Page 82 of Married to the Forbidden Duke
“Well then.” Frederick narrowed his eyes against the swirling disconnect between his head and the rest of his body. His limbs felt too heavy. He ignored that, too. “Let us ride.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Alice had barely gotten off to sleep when a loud knocking interrupted her. She jerked awake, already breathless, reaching for a candle and limping to her bedroom door. Voices rose from the hall, a little too quiet for her to make out, but the urgency in them could not be mistaken.
Uncertainty gripped her. Had her uncle heard about her returning here and sent someone to throw her out? To be sure, it was no longer her home, but—
She would not go back to Frederick’s home unless she was invited, no matter what that cost her. Her pride was worth more than that.
Still, a feeling of dread overcame her. No one paid casual calls in the middle of the night. Something had to be wrong.
“Your Grace!” Jenny, also wearing a nightgown, came running up the stairs, a flickering candle in her hand. She shielded it withthe other and came to a panting stop. “There’s been an accident. His Grace was riding to you when his horse reared, and—”
Alice’s stomach dropped so instantly, she could practically feel it tug itself free from her body. She steadied herself against the doorframe, all the worst-case scenarios flooding her mind. An accident by horseback—it wasn’t a carriage accident, but she remembered hers all too well. The fear, that sickening feeling of falling, and the crunch of impact. The pain.
Her parents’ unmoving bodies.
She shook her head, trying to free the images from her brain so she could think again.
Every breath felt laced with fear like she had never known. Frederick, lying dead on the side of the road. His neck—
No, she couldn’t even think it!
Her knees threatened to give out. “Is he—” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
Jenny knew anyway. “No, Your Grace. A physician has been called, and he was barely conscious when he was sent home. They are saying he will survive.”
Alice clung to those two words as though they were a lifeline, flung out to her. He would survive.Survive. She had not knownhow beautiful such a small word could sound. He was alive. He would survive.
She wanted to fall to her knees and weep. The turmoil in her chest barely let her take a breath. Guilt and pain warred for prominence. It was all she could do to keep standing. But she must, because Frederick needed her, and she would not fail.
She had not been able to save her parents, but she would do whatever it took to save her husband.
She reached a hand out to her maid. “Take me to him,” she whispered hoarsely.
Pain. Frederick seemed wrapped in it. He blinked at the ceiling, and heard a muffled sob from beside him.
“You’reawake,” a painfully familiar voice murmured, before he felt pressure on his chest. Something pressed against his neck, and after a moment he realized it was a face, damp with tears.
Alice was here, she was embracing him, and she wascrying.
Why did his body hurt?
“I am so so sorry,” she croaked, drawing back. Now he could see her face, he saw the self-conscious flush rise up her cheeksas she made space between them once more. He was in his own bedchamber, which struck him as strange, seeing as he had left it behind for the country. And Alice was still wearing a traveling cloak.
He frowned, trying to piece all the information together.
“What…” He coughed. “What happened?”
“You were riding,” Alice said softly, her luminous eyes glossy with tears. “And you came off your horse. I—” She buried her face in her hands as she attempted to gather herself. “I spoke with the physician. He said your arm is broken and your ribs are badly bruised, but you are in no immediate danger. But when I came in, you looked so…” She cut off again, her voice cracking.
If he didn’t hurt so very much, he would have gathered her into his arms. “And you didn’t wake for so long. I thought—”
Her parents... How must she have felt, rushing to him in the middle of the night when she heard he had been in a similar accident?
“Alice,” he said hoarsely. “I am all right. Shh. It’s not like…” He reached for her, but she backed away, her tears overflowing.
“What were youthinking?” she demanded in more of that pained, cracked voice. “They said you were coming to see me. All this for me?” Her throat worked. “If you wanted me to come home, you could have written to me to ask. You could have takena carriage. Not ridden out in the middle of the night! Do you know what could have happened?”
