Miss Cresswell's London Triumph (28 page)

He urged his horse to greater speed, but just as he was sure he was gaining on Cassie and Chiron there was a terrific flash of lightning followed by a truly deafening clap of thunder. Frantic with fear, Chiron reared, throwing his rider, who landed with sickening speed and lay there ominously quiet.

"Cassie!" Ned was desperate now as he dug his heels into his mount.

Minutes later he was on the ground beside her, lifting her tenderly in his arms and wiping the mud off her face with his soaking handkerchief. "Cassie, my love, are you hurt?" he asked frantically.

She shook her head mutely, the rain streaming down her face.

"Cassie, my precious girl, please tell me you are all right," he pleaded anxiously.

'"No," she gasped. "I am not all right. I don't know how I could have been so stupid to have fallen except that my mind was on something else." She shook her head defiantly, spraying drops of water in every direction.

He smiled at her tenderly stroking away the tendrils of hair sticking to her face. "That's my lovely Cassie, pluck to the backbone. But what were you thinking of?"

She was silent.

Cupping her chin in his hand, Ned tilted her face up to look at him. "What were you thinking of?" he asked again softly.

A blush crept up her neck, staining her cheeks. "Nothing," she whispered.

He thought she had never looked more adorable and he ached to pull her to him and kiss her until she was breathless, but he wasn't sure. He cared so desperately for her and he didn't want to frighten her or ruin anything now. "It can't have been nothing if it caused Lady Cassandra Cresswell to be unseated by a horse," he teased gently. "Cassie?"

Cassie looked down at her hands as she twisted them nervously.

"Cassie, look at me," he commanded.

She threw back her head defiantly, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

"Oh, my love." He caressed her cheek with his hand. "I passed Arabella's carriage on the road to Cresswell. Did she visit you?"

Cassie nodded.

Ned's face darkened. His previous experience with spoiled beauties, and this one in particular, had taught him that when one of them visited another woman, her motives were highly suspect. "What did she tell you, my love?"

Cassie shook her head.

He tilted her chin so he could look into her eyes, his heart wrung by the sadness he saw there. "Cassie, my darling girl, she means nothing to me. She never truly did. At one time I thought she did. I was infatuated with her, but it's you I love. It always has been you my best, my dearest friend."

A sob escaped her and she buried her face in his shoulder as he pulled her into his arms. I love you so desperately, my love," he whispered against her hair. "Please tell me that I'm not wrong. Please tell me that you do care."

Cassie pulled away and looked up at him, tears clinging to the dark lashes and drowning the dark blue eyes. "I do. I do love you, only I was so scared," she whispered.

"Scared? Of what, my love?" he asked, smiling tenderly at her.

"Oh, I don't know. Of loving you so much, of wanting you so dreadfully, of losing myself. I was overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions and I wasn't sure I liked that. Oh, I can't explain it." She looked at him pleadingly.

His smile disappeared to be replaced by an expression of great seriousness. "My beautiful love. Youll never lose yourself. Well be as we've always been. Youll pursue your own interests and share them with me. I shall pursue mine and share them with you, and we shall continue as the best of friends and lovers." He spoke gravely, striving to reassure her as best he could. "Marry me, Cassie?" It was his turn to look pleading now.

"Yes, Ned," she replied solemnly.

His lips came down on hers and he pulled her close to him, caressing her, warming her, molding her body to fit his as the rain poured down around them.