by Laura Martin
Whilst she had been debating what to do with herself for the next few weeks Lina had lost track of what direction she’d been riding in and now wasn’t sure which way led back to the house, but as they progressed through the meadow Lina caught a glimpse of the road on the other side of the hedge, winding its way through the countryside.
‘Help!’ A hoarse cry floated on the still summer’s air and Lina straightened in the saddle immediately. ‘Help!’
Looking around, Lina could see no obvious source of the plea for help and quickly pushed Stormborn forward towards the road.
‘Help!’ The cry got a little louder and was followed by a sob of pain.
‘Hello?’ Lina shouted, feeling a little foolish, but not knowing what else to say.
A gap in the hedgerow loomed and then Lina and Stormborn were on the dusty road, Lina’s head swivelling in both directions. Just around the bend a carriage lay at a strange angle, two wheels missing and the side smashed in. Reining in Stormborn, Lina quickly dismounted, taking care to hold on to the horse’s bridle in case something spooked him. The horses that had pulled the carriage were nowhere to be seen and Lina could see the straps had been cut to free them. The coachman was also missing and Lina could only assume he had freed the horses so they would not pull the damaged carriage in their injured and frightened state and then gone to look for help.
‘Hello?’ Lina said again, poking her head in through the window, bracing herself for what sight might greet her eyes.
‘Praise the Lord!’ a woman in her mid-fifties exclaimed, tears falling down her cheeks.
‘What happened? Are you hurt?’
Many gypsy women were skilled healers and the recipes for salves that were passed from generation to generation were a source of pride amongst the gypsy community. Lina had never learnt more than the basics, but even a child could tell there was something wrong with this woman’s left leg. Just above the ankle the leg ballooned into a tense swelling which was already an angry purple colour. The clenched teeth and short, gasping breaths hinted the woman was in considerable pain.
‘My leg,’ the woman said. ‘I can’t move.’
‘Has your coachman gone for help?’
‘I sent him to the house, but he’s on foot and heaven only knows how long he’ll be.’
‘Whitemore House?’ Understanding finally dawned on Lina. This was Alex’s widowed aunt, their chaperone for the next couple of weeks. She was due to arrive sometime that evening, but must have decided to make the journey a few hours early.
Quickly assessing the situation, Lina realised there was not much she could do on her own. This poor woman would need a few strong men to help lift her from the carriage and another form of transportation to deliver her to the house.
‘I will ride to the house and get help,’ Lina said. ‘I’m sorry to leave you, but I think it will be the quickest way to get you out of here.’
‘Thank you, my dear.’
Taking the older woman’s hand and giving it a squeeze, Lina wriggled herself back through the window and remounted Stormborn. Urging him forward, she sped down the road, hoping she was heading in the right direction for Whitemore House.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex prowled around his study, picking up various pieces of paper that needed his attention, but unable to focus on anything. Lina still hadn’t returned. It had only been thirty minutes since he had got back to the house, but he’d hoped he would find Stormborn back in the stables and Lina rubbing him down. Neither horse nor woman were anywhere to be seen.
Flopping down into his chair, he wondered if she had left for good. He wouldn’t put it past her; he’d seen the hurt and anger in her eyes as he’d suggested she become his mistress. Never had he expected such a violent reaction.
Alex understood her reluctance. She’d told him how her father had been used and then discarded by a wealthy, titled woman looking for some amusement. Lina was concerned that would happen to her. All he needed to do was be clearer in his offer, show her how they could enjoy each other’s company for the next few weeks and then both continue with their lives enriched and emotionally unscathed by the experience. If they both went in with their eyes open, knowing this affair would have an end date, it wouldn’t hurt either of them.
A small voice in the back of his mind scoffed at him. Already he was panicking that he might not ever see Lina again, that he’d driven her away with his proposition. The idea he could give her up after they’d become even closer was difficult to accept, but of course he would have to. No matter how much he liked Lina, how much more he liked himself when Lina was around, the only way they could realistically be together was if she became his mistress. He might dream of a future where Lina stayed on at Whitemore House for ever, where they were bound together by law, but that couldn’t be anything more than a dream.
Running a hand through his hair, Alex wondered if he was being selfish. He knew there were different standards for men and women. A titled, unmarried gentleman was almost expected to have a mistress or lover, whereas for an unmarried woman to be entangled with a man there were often consequences. But they would be careful. No one from Lina’s normal life would ever know anything had happened between them.
The thundering of hooves approaching the house made Alex smile in relief. He had not lost her yet. She must have returned for a reason and he was fairly certain that reason was the mutual attraction they shared.
‘Alex!’ Lina shouted, her voice panicky and breathless. ‘Alex!’
A surge of concern powered his stride and he was out through the front door within a few seconds.
‘There’s been a carriage accident, on the road from Pottersdown. I think it’s your aunt, she’s hurt quite badly and trapped. You have to come now.’
The initial relief he had felt at seeing Lina safe and unharmed was replaced by worry. Aunt Lucy was a wonderful if slightly eccentric woman, who Alex would hate to see hurt.
‘She will need at least a few people to lift her out and a carriage to transport her here.’
‘Williams!’ Alex shouted for his butler who was hovering in the background. ‘Send out the grooms on horseback and ask the footmen to follow on foot, ask Peterson to ready the carriage and make his way to the road to Pottersdown as soon as possible.’
He dashed to the stables where one of the stable boys was in the process of taking the saddle off Ebony, the horse he had ridden during his trip with Lina. Quickly he resaddled the horse and vaulted up. Lina had already started back down the drive on Stormborn by the time he reached the front of the house and he pushed Ebony to catch up. Behind him he heard the footmen and grooms hurrying to follow.
He and Lina rode side by side as they turned from the drive on to the road, neither saying anything. Now wasn’t the time to bring up their argument from earlier that afternoon. Perhaps once Aunt Lucy was safe and settled they might be able to discuss things further.
As they sped towards the scene of the accident, they passed the coachman, who waved and pointed and assured them he would be back to help within minutes. And then Alex saw the carriage.
‘Aunt Lucy,’ he called, jumping from Ebony and throwing the reins to Lina.
‘Darling boy, help your poor aunt out of this wreck, wouldn’t you?’
Despite the obvious injury to her leg Alex was relieved to see his aunt hadn’t lost her wicked grin and the sparkle in her eyes.
‘You do know how to make an entrance, Aunt Lucy,’ he scolded her softly as he pulled himself in through the window of the coach after ascertaining the door would not open.
‘I like to keep you on your toes, young man.’
Crouching in the enclosed carriage, Alex took a moment to find his balance on the tilted floor before moving in to look at his aunt’s leg.
‘You won’t be dancing this Season,’ he said quietly. Aunt Lucy had hitched up her skirts to her knee and the entirety of her lower leg was swollen and discoloured. He was no doctor, but he was certain she had broken it, p
ossibly in multiple places.
‘Nonsense,’ Aunt Lucy said, gritting her teeth as Alex gently tried to move her leg from where it was wedged against the buckled seat. ‘I’ll be waltzing with the young gentlemen in a few weeks, mark my words.’
Outside Alex heard the clatter of hooves as the first of the grooms arrived and wondered how best to put his men to work. They would have to lift Aunt Lucy out of the carriage and for that to happen it would be easiest if they could remove the door since it couldn’t be opened.
‘Histon, ride to the village and fetch the doctor,’ Alex instructed. Aunt Lucy was going to need something for the pain before they attempted to pull her out. ‘Paulson, Yates, set to work removing this door. It’s wedged shut and we need it off before we can even attempt to get Lady Grenville out.’
‘It won’t be long, Aunt Lucy,’ Alex said, turning back and once again trying to lift her swollen leg from where it was wedged.
‘Tell me,’ Aunt Lucy said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘Was that pretty young thing that found me the young lady Georgina has told me all about in her letters?’
‘Yes—Miss Lina Lock.’
‘I can see why you might need a chaperone.’
Alex found his cheeks flushing for the first time in years. Aunt Lucy always had been direct and after the episode in the lake earlier in the day Alex had something to feel guilty about.
Gently he worked his hands underneath his aunt’s leg, manoeuvring slowly to cause as little pain as possible.
‘She’s from a gypsy family, Georgina tells me.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I once knew a man from the circus, but never a gypsy.’
‘Aunt Lucy!’
‘Try not to be so uptight, dear. I’m fifty years old and I’ve been married three times. I think it’s safe to say I’m familiar with the opposite sex.’
Wriggling his fingers, he pushed against the bowed piece of wood that seemed to be pinning her leg in place. If only he’d had smaller hands, more delicate fingers, he might’ve been able to wriggle them underneath the wood and dislodge it.
‘Lina,’ Alex called, lifting his head so he could see when she arrived at the strangely angled window.
‘First-name terms. I see I really will need to keep an eye on you two.’
‘Can I help?’ Lina asked.
‘I need you to try to move this piece of wood,’ Alex explained quickly. ‘Aunt Lucy’s leg is trapped and my fingers are too large to get underneath. You’ll have to climb in.’
He watched as without hesitation Lina vaulted into the carriage, more like a cat than a human. It was a snug fit inside with the three of them and Alex had to hold Lina as she put her feet on the angled floor so she would not slide into Aunt Lucy. He felt her stiffen as her body brushed against his and wondered if she would pull herself from his grip. Instead she rallied, found her balance, then crouched down next to Aunt Lucy.
‘Wriggle your fingers underneath and see if you can dislodge the wood,’ Alex ordered.
‘So bossy,’ Aunt Lucy murmured to Lina, as if they were the best of friends already.
Lina crouched, inspected Aunt Lucy’s leg and then leaned over, craning her neck to see how it was pinned.
‘It needs moving from underneath,’ Alex informed her. The look she flashed him was pure ice.
‘That may be so,’ she said primly. ‘But I need to ascertain what angle to push at, where there will be the least resistance.’
‘Just push the wood away.’
‘That clearly didn’t work for you.’
‘Only because my hands are too big.’
‘Or you were going about it all wrong.’
‘Put your hands under Lady Grenville’s leg and push the wood away,’ Alex instructed firmly.
‘When will you realise you’re not always right and you don’t always know best?’
‘When it is the truth. Right now, you’re wasting valuable time.’
‘This is beginning to sound like a lovers’ tiff,’ Aunt Lucy interjected.
‘We are not lovers,’ Lina said so loudly the grooms outside must have heard.
‘Yet,’ Alex whispered softly in her ear. It was provocative, especially given the fire Lina was spitting at him already, but Alex reasoned things could not get much worse.
Leaning over Aunt Lucy, with one hand tucked beneath the trapped leg, the other braced against the offending piece of wood, Lina pushed gently.
‘You’ll have to push harder...’ Alex began to say, but trailed off as Lina shot him a triumphant look as the wood moved easily upwards and away from Aunt Lucy’s leg.
‘Clever girl,’ Aunt Lucy murmured, her face screwed up with pain.
Alex quickly grabbed the wood, moved it away and steadied his aunt’s injured leg. Voices outside indicated the doctor had arrived and Alex eased back, knowing he and Lina would have to vacate the carriage to let the medical man in.
‘We’ll be just outside,’ he reassured her.
With the angle the carriage was at and the overcrowding with the three bodies inside it was difficult to decide how to get him and Lina out without hurting Aunt Lucy any further.
‘I’ll have to lift you out,’ he said to Lina, already placing his hands on her waist. Immediately she wriggled free from his touch, as if she couldn’t bear his hands on her. Alex had to hide a grin at her reaction to him. She was angry—angrier than he’d ever seen her before—but she was also worried about her primal reaction to him. He knew he could have her melting in his arms with a few soft kisses and she knew it, too. It made her livid and jittery every time he came close.
‘I climbed out before.’
‘There was more room then.’
Lina studied the gap she had to wriggle through and the available space before eventually conceding.
Gently Alex placed his hands on her waist again, taking his time before lifting her up and through the carriage window. He felt her transfer her weight to someone outside and within a couple of seconds her feet had disappeared and one of the grooms appeared at the window.
‘We’ll have the door off in a couple of minutes, my lord.’
Giving Aunt Lucy’s hand a squeeze, Alex pulled himself through the carriage window. Already Lina was talking to the newly arrived doctor, explaining what had occurred and the problem they were facing.
Not for the first time, Alex admired Lina’s ability to take control of a situation. Most women of his acquaintance allowed the men in their lives to sort out any problems or difficulties that came their way. Even Georgina, who was fiercely independent for a woman of her rank, would stand back and defer to Alex if she were here. Lina didn’t even consider not getting involved—it was one of the things he was so drawn to about her.
‘Lord Whitemore,’ Dr Jacobs greeted him as he approached.
Alex shook the doctor’s hand and indicated the carriage. ‘Can you help?’
‘Let me examine Lady Grenville quickly, but from Miss Lock’s explanation it sounds like a splint will be needed before we even attempt to move your aunt. If the leg is broken, any movement will be very painful, but I do have one or two medicines that might help with that.’
They watched as Dr Jacobs made his way over to the carriage and peered inside.
‘Thank you for helping,’ Alex said quietly to Lina.
‘Your aunt seems nice.’
‘She is. A little scandalous in the eyes of society, but she has a heart of gold.’
They lapsed into silence, watching the men work at removing the carriage door.
‘Will you stay?’ Alex asked, finding he was holding his breath as he waited for Lina to answer.
She remained silent for over a minute, her gaze fixed on some point directly ahead of her, her eyes barely blinking.
‘For now.’
Trying to exercise some restraint, Alex refrained from shooting his fist up in the air. Instead he murmured, ‘I’m glad.’
Now he had a chance. A chance to win
his wager—but more important, a chance to spend a little more time with Lina and hopefully even a chance to persuade her they both could enjoy a closer relationship over the next few weeks.
Chapter Seventeen
Lina tapped lightly on the door, listening for the invitation to enter before she turned the doorknob and slipped into the room.
Far from the dark and stuffy sickroom she had imagined, Lady Grenville’s bedchamber was light and airy, with the windows thrown open and a cool breeze blowing through, making the curtains billow.
‘Come, come,’ Lady Grenville gushed. ‘Don’t be shy. Come and sit beside me.’ She patted a spot on the bed that wasn’t covered with piles of books and writing materials.
‘I don’t wish to disturb you, Lady Grenville,’ Lina said, feeling a little nervous. ‘I just wanted to enquire how you were.’
‘In agony, darling girl, but I’m told that’s perfectly natural when one has a broken ankle.’
‘Did the doctor say how long it will take to heal?’
Lina had never broken a bone. Despite her often-reckless antics, she always seemed to land on her feet relatively unscathed.
‘I’ll be in bed for at least six weeks, possibly eight. Then it all depends how well the bone has knitted together. It’s ghastly, I’ve been laid up for less than a day and I’m going out of my mind with boredom already.’ Lady Grenville’s speech was accompanied by wild and animated hand gestures and Lina found herself warming to the overly dramatic middle-aged woman. ‘You must promise to keep me company, dear girl.’
‘Of course. Although I’m sure Lord Whitemore will not let you get bored.’
‘But he is a man and men have the most peculiar ideas as to what constitutes entertainment.’
‘Does this mean you will not make the Season in London?’ Lina asked.
Lady Grenville grimaced and shook her head sadly. ‘Alas, probably not. I’ve been looking forward to donning my finest dress and dancing the night away all year, but I think I may have to wait until next year to grace the ballrooms of London with my presence.’
Both women were silent for some moments, lost in their own thoughts.
