by Jaima Fixsen
Wet leaves stuck to her cheek. She scraped them off with her right hand and tried to sit up. The movement sent a stabbing pain through her left shoulder. She let out a strangled cry. Gingerly, she tried to move her left arm.
It was useless. She couldn’t move it, not without the edges of her vision swirling darkly. Flat on her back, she stared dizzily at the sky, drawing shallow breaths, her heart beating presto.
You can’t stay here. No one will find you, and you’re cold. And what about Ajax?
Turning her head, she spied him standing not far off. “Beast,” she managed to gasp. He lowered his head, as if he was ashamed.
They had to get help, quickly. Something was terribly wrong with her arm.
Don’t think about it. Just get up.
Reaching her right arm across her middle, she clamped her left arm against her side, and rolled to the right with a groan. Biting hard on her bottom lip, she lurched upward. Good. She was sitting now. Getting to her feet was easier. Her shoulder throbbed, but holding it against her side seemed to help. Unfortunately, she had to let go, to reach for Ajax’s dangling reins.
The pain was staggering, but she caught the reins with a clumsy swing. Looping the leather around her right wrist, she clutched her left arm again.
“Come on,” she said, unsure if she was addressing the horse or herself.
A slick layer of wet leaves covered the ground. No wonder Ajax had lost his footing. She’d be lucky if she didn’t fall herself, the way she was trembling. Eyes on the ground, she picked her way out of the trees, leading an unusually docile Ajax.
There was little light left. She wouldn’t be able to walk far. Getting herself into the saddle was impossible. Pressing her lips into a thin line, breathing noisily through her nose, she started walking, hoping it would not be long before she found the road.
Chapter Ten
Strangers
It was a foul day for riding, Tom thought, but that was England for you. It had rained all the way from Bury St. Edmonds, and he was wet to the skin by the time he glimpsed Chippenstone’s lights.
His mother, of course, was waiting for him. As he dismounted, a groom ran out to lead his horse away. He hadn’t taken two steps before the butler stood beside him, holding out an umbrella. Tom didn’t recognize him, but he was used to new faces. Servants didn’t usually stay at Chippenstone for long. Stepping inside, he very properly handed his hat, whip and gloves to the waiting lackey. His mother rushed towards him from the drawing room, her crisp purple silk rustling, the ludicrous tower of curls atop her head bouncing madly.
“Martin’s preparing a bath,” she said, helping him from his coat, pushing aside the hovering butler. She kissed him soundly on both cheeks. “I needn’t ask about your journey. You look like a drowned cat.”
“And you look your angel self, mother. Stand off, so I don’t get wet all over you.” He thrust his sodden greatcoat at the butler. “May as well make just one puddle,” he said, fumbling at the buttons of his coat with numb fingers.
“James, bring a dressing gown for Mr. Bagshot,” the butler commanded.
It was, Tom knew, unusual for gentleman to strip down in the front hall. It didn’t bother him to fret his servants; after all, they knew what kind of people they worked for. And if it pleased them to find more congenial employment elsewhere, that didn’t bother him either. It was his mother who suffered agonies of humiliation when the servants explained to her how things should be done, or gave up and left. He wished she would let up, but had lost hope long ago.
“Thank you, James,” Tom said exchanging his waistcoat for a brocaded silk dressing gown. Lord, it felt good to pull on something warm and dry. Pity he had to keep on his wet shirt and trousers. He didn’t mind upsetting the servants, but his mother would be mortified if he removed shirt and breeches down here.
“I’m for the bath,” he said. “I’ll be down in two ticks.”
“I’m glad you’re home,” she said.
He winced. Chippenstone would never be home. Two years since his father’s death, and his mother still hadn’t given up this pile of brick, the evidence of her husband’s last, failed dream. She was lonely here, but nothing Tom said could persuade her to leave. Visiting her was no hardship; he would ride twice as far, in any weather. But when she joined his father, he knew he would sell this place.
“I missed you, mum,” he said and chucked her under the chin, before bounding up the stairs three at a time. Behind him, he heard the butler tell James to take his wet clothes away. Then he heard a knock. He stopped. His mother never had visitors. And who would call in this weather, at this time of night?
Turning round, he saw a dark wraith framed in the open doorway. Without thinking, he descended the stairs and crossed the hall. The creature was clutching one arm and shivering uncontrollably—no wonder, for water streamed from her skirts onto the floor. Her face was white as wax, her lips a ghastly purple. Muddy war paint smudged her cheeks and leaves stuck to her skirts.
“Forgive me for b-b-begging your assistance,” she said through chattering teeth.
“You’re hurt.” Tom frowned, moving closer.
“Yes.” She gulped. “But my horse . . .” She glanced worriedly behind her, out the open door. “He needs tending.”
Looking past her, Tom saw a huge animal standing on the gravel drive.
“He’s chilled,” the girl explained, her voice close to breaking. “If he gets sick in the lungs, he’ll never race again.”
“See to her horse,” Tom ordered, to no one in particular. “You must come inside.” She wasn’t thinking straight, he thought. Probably had the wits knocked out of her.
He offered his arm, but she hesitated, biting her lip. “The pain is too great to let go of my arm. If you will lead me—”
She attempted a step forward, her face contorting with pain.
“Wait,” Tom said, wrapping an arm around her waist to steady her. Cold water seeped through the sleeves of his dressing gown. She must be half-frozen. “I’ll carry you.”
Probably he should wait for her permission, but that seemed foolish in the circumstances. She looked ready to fall to the floor. Scooping her up, he saw her wince though he had tried not to jar her shoulder. Every step he took, her teeth cut deeper into her lip. How in Hades had she managed to walk to the house?
His mother reappeared, burdened with a stack of towels. “We must get you warm,” she said, bustling ahead of them into the drawing room.
“I’m going to set you down here,” he said, indicating a large sofa by the fire with a jerk of his chin. “Ready?”
She nodded. He tried to lower her smoothly, but she was no featherweight, despite being so slight. Laying back, she let out a sigh. “I’m ruining the silk of your sofa.”
He supposed she was. No matter. “What happened?” he asked, as his mother tended to her with the towels.
“I was riding across the fields, trying to hurry home.”
“Oh?” his mother looked up, but the girl didn’t elaborate.
“Ajax lost his footing jumping over a stream and I fell.” Her lips shook.
“Let me see the arm,” Tom said, moving closer. “You can’t move it at all?”
She shook her head, shrinking away from him. “It doesn’t work. When I try the pain in my shoulder is unbearable.” Her reedy voice betrayed suppressed panic. Frowning, he studied her. The arm was straight and didn’t appear swollen. “Did you land on it?”
She shook her head. “My hand tangled in the reins.”
“Pulled your arm?”
She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut.
He considered only a moment. “I can help,” he said.
“Are you a doctor?” Her gaze was desperate, but suspicious.
“No.” He smiled. “I’m a sailor. I think you’ve pulled your arm out of your shoulder. I have a surgeon friend, who I’ve seen fix injuries like this a time or two. You won’t feel a thing.” That’s what Jack told his patients anyways. He hoped
it was true.
She tensed, drawing away from him.
“I’m just going to hold your hand and your elbow,” he said, reaching forward. “Don’t be afraid. This won’t hurt you.”
Moving slowly and maintaining a soothing patter of words, he cupped her elbow with one hand and clasped her wrist with the other. Her hands were like ice, the skin under her nails matching her purple lips.
“Wretched weather you choose to ride in,” he said.
“You’ve been outside too,” she said through gritted teeth. “You’re hair is all wet.” He saw her eyes flick to his dressing gown, but she didn’t mention it.
“That’s how I know it’s so awful. I thought I was cold. How long were you out there?”
She didn’t reply, just sucked in a breath as he lifted away her uninjured hand. Inch by inch, he bent the elbow of her injured arm until it was square, then turned her forearm, bringing her hand down to the seat of the sofa. When her hand was almost to the cushion, he felt her shoulder catch. She gasped, her eyes popping open.
“Leave it,” she commanded. “I want to see a doctor.”
“Breathe out,” he said. “You’ll be all right.” It was nearly done. Jack said dislocations were best treated quickly, before the muscles could spasm. He nudged her upper arm forward, feeling it slide into place. He released her and sat back on his heels. “Try to move it now.”
She lifted her arm tentatively, closing her eyes and letting out a wavering sigh. “Thank God.” Relief crumbled her fragile control and her shaking returned. Staring past him with huge, catlike eyes, she let out a half-smothered sob.
“Can you lift your arm all the way up?” She seemed past hearing, so he took her arm and circled it around. The joint moved freely, and he felt his anxiety ebb away.
“We must get you warm,” he said.
“You go make sure the surgeon’s been sent for,” his mother said. When he didn’t move, she took his arm and steered him to the door. “I’ve got to get her out of those wet things. It’s all right to move her arm?”
He blinked. “I don’t see why not, though I imagine she’s pretty sore.”
His mother frowned. “If it’s too difficult, we can cut them off. See if Sarah’s bringing laudanum, like I asked. And don’t forget to put on dry clothes yourself. I don’t need you catching cold on top of everything.”
“Rheum, more like,” he said, winking as he closed the door. “I’m likely to cause you the most amount of trouble.”
In the drafty hallway, away from the fire, cold pierced him again. He’d forgotten how chilled he was. Nights like this, no one should be out, certainly not lone girls. Jack had told him how terrifying a dislocated shoulder was and both times he’d seen him treat one, the patients had panicked.
He wouldn’t soon forget her woebegone, desperate figure standing in his doorway and shrinking in pain on his sofa. He wondered how she had come to be riding in such weather, alone. Her speech, her horse and her clothing indicated she was too well bred to be allowed out without an escort.
Remembering his bath, and that the water would soon cool, he loped up the stairs. She would explain soon enough.
*****
Swathed in a new dressing gown and with a warm drink in his hand, Tom sat in the plain nook of a room he had claimed for himself. The master suite here was too big and ornate for him. He kept his chair pulled close to the fire and his feet propped on the fender. If there hadn’t been such strange happenings, he was quite sure he would be asleep by know. Lord knew he ought to be tired.
A soft knock sounded at the door. “Still awake?” his mother asked.
“As you see.” He signed for her to join him in the opposite chair. “How is she?”
“Asleep,” was all she said.
Close to the light of the fire, he saw that his mother carried the girl’s clothes. Briskly, she shook them out and hung them over the screen to dry. Even after decades of wealth, his mother hadn’t forgotten how to do menial work. Her fingers were thick and efficient, with sagging skin around the knuckles and liver spots showing through her lace mittens.
“You could have let Sarah take those away,” he said.
She sniffed. “I’m trying to find out who she is.”
“She couldn’t tell you?”
“By the time we got her into bed, she couldn’t put three words together, not so they made any sense. Didn’t want to take the laudanum, either. Shouldn’t wonder if she’s brewing a fever, the way she raved. I thought I’d have to hold her nose, but she took it in the end, poor girl.”
“So you have no idea where she is from?”
She hesitated before giving an answer. “No. I don’t like the idea of her family not knowing where she is. They must be frantic.”
“You forget that I know you of old, Mother.” Tom said. “You suspect something, don’t you?” She was wearing the same look as when she’d discovered the coal merchant inflating his accounts.
“She has red hair,” his mother said.
“She does?” Tom hadn’t noticed anything beyond that it was wet. “I don’t see how that helps.”
His mother pressed her lips together, but her pink cheeks betrayed her excitement. “Lord Fairchild has red hair. I’ve seen him from a distance, in Bury St. Edmonds. Red hair is unusual here.” Her words picked up speed. “I think she’s his daughter. She said she was riding home, and Lord Fairchild’s house isn’t that far.”
“Seems slender evidence to me,” Tom said. “He might not have any daughters.”
“I pick up bits here and there,” she said. “I’m fairly sure there’s at least one.”
He firmed his mouth against the chafing of old wounds, still angry that she had lived here nine years—nine years!—and couldn’t say for certain. This was not the way things should be. He drew a long breath and stared into the flames.
“Ah,” his mother said, drawing a sodden scrap of paper from a jacket pocket. “This might tell us something.”
Carefully, she unfolded the paper, fragile as tissue from the damp, and laid it out on the table. The ink had bled in many places, but some of the writing remained.
“She might dislike you reading her letters,” Tom commented, reaching for his brandy.
“What else are we to do, pray?”
He shrugged. “She is out of harm’s way. Her family will rest easier, knowing she is safe, but it makes no real difference if they find out now, or tomorrow, or the next day.” He would not turn away anyone in need. But taking extra pains for one of them . . . that was another matter.
“Tell me again, when you have children of your own,” she said, dismissing him with a sniff.
He watched her scan the paper, her lips moving as she read, and he felt guilty that she was so alone. If she had been able to have other children, his father might not have been so bent on elevating him against his will. He could have avoided Rugby altogether, and his mother would have more than his occasional visits to keep her company.
His mother gave an excited squeak, lifting her hand to her cheek.
“Well?” Tom asked.
“I’m right,” she announced. “Look here.”
Reluctantly, Tom left his chair and moved to stand beside her.
“He signs his letter ‘Jasper’, which I’m told is the name of Fairchild’s heir, the Honorable Jasper Rushford.”
She pronounced the name as if it was sacred, like Shakespeare, or Nelson.
“Look here,” she pointed. “There’s something about their father, and taking her to London.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock. “Tom, we’ve got Lord and Lady Fairchild’s daughter here!”
Wonderful.
His mother leaned back in her chair, fluttering her hands over her chest, as Tom returned to his, full of misgivings. Her unfocused gaze bespoke her agitation and rapid internal calculations.
Tom was annoyed. Fairchild’s daughter had no business showing up on his doorstep and knocking his mother out of orbit. He would have to get
rid of her as soon as decently possible. As long as she was here, his mother would scheme. He had no interest in cultivating a relationship with any of his toplofty neighbors, and he was reasonably sure they would not welcome acquaintance with him either.
It didn’t help that the girl was young. His mother wouldn’t be able to stop herself from matchmaking. Seeing him wed was becoming a mania with her. He wished she would understand that people like the Fairchilds would never permit their daughter to marry a Cit like him. Once, his father had tried brokering a marriage for him, but Tom had flown into such a temper he had never done it again. He regretted lashing out at his father for that, but it enraged him, being sneered at by financially embarrassed gentry who were reduced to selling their daughters. Brought him back to his schoolboy years at Rugby all over again.
The fact that the daughter in question had treated him like he carried a bad smell had not helped matters.
His mother was drumming her fingertips on the table beside her. A bad sign.
“We’ve done what we can for her tonight,” Tom said. “You needn’t go to any special trouble.”
“You can’t be serious. Miss Rushford is used to—she cannot be expected to—” His mother stopped sputtering and drew herself up with a long breath. “You’ll see, Tom. I can entertain her as well as any one else. She will not find fault with any of my arrangements. She shall have everything she can possibly require.”
“I’m sure she shall,” Tom said. Tempted to remind her that beggars couldn’t be choosers, he nevertheless held his tongue. This was going to be worse than he feared.
Chapter Eleven
Temptation
Sophy opened her gummy eyes and frowned, confused by the unfamiliar draperies above her. She was in a bed the size of a barouche, buried in a white froth of pillows. Pushing her hands into the mattress, she tried to sit, but was stopped by pain lancing deep in her shoulder. Recollecting with a groan, she sank back into the pillows and stared up at the yellow silk bed hangings. Her shoulder ached something fierce.