Page 1 of The Moonstone Major
Chapter One
Moonstone Landing
Cornwall, England
July 1821
“Look out!” adeep male voice shouted as Lady Chloe Killigrew stood frozen in Moonstone Landing’s busy high street, a yellow phaeton drawn by a pair of matched grays careening recklessly toward her. She had just emerged from Mrs. Halsey’s tearoom, her arms laden with packages, and the last thing she expected to do on this beautiful summer’s day was die.
Several people screamed.
Perhaps she was one of them, for facing imminent death had stolen the wits from her and put her in a fright. To her horror, she could not move her legs, no matter how wildly her instincts urged her to run.
She closed her eyes and was about to accept her fate when someone knocked her out of the path of those horses. The carriage careened harmlessly past her in a noisy clatter toward the harbor. A hot summer wind brushed against her cheeks, and she felt a jolt of pain as she landed awkwardly, partly atop her savior and partly hitting the muddy ground.
She sucked in a deep breath of relief, laughing as the scent of this morning’s rain and the less pleasant scent of lathered horseflesh permeated the air.
“Chloe, thank goodness,” her rescuer said in a gruff, resonant whisper, his strong, magnificent arms closing around her as their bodies sank into the mud. She was too relieved to care her gown was ruined.
Was she addled?
Could it be?
Fionn Brennan.
There was no mistaking the owner of that gloriously hard body or the muscles rippling beneath her as he attempted to shift them to a less awkward position. “Are you all right?”
How could she be anything but perfect while crushed in his embrace?
“I…I…think so, Major Brennan.” Never mind that she was partially sprawled atop him in scandalous fashion and struggling to regain her breath. While he had taken the brunt of their fall, they had both hit the ground quite hard.
She tried to slide off him, half tumbling and half rolling onto the oozing earth beneath her body as a dozen spectators hurried forward, some gawking and others offering assistance.
“Stand back, please,” Fionn ordered them, slowly sitting up. “Give Lady Chloe some room to breathe.”
He then put a hand lightly on her shoulder and ordered her not to get up just yet. “I heard you cry out in pain. Let me check you for broken bones. I’ll be as gentle as possible, but I must…I must run my hands over your…ah, over you.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Was this really happening?
This gorgeous man was about to touch her everywhere?
Her gown had ridden up her legs.
He calmly and ever so subtly tugged it down, grazing her leg with his fingers as he did so, and shooting tingles through her with the accidental touch.
Those hands.
She sank back on the muddy ground and moaned.
“Blast, did I hurt you just now?” His gaze was one of concern.
“You? No. You saved me.” Lying flat on her back as she was, Chloe could feel the ground rumble against her ears and recognized that vibration as the sound of pounding hooves now fading into the distance. Those frightened carriage horses must not have been calmed and remained on a mad gallop toward the harbor.
She hoped the fool of a driver would get a good soaking when the carriage tipped and spilled him into the water.
He certainly deserved it.
