something for Mr. Hennigan. Then, he turned towards his daughter, clucking his tongue.
“Charlene,” he said disapprovingly.
“No time for that now, Father,” she interrupted. “There’s a boy out in Raven’s Hollow who needs your help. He was bitten by an adder, and I did what I could, just like you taught me, but he obviously can’t stay there, and I couldn’t get him back here by myself.”
Father frowned when Charlene mentioned Raven’s Hollow, and she could see a storm brewing in his eyes. She was going to catch hell later, she was sure, but she didn’t care at the moment. Her whole world was focused on the boy that she had left behind, with eyes as blue as the depths of the sea.
“Show me,” the doctor said, grabbing his things and bustling out of the shop. Charlene ran ahead and led him back to where she had left the boy, panicking silently all the while that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back.
But then, there was that messily-made trail, and there was the boy, looking grey with pain and exhaustion but still conscious. He was reciting something under his breath, and for a moment, Charlene thought that maybe he was crazy.
But then she realized that he was probably afraid to pass out and merely trying whatever he could to keep himself awake.
Dr. Ellington checked the poultice that his daughter had made and nodded once approvingly. Then, he hefted Eric to his feet, letting him lean against his shoulder.
Charlene slipped into place on the other side, even though she was sure that the doctor didn’t really need her there to keep the boy on his feet. Still, it helped soothe her own worry to feel like she was being remotely useful.
It seemed to take an eternity to make it back to the house, but finally, Dr. Ellington was laying the boy down in a cot and administering stronger medicine to him.
“I should have introduced myself earlier, but I am Dr. Ellington. This is my daughter Charlene. I presume you have family in town?” he asked. “We will send a message to them.”
Eric’s head lolled as he turned to face the doctor. “The Duke of Havenport is my father,” he said weakly.
Charlene stared at the boy in the bed, and she could tell that her shock was no greater than her father’s. If the Duke of Havenport was his father, then assuming that the boy survived his injuries, Charlene had saved the son of a duke.
Chapter 2
Lord Eric Cumberland, son of the Duke of Havenport
Eric felt woozy after his ordeal and after the medicines given to him by Dr. Ellington. As he lay in the cot that they had placed him in, he found himself still fighting to stay conscious.
His pain had faded as the medicine took effect, but that wasn’t his present issue. He knew that his resistance to sleep was partly out of a fear of never waking.
He had been a fool for going into Raven’s Hollow on his own. He knew that. He had just been hoping to get in a little archery practice on his own. He simply wanted real targets, not bales of hay. And a space away from the prying eyes of every other visitor of Bath. Life in the public eye could be so uncomfortably stuffy at times.
He had barely noticed the adder before it bit a chunk of flesh out of his ankle. The thing had slithered away afterwards, like it had decided that it was no longer interested in him after that first taste. Eric knew that probably wasn’t the case, though.
The thing had no doubt been waiting for him to succumb to the venom before it finished him off. If it hadn’t been for that girl, he would never have made it.
Speaking of the girl, Eric could hear the doctor yelling at her now. “You know better than to go out into the wood on your own!” he said. “It’s not seemly, Charlene. And ruining a skirt in the process, what would your mother have said about that?”
From where he was lying, Eric couldn’t hear Charlene’s response, but he sure could hear the doctor when he picked back up again. “You should never have been out there in the first place. What happens if he succumbs? What do you think the Duke would hav
e to say about that?”
Eric winced. He knew that it wasn’t his fault that Charlene had been out there in Raven’s Hollow, but he also knew she wouldn’t have been discovered if she hadn’t needed her father’s help in getting him back to Bath. He wondered what the hell had brought her out there in the first place.
As her father had said, it wasn’t right for her to be out there. Not a woman all on her own. Oh, Eric didn’t care so much about the propriety of it all, which seemed to be the doctor’s main complaint. It wasn’t safe, though. Eric’s snakebite was proof of that.
Granted, he could tell that Charlene was intelligent, and that she knew that wood better than Eric ever could. She knew exactly which plants she needed to draw out the poison, and she knew exactly where to find them as well.
He couldn’t help but be impressed by that quick thinking and those competent hands of hers.
The thing that struck him the most, though, were those bewitching eyes of hers. They seemed to change from blue to green at a moment’s notice.
But they didn’t quite match, either. Where one was grey, the other was green. When the grey one seemed more blue, the green one seemed more grey. They were constantly changing, like the colors of the sea.
Eric had never seen anything like them before. Everything about her seemed fascinating.
Which made him feel even guiltier, for getting her into trouble with her father. If it hadn’t been for him needing help out there, she probably would have been able to slip back home unnoticed. Instead, she had risked punishment to help out a stranger.
Eric swore to himself, right then and there, that he would make it up to her whenever he could. Who knew when that would be, of course, but he would figure something out.
“He’ll be all right,” Eric heard Charlene say, and he was impressed by the confidence in her voice.
The doctor sighed. “I sure hope so,” he said. He was quiet for a moment. “You did a good job with that poultice, I have to say. I’m very proud that you applied what I taught you to save the boy’s life.”
“Thank you,” Charlene said, her voice barely audible.
“I suppose I ought to go and find the Duke of Havenport now,” Dr. Ellington said. “Can I trust you to look after him in the meantime? That poultice on his ankle needs to be changed every hour to keep the herbs fresh and to remove any poison that’s been drawn out.”
“Right,” Charlene said, her tone business-like. “I’ll make sure that he’s all right. And if his fever spikes, I’ll take care of that too.”
Eric heard the sounds of the doctor gathering his things and leaving the house. He was surprised, for a moment, that the man would leave his daughter alone with him, after all his talk about propriety.
Not that Eric could do anything to her, though. His whole body felt exhausted, as though it was weighted down to the sheets. Nor did Charlene seem the type to do anything out of line.
She would make a competent physician one day, if that was what she chose to do. His eyes drifted closed, and Eric suddenly wondered what her plans for the future were. He wasn’t sure why it mattered to him.
Then, Charlene came into the room, hovering near the door for a moment. Eric could feel her eyes on him. “You should be resting,” she finally said.
Eric smiled but kept his eyes closed, listening for her footsteps to come closer to the bed. Yet she continued to hesitate. “How do you know I’m not resting?” he finally asked, turning his head to face her.
“Your breathing isn’t deep enough,” she said matter-of-factly, taking the boy’s open eyes as an invitation to come over to the bed. “Are you still in pain?”
Eric shook his head. “No,” he promised her. He reached out and took her hand, rubbing his thumb lightly across her smooth, pale knuckles. He wasn’t sure why he did that, but it felt somehow right. “I’m very sorry that you got into trouble because of me.”
Charlene looked shocked. Then, she laughed, the sound as light and musical as that of a babbling brook. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “I would have gotten into trouble either way. As Father said, I should never have been out there in Raven’s Hollow on my own.”
“What were you doing out there?” Eric asked curiously. “It’s dangerous.”
“I know it is,” Charlene said seriously. “But I like going there. For all its danger, it is somehow peaceful. Not to mention useful. I was there gathering herbs to use in medicines.” She paused.
“You only interrupted my gathering. Father would have discovered me either way though: either because I got his help to bring you here, or because I came in this afternoon with a basket full of herbs.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Eric told her. “I still feel guilty.”
“Don’t worry,” Charlene said, reaching around him to fluff the pillow a little more. “Rest, please. You’re safe now. Father has gone to send word to your father, and I imagine it’s only a short time until a carriage arrives to take you to your home. I’ll be back shortly to change the wrap on your ankle.”
Eric nodded, forcing himself to relax, to let the exhaustion take him under finally. He woke a while later, when Charlene returned to do just as she had promised, her hands deftly removing the original bandaging and replacing it with a fresh one. Eric watched her the whole time, but neither of them spoke.
Just as she was finishing up, they heard the sounds of footsteps in the front room. The door opened, and the doctor entered, followed by one of the Duke of Havenport’s men.
“How are you feeling, Lord Cumberland?” Dr. Ellington asked Eric, peering over his daughter’s shoulder to check on the boy’s ankle.
Eric laughed. “Like I won’t be going back to the wood any time soon,” he said, feeling a bit sheepish over the whole thing.
The doctor smiled. “I’d say that is probably wise,” he said, nodding. “You may still feel some effects of the fever for the rest of the day, but it looks like the swelling has already gone down around the bite, and you have your colour back.”
“I’m sure that my ankle will be fine,” Eric assured him. “It already feels much better. And as for the rest of it, I have you and your daughter to thank for saving my life, I’m sure. You have my sincerest thanks.”
There was more that he wished he could say, in particular to Charlene, but he knew he had already embarrassed himself enough for the day.
Besides, he could tell that social customs were important to the doctor, and anything more could be considered improper.
They helped Eric to his feet, and he limped out to the carriage, letting them boost him into it. He sat back on the bench, stretching out his injured leg, still feeling the sting of the injury.
A blushing Charlene stood beside the door to the carriage, and before the duke’s man could close it, she held out a bag. “Medicines,” she said, in response to Eric’s surprised look. “I made them. They should numb the pain and remove the poison. Plus help with the fever if it gets to be too terrible.”
“Thank you,” Eric said, appreciating the gesture. She smiled up at the boy, and then the door to the carriage was shut and they were on their way back to Havenport Estates.
Eric was sure that he would catch hell from his father, just like Charlene had caught hell from her own father. It had been irresponsible for him to go off like that, and Eric had proven himself nothing but a burden in need of rescuing. He winced just thinking about it.
He had brought it on himself, though. So he squared his shoulders, knowing that he deserved whatever punishment he received.
***
Two days later
Eric hated that he had had to spend the final two days in the summer home in bed, but his ankle was feeling remarkably better. Of course, the skin around the adder’s bite was still tender to the touch and he was keeping it bandaged, but he was walking again and free of fever. Charlene’s medicines had worked magic.
Eric had thought long and hard about his ordeal over the past couple of days, and he was certain now that
he would have been dead if not for her. Charlene had saved his life.
So he slipped away and sought her out before he and his father left Bath to go back to London. He found her at home by herself. “My father is at a patient’s home,” Charlene said, blushing and shyly ducking her head when she saw the young lord.
“I won’t ask to come in,” Eric promised her. “I merely wanted to see you one last time before I left Bath, to thank you again for your care. It is because of you that I stand here today, and I want you to know just how much I appreciate that.”
He could barely get the words out as he stared deeply into her eyes. The depths of the sea, yes. That’s what they were like.
“It was nothing,” Charlene said, shaking her head. “Just what I’ve been trained to do.”
Seducing The Vengeful Marquess (Steamy Historical Regency) Page 32
