Damsel in Distress? (2 page)

Her black hair fell across her face. He gently brushed it aside and saw it was covered in blood. His breath stuck in his throat. Her face was a mess.

The one blue eye he could see was almost swollen shut, the skin around it turning black. Blood covered the lower half of her face and was still seeping out of her nose. There was a cut under her chin, but it was hard to tell with all the blood as to how deep it was. All of this was nothing compared to the large contusion emerging just under the hairline behind her ear. Blood oozed from her ear, trickled down her delicate throat, the red a vast contrast to the pale skin. A surge of protectiveness for this vulnerable stranger consumed him. His hands knotted into tight fists at the sight of what those men had done to her.

Philip wasn’t sure what to do. He ran his hand softly along her arm and whispered soothing words to her eerily still form. “It’s all right…I’m here now… You’re safe now, I’ve got you.” The words were meaningless, but nevertheless offered him comfort, even if
she
couldn’t hear them.

He needed to get her out of the park and to a doctor as fast as possible, but he didn’t want to leave her here all alone. What he wouldn’t give for a carriage at this moment.

A moan issued from her lips and all thoughts of transportation fled his mind. Relief flooded his system. He had been beginning to think she wouldn’t wake up. She turned her head and looked at him with her good eye. “Hello,” she said.

***

Harriet woke to a man looming over her. Her head was muddled and thoughts flew in every direction but she was unable to catch any of them. What did catch her was the intense blue of his eyes. She was sure they could almost see right through her. In that instant she didn’t wish to know anything other than his name.

***

“Hello,” he replied cautiously, not wanting to frighten her. “Could you tell me your name, miss?”

“Harriet. Why am I lying down? Who are you?” Her voice was husky and softly spoken. “Are you all right, you don’t look so good.”

“Exceptional; thank you for asking.” Philip paused, a smile touching his lips. “It’s you I’m worried about, my dear. Are you all right?”

A confused look crossed her face. She opened her lips to reply at the same time she tried to sit up, but the breath caught in her throat. The pain of her fall finally reached her consciousness. “What happened? Why am I here? Why am I so sore? Who are you?” The panic in her voice rose as she looked frantically around at their surroundings.

“It’s all right, my dear. You’re safe.” He spoke to her like he was comforting his mare whilst foaling.

His calming tone seemed to work. Her eye didn’t look so wild when she looked at him again.

She spoke slowly, pronouncing each word carefully, “Where am I? Who are you?”

He looked her directly in the eye, making sure she understood him. She was obviously frightened and he wanted to reassure her as much as he possibly could. “You are in Hyde Park, and I am Philip Blade, Baron Eaglestone, but you may call me Philip. I think after watching you almost get killed, we can do away with the formalities.”

“What do you mean, almost killed?”

“Don’t you remember?” She shook her head, “I suppose taking a fall like that will affect your memory. You do have quite a knot on your head.” He reached out towards the large lump but thought better of actually touching it, and let his hand drop. Philip wasn’t sure how much to tell her now. He assumed she would be the one telling him what was going on, but if she didn’t remember, he wasn’t sure he should alarm her by telling her three men had chased her down and tried to shoot her in cold blood.

“Um, well, I suppose we should try to sit you up.” He reached under her shoulders and gently drew her forwards. Her body was firm beneath her clothes. Philip marvelled at the way her muscles bunched under his arm as she prepared to sit. She was not some miss that just sat around receiving visitors and having cups of tea. “How’s your head?” he asked.

“Sore.” The smile she gave was tilted on one side and a small dimple showed briefly on her right cheek. Philip was momentarily struck with the glimpse of her beauty beneath the blood and bruises.

“Come on then, I believe we should have you seen by a doctor. Do you recall where you live, my dear? No. Well there’s nothing for it then. I’ll take you to my sister. She’ll take care of you until we can contact your family. What is your last name, my dear?”

The woman before him opened her mouth to reply, but no sound emerged from her lips, panic filled her eyes again.

He grabbed both of her hands and rubbed them gently to get her attention. “Not to worry,” he said once she looked at him. “I’m right here. You had a very nasty fall and you hit your head.” He wasn’t about to tell her a man kicked her in it as well. “I’m sure it’s normal to momentarily forget who you are with an injury such as this.” He hoped so, anyway.

“I’ll take you to my sister’s and send for a doctor from there. You have a nasty cut on your head which should be looked at and I’m sure there are other parts of your person that are tender as well, yes?”

The lady bit her lip and gave a small nod.

“It’s settled then. It’s just the two of us, so it’ll be slow going. I don’t think we should wait for the
haut ton
to arrive for their morning carriage rides, do you?” He could just imagine the gossip that would come from this if he was noticed with this poor woman. Next thing he would be to blame. As for being alone together, in the dark? The consequences of that was something not worth contemplating.

Her body swayed alarmingly once they managed to get her to her feet. His arm wrapped itself around her before he had even formed the thought to do so. He pulled her tight against his body to support her.

They didn’t make it very far before she needed to rest. She leaned her head upon his shoulder. They stood in silence, waiting for her to catch her breath. He was worried the men would return to finish her off and he wanted to get away from here as quickly as possible. Her breath warmed the skin exposed above his collar. She wouldn’t be able to walk another hundred yards let alone all the way to his sister’s house.

She looked at him just then and smiled. She straightened up and started walking. Her endurance amazed him, but after another two stops he decided to take matters into his own hands. Philip leaned over and caught her beneath the knees and with his arm clasped tightly about her shoulders, lifted her into his arms. He would carry her the rest of the way.

It took them ages but they managed to make it to the other side of Hyde Park, to the residence he shared with his sister. The sun was lighting the sky by the time they made it up the steps. The relief he felt when the door was opened by his sister’s butler Charles, dressed immaculately in his blue coat, white breeches, stockings and powdered wig, despite the early hour, and at not being seen by anyone, was unsurpassed. The surprise on the butler’s face was also unmatched by anything he had seen cross his expression before and, if it hadn’t been for the lady he was supporting in his arms, he would have laughed outright.

“Don’t just stand there, Charles, shut the door, we don’t want the whole neighbourhood to be privy to our goings-on, now do we?”

“Very well, sir.” Charles hastily closed his gaping mouth before closing the front door. “How can I be of assistance, my lord?”

“Please inform your mistress she is needed in the drawing room.” Philip moved to the entrance of the room and just before he shut the door added, “And Charles, send for a doctor as well.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Chapter 4

Mrs Hillary Barrett wasn’t usually up at this hour, but cook had been experimenting with spice from the Middle East this week and it wasn’t agreeing with her stomach. Last week she experimented with Chinese. Needless to say, Mrs Barrett found herself not only awake, but sitting in her front parlour with a cup of tea to calm her stomach just as the sun was creeping across the houses to greet the day. And since she had nothing to occupy her except her needlework, which she never enjoyed doing anyway, she found herself gazing out the window. And it was with this gazing, that she found herself privy to one of the juiciest gossip tidbits of the season.

Lord Eaglestone strolled down the street, which admittedly, if Mrs Barrett was regularly up at this hour, she would know was not a thing to remark upon, but it was the fact he was carrying a lady that was most notable.

The woman he carried was bedraggled in appearance but, although her clothes were askew, there was no mistaking that she was a lady of quality.

Mrs Barrett herself assumed the lady must have come to some harm and she was rising from her seat to offer assistance when Lord Eaglestone dropped a kiss on the top of the lady’s head before he mounted the steps of his sister’s home.

A gasp tore from her lips. That woman was not in need of help except from a priest. Mrs Barrett understood at once the meaning of her bedraggled appearance. The woman had come to no harm, at least not physically; morally yes, but it was obvious if Lord Eaglestone was kissing her with such reverence, the woman in question was no lady.

“What are you looking at now, dear wife?” Mrs Hillary Barrett’s fingers twitched the curtains of her parlour closed before she turned to her husband of twenty years. He knew her too well for her to pretend she was bird watching. Although in a way, she was. He stood in the doorway fully clothed and ready for the day. He was always up this early, although she never understood why.

“Lord Eaglestone is at it again! This time he’s bringing one of his paramours into his sister’s house! I for one refuse to put up with such blatant disregard to proper behaviour. First thing this afternoon, I will call on Lady Cressanda to offer her my support in this time of what is surely a trial. Imagine, having that woman in your house. Being flaunted right in front of your nose. Shocking, that’s what it is.” Hillary paused a moment and when her husband refrained from commenting, she turned in his direction. He had sat down in his favourite chair and picked up a newspaper. A paper! When she was in the middle of telling him something very important, “Albert, are you listening to me?”

“Yes, dear.” His eyes didn’t leave the newspaper but he raised his eyebrows and Hillary was once again assured of his attention.

“I must go and tell cook to prepare some nice biscuits I can take as an offering.” Hillary bustled out the door, not seeing her husband roll his eyes before returning to his paper.

Chapter 5

Harriet took in her surroundings. The house was elegant, with exquisite furnishings. Neither the décor nor the house made her uncomfortable or made her feel out of place, so she could only assume she, too, was accustomed to this sort of luxury. She couldn’t remember. She had hoped on the way to Lord Eaglestone’s residence that a memory would be jogged and she would know who she was, but nothing. It was as though there was a gaping black hole in her head…at least it wasn’t a bullet hole.
Where had that thought come from?
Why would she think about bullets? She could see the shape in her mind and an image of a gun, black and sleek, flashed in her memory, the smell of gunpowder in the air so real, she scanned the room for the source.

She shook her head slightly to clear it…or fill it up, she wasn’t quite sure which. She found the sights and sounds of London slightly familiar, as though she had been here before, but she had the impression something wasn’t quite as it should be. She wasn’t familiar with the area Lord Eaglestone lived in, but she wasn’t sure if that was because she couldn’t remember or, worse yet, she wasn’t from here. If she wasn’t from the area, how was she supposed to find her way back to where she had come from?

***

Philip looked at the lady propped on the blue patterned chaise longue in his sister’s drawing room. The lady insisted she would be fine sitting, but the colour was completely drained from her face; little wonder, as her blood was still oozing from her head. Her eyelids looked heavy as though she was trying hard to keep them open and he had a sudden compulsion to keep her awake. He was scared if she closed her eyes she would never open them again. He ignored the sudden clenching in his chest at the thought and forced himself to speak casually as though all was well.

“I’m sure my sister will be down directly. She wouldn’t have missed the commotion when we arrived.”

“Hmm?” Her eyes flickered closed.

Philip hastened to the chaise and sat beside her, indecently so; the cushions dipped where he sat and her body sagged towards him. Their thighs touched, sending heat straight to his groin, surprising him that he could have lustful thoughts about a half-dead lady with blood running down her face. He was immediately disgusted at himself and shifted his body away from her. It was no good, the weight of him far outmatched hers and her body followed his into the crevasse he created on the couch.

“Are you able to remember anything yet, my dear?” Philip turned his head to speak to her. He ended up talking into her hair, as she let her head fall upon his shoulder.

She opened her eyes, or at least the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut, and blinked at him in confusion. Her mouth opened but no words came out, so he repeated his question.

“No, I don’t know who I am.” She dropped her head back onto his shoulder and her good eye shut once more.

“Please stay awake,” he begged quietly, touching her face gently with his fingers.

The words had scarcely left his lips when his sister swept into the room in one of her best morning dresses; she was obviously here to make a point. Philip groaned.

“What is the meaning of this, Philip? How dare you bring one of your doxies into my house! You’re in my drawing room, for heaven’s sake…with the door closed!”

“Cres…Cressandra, let me explain.” Philip shouldn’t have been surprised at his sister’s reaction, but he was.

“Don’t you dare even try. Get her out of here this instant and you, dear brother, can go as well. I’ll have Charles pack your things and send them to wherever you find yourself. You have caused enough damage to our family this year without visiting this kind of scandal upon it as well.”