Page 66 of Loving an Earl
She flew out the door so quickly that Edmund barely had time to react and catch her. His damaged leg buckled and they tumbled to the hard ground with a loud thud. “Did you get hurt?” he asked as he breathed through the pain of rocks and sticks stabbing into his back.
“No. You cushioned my fall.”
She rose off him, and helped him stand when she saw him struggling to get up. “Your leg. Is it bothering you?” Her concern was a balm to his pain.
“Yes. But I’ll be fine.” He walked her over to the side of the road, then wrapped her up in his arms and held her as her body shook and she broke down and cried big, gulping sobs into his chest. She was trying to talk, but he couldn’t make out a single word. He kept holding her as his heart broke in two for her. For a young lady of nineteen, she’d gone through so much in her short life. Now that he’d found her safe and unharmed, he swore he would spend the rest of his life devoted to making her happy.
It wasn’t long before Caldwell stood beside them. “They are both tied up. Can you help me get the driver inside the carriage? I’ll drive them back to the inn and send for the constable. Lilly can ride my horse.”
Edmund helped Lilly up on Caldwell’s mount.
“Have you ridden astride before?”
“Yes. Several times.”
He swallowed down his groan of pain when he mounted his horse. There would be time later to rest his leg. They rode side by side in front of the carriage. When they arrived back at the inn, the innkeeper sent word immediately to the local constable. Edmund, Lilly, and Caldwell sat in a private room enjoying refreshments while a stablehand guarded the carriage and its occupants.
“Let me look at your leg?” Lilly asked, her face pale and her eyes worried. Edmund didn’t need her worrying about his leg. He was concerned about her.
“If I remove my boot, I’ll never get it back on. There will be time for that later.” He paused and lowered his voice. “Tell me what happened?”
She pushed her hair from her eyes, her coiffure long since destroyed, and the anguish he saw in them rattled his heart. “Not now. Not here,” she whispered.
As much as he wanted to know, he could see she was in no condition to explain her terrible ordeal now. The constable arrived not long after. They explained what had happened, and he assured them he would see the two prisoners to London.
Edmund wanted to rent a coach, but Lilly refused. “I can’t be inside a carriage right now. I need to be outside and free.”
Once again, he respected her wishes.
They rode the twenty miles back to London in silence. Edmund’s eyes were heavy with exhaustion but he managed to watch over Lilly just in case she nodded off. He would not allow her to be hurt on his watch. She’d been through enough.
Edmund watched from atop his horse as Blackstone, Emmeline, and Vivian hurried out the front door when they arrived at Emmeline’s townhome. Blackstone immediately stepped forward and helped Lilly down, and then, with his arm around her waist, he escorted her inside the townhome. It was the right and gentlemanly thing to do, but still, a stab of jealousy pierced Edmund’s insides that someone else had the privilege of putting an arm around her. But what right did he have to be jealous? He’d managed to ruin whatever relationship he and Lilly had again and again. He pushed the thought from his mind—that didn’t matter now. The only thing that mattered was that Lilly was safe and away from Redford.
“Are you getting down?” Caldwell asked with worry.
“I don’t know if I can. My leg has gone numb again.”
Caldwell signaled to a footman standing outside the front door. “Lord Langford needs help getting down from his mount.” Between the footman and Caldwell, they were able to help him dismount and lend a hand in getting him into the house. The stairs were a bugger; Edmund kept thinking he was going to fall backward and break his neck. When he finally reached a comfortable chair and his leg placed on a footstool, he breathed a sigh of relief.
*
The six ofthem sat in the drawing room as a servant brought in tea. Aunt Vivian served Lilly, who sat beside her on the settee with Emmeline on the other side. “My dear, drink this. It will warm up your bones and help settle your stomach and nerves.”
“What did you put in it?” She may be numb and fighting sleep, but she was sure she’d witnessed Aunt Vivian pour something from a decanter into her tea.
“It is brandy. Just a little. It will help you relax and sleep.” Aunt Vivian patted her knee. “You have had a terribly shocking ordeal, and you need rest.”
Lilly needed much more than rest. She needed to forget what happened. She needed to never see Redford’s evil face again. She quivered. Unfortunately, she believed his face would plague her during sleep for many nights to come. The room was uncomfortably silent as all eyes watched her. Why? Were they waiting for her to scream? Start blabbering to herself? She may do those things, but she would wait until she was in the privacy of her chambers. Then she could fall apart. “I imagine you want to know what happened?”
Emmeline took one of her hands in hers. “We do. But only if you are ready to talk about it.”
She truly didn’t know if she’d ever be ready. “What I want to know is will Redford ever be free again?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Langford said as his rubbed his upper thigh. Lilly didn’t think he was aware he was doing it.
“How?” she asked.
“The magistrate will know by now what happened, and will no doubt send word soon asking you for an audience. When you are ready, he will arrive and take your statement.” He paused. “You don’t have to meet him alone. I will be with you if you’d like.”
