Page 52 of The Society Catch
‘He was destined for very great things, all I could do was to make sure I was as ready as possible to support him.’
Giles stiffened in her arms. ‘Listen.’
Joanna strained her ears to catch the distant sounds. ‘Deer perhaps, not horses, I think.’
‘Go on.’
‘I was such an innocent fool,’ Joanna said abruptly. ‘He was gone for thr…years. Every day I studied the announcements and felt myself safe because there was no notice of his engagement. It never occurred to me that he was living his own life, finding his own love.’
‘Whendidyou realise it?’ Giles was sounding increasingly distant. Joanna willed him to give up and to slip into merciful unconsciousness until rescue came.
‘I realised when I saw him with the woman he loves at the Duchess of Bridlington’s ball. I did not face up to just what an idiot I had been all that time until after I had run away and had time to think about it.’
‘Tell me about the ball….what…’ Joanna felt Giles’s tense body relax into her arms and let out a deep, answering, sigh of relief. He had slipped into unconsciousness at last. But now she had begun to talk it was difficult to stop. Anxiously she studied his face. The traces of pain still marked it, a thin line of blood at the corner of his mouth marked where his teeth had closed in agony on his lip. But his breathing was deep and regular and the strong torso in her arms had the weight of oblivion.
Reassured, she continued speaking, as though by telling herself the story she could staunch the wounds that evening had left.
‘I went to the Duchess’s ball, even though I was in disgrace with Mama and Papa for not receiving Lord Clifton. I had no expectation of seeing… seeinghimthere. After all, I had looked for him night after night, day after day for three years.
‘But hewasthere, like some wonderful, inevitable miracle and I started to make my way up the ballroom to meet him. It was going to be perfect, I knew it. Then he went into a retiring room. I never even thought to wonder why, I simply followed him and there she was in his arms, that beautiful, eligible young lady. And he was telling her he was going to speak to her father, telling her she was his first and only love. I saw his face: I could not doubt him. His eyes betrayed just what he felt.’
Joanna was hardly aware she was speaking aloud. Her arms cradled Giles, rocking his body against herself in a gesture as old as time. ‘I got away somehow, and then you came and looked after me. Nothing mattered after that. What was I to do? Not marry some man I detested, that was all I was certain of. I had to get away, and you know the rest.’
The soft sigh of his breathing was all the answer she received. Joanna bent her head silently to study every line of Giles’s face and set herself to wait.
How much later it was before she heard the sounds of hooves approaching, then the blessed sound of voices raised and calling, Joanna had no idea. The sun had moved almost overhead, her mouth was dry and her stomach grumbled at her.
‘Giles, they are here.’ She shook him gently by the shoulder then raised her voice and shouted, ‘Here! Help! Help, down here!’
It seemed like dozens of men who came crashing down the slope as she arched protectively over Giles’s body. Then they resolved themselves into Alex, his face like thunder, Hickling, and three grooms.
Alex fell to his knees beside Giles, his eyes appalled as they took in the bloodied and mangled leg and the cruel trap around it. He reached out one hand and pressed his friend’s shoulder then snapped at Joanna, ‘Get away from here.’
‘No. Why…?’ She was hauled to her feet and dragged to oneside, still protesting. ‘Giles needs…’
‘Giles would not be in this state if it were not for you.’ Alex’s face was drawn and furious. ‘When we release the pressure of those jaws the pain is going to be infinitely worse than it is now as the blood begins to flow again. He is going to want to swear or throw up or faint – or all three – and he does not need to have you hovering around clucking and making him feel he cannot do any of those things in front of a lady.
‘Now get out of here and find Peter. He’ll take you up and you can ride with him back to the Hall. Tell the doctor what has happened and get Giles’s room ready.’
‘The doctor? The doctor is at Tasborough?’ Joanna pushed Alex’s angry, hurtful words to the back of her mind and clutched at the one thing that mattered.
‘Hebe went into labour after breakfast,’ Alex said grimly.
‘She is all right?’
‘How the hell would I know? The last person they tell is the father. It all seems to be taking a damn long time.’
No wonder he was so angry with her. Joanna reached out and gave Alex a swift, hard hug. ‘She will be fine, Alex. Now look after Giles. I will go and do just as you say.’
Resolutely she pushed the thought of what was happening in the dell out of her mind and climbed up to where one of the under-grooms was waiting with a farm cart and three horses. Black Cat, his off-hind cocked up, was standing dolefully, nose to nose with one of his stable mates.
‘Peter? His lordship said that you are to take me up and we are to return to the hall to alert the doctor. The Colonel has been hurt.’
The ride back clinging to Peter’s rough jacket was little more than a lurching blur. As they reached the steps Joanna slid from the horse and ran for the front door which opened as she reached it.
‘Miss Joanna, what has happened?’ It was Starling, shaken right out of his usual imperturbability.
The ride back had given her enough time to order her story and what she must do. ‘The Colonel has been caught by a mantrap and his leg is badly injured. His lordship is bringing him back in the wagon. We must tell the doctor and make the Colonel’s room ready.’ She was already running up the stairs towards Hebe’s chamber. ‘We will need hot water and bandages,’ she tossed back over her shoulder.
