Page 59 of The Duke's Spinster Bride
“You could have been killed.” His voice caught on the lump in his throat.
The image of a lifeless body, sprawled in the mud, threatened to dominate his mind.
“I know.” Andrea’s voice trembled, and she reached out a hand to touch his arm.
Her touch sent a prickle of energy through him, calming his racing heart. “You are bleeding.”
The shock in her voice caught his attention.
“Am I?” he glanced down and saw a thin line of blood on his right forearm.
Andrea leaned forwards and he saw her grit her teeth as the movement jostled her hurt ankle. “Pass me that cloth.”
“If you are going to insist on tending to yourself again-”
“- I am not. But you are bleeding, and if you can look after me, then I can look after you.” She jutted her chin towards him, eyes glittering with defiance.
Sighing, he handed her a cloth. She dipped it into the water and pressed it against his arm. He let out a hiss of pain at the firmness of her movement.
Her eyes widened. “Sorry! I am no good at this sort of thing.”
Frederick swallowed. “I was just surprised, that’s all. The cut was deeper than I expected.”
She looked at him, chewing her bottom lip before she resumed wiping away the dirt from his hands and arms. At first, her movements felt tentative and unsure. Nervous?
With deliberate slowness, Frederick continued his own work, and felt her imitate him. “You are white as a sheet.”
Frederick murmured as he finished with the cloth and grabbed some of the salve.
“You are a fine one to talk, I do not think I have ever seen someone as pale as you were when you found me on the road.” Her voice was gentle, but she let out a hiss of pain when he touched the salve to one of her cuts.
“Sorry. This will sting a little, but it will aid your healing.” Frederick gave her a small smile.
Andrea nodded and he saw her grip the edge of the sofa more tightly as he applied the salve to her cuts. He noticed a bruise forming on her arm and swallowed around a lump in his throat
“I am sorry for frightening you so badly.” Andrea dabbed some salve on a few of Frederick’s cuts, her fingers brushing against his skin as she did.
“I know you did not mean to. And… If I had not overreacted as I had, perhaps you would not have felt the need to take the carriage and leave as you did.” The invisible hand clamped down hard on his chest.
Shame filled him as he remembered the way he had lost his temper.This is why you are not supposed to let people see you like that.But Andrea was shaking her head. “I should have known you were not trying to control me… But… Well, why did you react the way you did?”
Frederick tensed, his hand hovering above Andrea’s legs. The sound of screaming filled his mind, the memory of a crumpled body held in his father’s arms. He shook, stomach roiling.
The softness of her fingers against his skin spread through his body, pulling him back into the present. “You do not have to tell me if you do not want to.”
He let his fingers clasp around hers, closing his eyes and breathing in the smell of her jasmine perfume. “I want to tell you. It is… It is just difficult.”
“Take your time.” He felt her squeeze his arm.
“My mother…” He licked his lips, mouth dry. “When I was ten, she died. She went out with the hunt and fell from her horse.”
He heard Andrea’s intake of breath, it mingled with the sound of thunder that rolled through his mind. “We are not entirely sure what happened. She became separated from the other riders when she fell, but in the chaos no one realised. They thought she had simply returned home.”
His heart began to beat faster, his muscles tensing as memories flooded his mind. “Then a storm rolled in ,and they called off the hunt.”
He felt Andrea’s grip tighten on his arm ever so slightly and continued, “It was only when they returned that they realised she was missing. The rain was coming down in sheets, bits of the estate were flooding. We went out to look for her. My father took me on his horse.
“We searched for hours. I do not think I have ever been so cold in my life. It was… It was my father who found her.” He clenched his fist as his mind filled with the sound of his father’s anguished cries. “I do not think I have ever heard a sound like that before, nor since. She was… face down, motionless in water barely above our ankles.”
