It was gone.
Perhaps it was lost forever.Had she done this to him?
He shifted impatiently and crossed his arms over his chest “Your coloring isn’t good, my dear.One would think you’d seen a ghost.”
Her eyes grew wide as her gaze shifted.“Your arm!You can move it.”
“Your observation is correct.I’m not the cripple you left at the altar.”
She felt a nauseating wave of despair.“I never thought of you that way.”Elizabeth’s throat tightened.“I—I must be going.”
“Of course.Running away is your style.”
He might as well have slapped her, but she deserved it.Tears stung her eyes, but she would never let him see them.She lifted her chin, picked up her skirt, and stepped quickly around him.She hurried out into the street, tears blurring her vision.She had to get away from Jonathan.Now!
She never saw it coming.
Chapter 11
“Watch out!”Jonathan shouted.
Everything happened in a split second.She didn’t have a chance.
The black carriage came out of nowhere and bore down on Elizabeth.
The horse reared, his powerful hooves beating the air.
Elizabeth screamed and fell to the street as the driver fought to bring the carriage to a halt.
Jonathan’s heart caught in his throat as he helplessly watched the whole thing.How many times had he wished she were dead?But he knew deep down he’d never meant any of those thoughts.
He sprang forward.Though he ran as fast as he could, it seemed like forever before he reached her.He grabbed the horse’s bridle and backed the vehicle away from Elizabeth, then turned and looked at her.
She lay very still, her head thrown to the side, her black hair spilling across the cobblestones.Her gown was torn and dirt-smeared.
“I didn’t see her,” the heavyset coachman rasped while he scrambled down from the carriage.He grabbed the horse’s bridle to make sure the animal didn’t move forward and injure the lady further.“Is she dead?”
“You had better hope not,” Jonathan muttered as he knelt beside her.Elizabeth looked so small and frail.Carefully, he lifted her head, and immediately felt something sticky and warm.He looked at his fingers to see that they were covered in blood.He felt for a pulse, and let out a deep breath when he found one.
“She’s alive.”Scooping her up into his arms, Jonathan looked toward the driver.“She darted out in front of you.It wasn’t your fault,” he said grimly.“You may leave.”
“I hope the little lady will recover,” the driver said, politely touching his cap.
“I do, too,” Jonathan said as he carried her back to his house where Jeffrey stood in the doorway, his face as white as his hair, his eyes wide with terror, and his mouth dropped open.Jeffrey did manage to step aside as Jonathan entered with Elizabeth.
“Send someone for the physician posthaste!”Jonathan ordered as he went by the butler.
“R-right away, sir.”
Jonathan climbed the stairs, taking Elizabeth straight to his room.Kicking open the door, he entered and, in four strides, laid Elizabeth on the bed.
Her face was as pale as the linen sheets and the blood stained the pillowcase a bright scarlet.
“Elizabeth,” Jonathan whispered, but didn’t receive a response.He took her chin in his hand and gently moved her head back and forth.“Elizabeth.”She still remained deathly quiet
Her black lashes rested on her creamy skin.Though her skin was still soft as a child’s, there was a maturity about her that only heightened her beauty.
Jonathan glanced at her hand and noticed it was without a ring.Had she not married?He could only wonder.Then he remembered that one of his duties was to find her a husband.He was to be matchmaker to someone he’d once loved.He must have been bloody stupid to agree to help Adam.
