Page 48 of Conveniently Wed
The shock of his hand on her knee, through the layers of her skirt and petticoat, roused her back to the present disaster.
“You’ll have to sit astride.”
Her worry for Emma renewed, Fran didn’t protest the unladylike move. And Edgar was too busy unstrapping a rope from the side of his saddle to look at her calves anyway.
“The horse knows if you’re calm or panicked.”
He must’ve sensed her skepticism, because he looked right up at her, rainwater sliding off the back of his hat. “It’s true. Yourbody might tense up when you get nervous, and your legs will tell the tale.”
His palm slid across her knee and he squeezed.
“All right. Project calm,” she said.
Lightning flashed, illuminating his face and the serious look he wore. He waited until the thunder had shaken them before he spoke. “We’re going to get her. Together.”
And she believed him.
“You communicate to the horse with your legs and hands,” he said. He pressed her knee into the horse’s side. “To move forward.” The horse obligingly stepped forward. Edgar followed, still gripping her leg.
Then he pressed her foot into the stirrup. At the same time, his other hand clasped both of hers on the reins and pulled back. The horse stopped.
“And if he…jumps from the lightning again?” she asked. She’d nearly fallen before and had only stayed on the animal’s back because she’d been clinging to Edgar.
“Then try to fall where he won’t step on you.”
How reassuring.
Edgar unfurled the rope and passed part around his back, then knotted it in front of his chest, leaving it only a little loose beneath his arms. He looped a small amount around the knob on top of the saddle. “First, I’m going to climb down the side of the bluff. Just keep the horse standing, all right?”
He slowly turned the horse to face away from the bluff.
She swallowed hard. The horse bobbed its head. She realized she was gripping the reins too tightly and the animal could feel it. She forced her hands to relax.
Edgar squeezed her forearm. “Once I get Emma, I probably won’t be able to climb the hill on my own. Wait for me to shout or wave, and then slowly move the horse forward. Don’t go too fast, or you’ll drag us.”
“Okay.”
“Sure?”
She smiled a shaky smile. “What choice do I have? We have to get Emma.”
He nodded, and she had the sense that he was proud of her. She would be proud if they got Emma back to safety.
“Steady, old boy,” he said to the horse, with a pat on its neck. He nodded once more to Fran and disappeared.
She turned as far around in the saddle as she dared, in time to see him lever his lower body over the side of the bluff. Quickly, his head and torso disappeared, then reappeared as he moved away from the drop-off.
She prayed silently and fervently as she saw his boots splash into the muddy brown water. He sunk to his knees, wobbling a bit before finding his balance.
A glance at Emma revealed the girl still prone on the ground, and Fran’s heart thumped wildly, just like it had at the first glimpse she’d gotten of her sister. Had Emma been hurt? Surely this was all Fran’s fault. Maybe Edgar was right, and keeping Emma in the dark about their possible pursuers had somehow made the girl feel she should run away.
The rope hanging from the saddle became taut as Edgar knelt over her sister.
She held her breath.
And then the rope slackened as he stood, with Emma’s slight body in his arms. Was she alive? Was she hurt?
He disappeared again beneath the lip of the bluff. She worried as he must be struggling through the dangerous water. Then, she saw Edgar’s hat waving just above the side of the bluff.
