Danice Allen Read Online Free Page A

a peagoose, Theo! He’s not going to die … unless, of course, we let him bleed to death!” Amanda intensely disliked the sight of blood and was certainly not accustomed to touching strange gentlemen, but this was an emergency. She lifted her chin and demanded, “Step aside and let me have a go at ’im!”
    Theo more than willingly relinquished his responsibility for the swell into his employer’s only slightly steadier hands.
    As Amanda got down on her knees beside the man, she sternly told herself to be calm and efficient. Now was not the time for her to get swoonish over a bit of blood, or to let her shy reluctance to touch a member of the opposite sex get in the way of saving a man’s life.
    Without looking directly at the unconscious gentleman, and disregarding the muddy ground and the rain that spotted her velvet cloak, she hastily folded the muslin. “Hold the lantern closer, please,” she ordered.
    In the bright glow of the lantern, Amanda finally looked at her patient. For a moment she was so arrested by the man’s face, she froze. He was by far the handsomest man she’d clapped eyes on in an age. She winced when she saw the gash above his left brow, however, and immediately pressed the folded muslin against it for a couple of minutes, then dabbed away some of the blood.
    She was relieved to see that the laceration was not very deep, but he did have a rather alarming lump beneath it. She supposed the swelling accounted, in part, for his continued unconsciousness. But Amanda smelled the strong odor of liquor on the man’s person and concluded that he was inebriated, too. She wondered how much his unconsciousness could be attributed to his injury and how much was the result of too much brew-tipping!
    While her servants once again averted their gazes, Amanda tore another length of muslin from her petticoat, then wrapped it around the man’s head in a makeshift bandage. “There, that shall have to do till a physician can be consulted,” she said, briskly whisking her hands together. “We’d better get him off that cold ground and out of the rain immediately or else he might catch an inflammation of the lung to add to his troubles. Lift him into the carriage, gentlemen.”
    “Where are we takin’ ’im, miss?” was Theo’s most reasonable question.
    Amanda’s brows furrowed. “I don’t know.” She scanned the area, seeing nothing but thick shrubbery and trees shrouded in mist. “I can’t even imagine where he came from in the first place. I don’t see any lights or smoke from a chimney.”
    “According to the map, the closest village is ten miles west of here, miss,” said Theo. “They might have a doctor there to attend to the gent. And even if they don’t, I’m thinkin’ it’d be smart to rack up for the night at the first decent inn we see in town and take care of ’im as best we can.”
    “Yes, that would be the logical thing to do,” Amanda agreed. “I had been thinking it was time to stop even before this unfortunate accident. We’re nearer the coast here, and the fog is rolling in. Travel could become quite difficult. As for this gentleman, once he’s regained consciousness, he’ll be able to explain the whole incident and give us names and directions of relatives we can notify.”
    And hopefully they’d not be delayed too dreadfully long from pursuing the real purpose of the trip, thought Amanda. She felt sorry for the injured gentleman, as well as responsible, but getting to Thorney Island to rescue her half-sibling was uppermost in her thoughts.
    “You take ’is feet, Harley,” ordered Theo, speaking to the smaller of the two outriders. “I’ll take ’is upper parts, and Joe, you keep ’is middle parts from saggin’. The bloke weighs at least fourteen stone, I’d wager!”
    Amanda held both lanterns and watched as her servants lifted the man—with some considerable effort—off the ground. He was absolute dead weight and hadn’t moved, nor even so much as