Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
Harriet awakened because she was cold. The chill had seeped through every layer of her clothing. Her gown and petticoats were wet where they pressed against the ground, and the damp earth beneath her seemed to draw what little warmth remained from her body.
She attempted to move. Pain burst through her head with such force that her stomach rolled. Harriet closed her eyes again and lay still until the nausea passed.
Something sticky had dried along the side of her face. When she raised one hand to her temple, her fingers encountered blood crusted in her hair and a swelling so tender that the lightest touch made her flinch.
For several moments, she could not remember how she had come to be lying in a field.
Then Selby’s face appeared in her mind. She remembered the carriage stopping, the coachman being thrust inside and the groom upon the road.
Selby had chased her across the field. He had caught her.
They had struggled, and then she had fallen.
Harriet opened her eyes. Little daylight remained.
The woods were a dark mass beyond the edge of the field, and she could not see the road from where she lay.
She had to get up, though deciding to do so and accomplishing it were entirely different matters.
Harriet pressed both hands to the ground and pushed herself upright.
At once, the field tilted beneath her. She remained braced upon one arm, breathing carefully while she waited for the earth to become still again.
Her wet clothing had grown painfully cold. If she remained where she was much longer, she would die there. She knew it with the same certainty that she knew standing might cause her to lose consciousness again.
A man shouted somewhere beyond the trees. Harriet froze. Selby might have returned after discovering that she had not reached the road. The men with him might be searching the woods. If she answered, she would tell them precisely where to find her.
Another voice called from farther away. Lights moved between the trees, vanishing and reappearing as the searchers passed behind the trunks. Harriet drew her skirts around her and listened, though the effort of remaining upright made her tremble.
The first man shouted again. This time, the wind carried the sound clearly. He was calling her name, and she knew the voice. Harriet drew a breath and called, “Benedict!”
The sound of her own voice sent another sharp pain through her skull. She covered her head with both hands, fighting the urge to be sick. For several seconds, she could hear nothing beyond the pounding of her own blood.
The hoofbeats altered direction and came rapidly nearer. Harriet forced herself to lift her head. A lantern swung above the grass as a rider crossed the field. Benedict bent low over the horse’s neck, scanning the ground ahead of him.
She had never been so glad to see anyone in her life.
During her flight from Selby, she had thought only of reaching the trees and finding some place to hide. But beneath the terror had been the certainty that she had to reach Benedict. If she could get back to Everton, he would know what to do. He would stop Selby. He would keep her safe.
He had been doing so all along. Benedict had saved Alderley without making her father feel the full humiliation of accepting such aid.
He had ceded to Harriet’s demand for a marriage in name only, even when honoring that request caused him discomfort she had been too ignorant to recognize.
He had given her a home and then allowed her to determine what sort of marriage they would make within it.
She had trusted him with all of those things without admitting that she trusted him at all.
Now, cold and injured and more frightened than she had ever been, Harriet wanted nothing except to be in his arms. She needed him. And the realization that she might love him was almost as alarming as finding Selby at the carriage door.
Benedict reined in so abruptly that the horse tossed its head in protest. He was out of the saddle before the animal had fully stopped, dropping the lantern into the grass and crossing the remaining distance at a run.
He fell to his knees beside her, saying her name as his hands hovered uncertainly over her. Harriet had never seen such fear in his face. Even now, with her sitting before him and plainly alive, it remained.
“You took your time,” she said. Her voice was weak enough to ruin the effect, but Benedict made a sound which was very nearly a laugh.
“I beg your pardon. The next time you disappear into a field, I will endeavor to locate you more promptly.” His gaze settled upon the blood in her hair, and the brief humor vanished. “Where are you hurt?”
“My head. The rest of me aches, but I do not think anything is broken.” Harriet started to turn toward the road. The movement brought another wave of nausea, and she closed her eyes. “Selby stopped the carriage. He knows about our arrangement, Benedict. He meant to—”
“You can tell me when you are home.” Benedict removed his coat and wrapped it about her shoulders. “For now, I need to get you warm. Can you bear being moved?”
“I do not believe I can bear remaining here,” Harriet admitted, attempting to shift nearer to him without moving her head.
He slipped one arm behind her and the other beneath her knees. Harriet caught at his shoulders as he lifted her. The movement made the world shift again, but she pressed her face against his neck and held on until the dizziness passed.
Benedict’s arms tightened around her. She had been held by him once before, when he caught her upon the library ladder.
Then, every part of her had become painfully aware of every part of him.
She was aware of him now, but not in the same way.
The warmth of his body and the strength of his arms did not rouse curiosity. They offered comfort.
“I have you,” he said against her hair. “You are safe now.”
Harriet believed him. Men were approaching across the field, their lanterns bobbing in the darkness, but she paid them little attention. There would be questions, a painful journey home and a physician waiting at the end of it. She would face all of it in time.
For the moment, she rested against Benedict and allowed him to hold her.