He did not do what she expected. Through the blur of her hot tears she thought he wore an expression she had never expected to see on him: confusion. His brow was furrowed, his lips drawn in a frown, and he shook his head. “Lina, my dear, sweet Lina, whatever—?”
“Don’t! Don’t attempt to...to... assuage me with your... your... lies, and your... your... oh, just do not!”
“But Lina, please help me to understand what has overcome you!”
Lina shook her head. “I have been such a fool to believe you, and believe Dr. Doy... Doyle...” As she said his name, returning to the formal surname they had bade her to dismiss in place of their first names, a sob was caught in her throat again. Dr. Doyle had seemed even more caring than Mr. Blackstone, and it was he who had spoken of her so... carelessly.
She could say no more.
Mr. Blackstone approached her, slowly stepping into the stable, saying her name, attempting to calm her as one might calm a horse. “Lina, Lina, please tell me whatever has so upset you,” he coaxed.
It all happened in quite a blur. She saw an opening and a moment of weakness, so she took it. Spooking a horse, after all, was much easier than calming one, and so that is what she did to the gray horse, who whinnied frighteningly and rose upon his hind quarters, sending Mr. Blackstone dashing to one side to avoid the great beast. This gave Lina an opening to escape, and she ran through the stable doors.
It was dark outside and there was very little moonlight, so she knew as soon as she headed onto the great lawn of the garden that there was nowhere she could run to. Yet perhaps she could make it to the hedge, and dive into it, and disappear into the surrounding woods. It was a terrible idea, she knew, for the woods were easy to lose oneself in, and she did not know this area at all. She was frantic as she ran, thinking of where she would go, and what she would do, but love and anger were a potent mix that went straight to her mind and robbed her of any sensible thought.
It was, therefore, somewhat of a relief to hear the hooves of the horse that followed her, and the voice of Mr. Blackstone calling her name. The inky darkness only increased as she ran, and the sounds on the ample lawn were distorted, so she turned her head to gauge the distance from the estate. That is when the ground turned uneven beneath her feet, and a wrenching pain seized her ankle, and the dim gas lights, and the stars, and the black ground all entered a nauseating spin, until the cold, damp grass rose to slap her squarely across the left cheek.
“Lina!” Mr. Blackstone was saying as the horse hooves slowed and the horse snorted, and she heard his feet on the ground. His strong hands seized her by the shoulders and pulled her close to him, and his arms encircled her. He was warm, and she inhaled his scent and was dizzy again with affection. The pain in her ankle burned violently, but it was her heart that made her eyes overflow with tears.
“Whathaspossessed you? Lina? Are you hurt?” Mr. Blackstone pushed her away to look at her face, but she knew he could not see her any better than she could see him. He placed a hand against her forehead. “Are you feverish? What haspossessedyou?!”
He sounded angry now, and Lina sobbed, shaking her head.
“Come, we shall return to the estate and you shall explain yourself fully,” he scolded her, as he lifted her beneath the arms.
Lina winced as she tried to stand on her ankle.
Mr. Blackstone pulled her to him, and she did not have the will to resist. She fell into his embrace and cried softly.
“You petulant girl,” he said, though his tone was not as harsh as it might have been. “Have you hurt yourself? Does it hurt very much?”
Lina could only nod.
And so he lifted her, easily and as though she weighed nothing, and set her upon the horse. He had evidently made peace with the gray horse she had intended to steal, and finished saddling him, all in but a moment’s time. When he looked up at her, his expression seemed partially bemused, though it may have been a trick of the light. “Are you able to ride this way?” he asked her.
She wanted very much to say no, or to fight him somehow, but it was occurring to her that her plans of escape were now senseless, and that she had no choice but to return to the estate.
She nodded, her lips pressed together.
She would return, but she would not be broken by her foolish sentimentality again.
“Let us return, then, and Callum shall see to your injury,” he said. It was then that she saw he was out of breath, and he paused to breathe deeply before asking her again, “Lina, my pet, what on earth has possessed you to do such a... reckless... thing?”
Lina pressed her lips together, and her heart burned. She only managed to say, “I do not wish to see Dr. Doyle.”
Mr. Blackstone looked at her for a moment, quite confused, and then, shaking his head, he began to lead the horse back to the stables.
* * *
But he took her tosee Dr. Doyle anyway, or rather, he must have called upon him to attend to her in the surgery. Mr. Blackstone had carried her from the stables to the room, and Lina had no choice but to hold him around his strong shoulders with her nose close to his neck, inhaling the sweet, masculine scent of his skin. He said only, “You will be quite all right, you silly girl,” but several times, almost as though he repeated it for himself rather than her.
“You will not tell me what has happened?” he asked her, after setting her upon the bed.
Lina turned her head to the wall and pressed her lips together, for she must remain resolute before Mr. Blackstone’s charms. She had grown weaker in her resolve as he carried her, but when she felt she might seek his mouth with hers, she repeated Dr. Doyle’s vile words in her mind, over and over again, to harden her heart to the two men she had only hours before loved so much.
Perhaps... we could... if we consent, allow the Moulay to take his pleasure with Miss Blanchet before our wedding, then the Moulay might see fit to forgive the debt...
“But what has she told you?” Dr. Doyle hissed outside of the surgery when Mr. Blackstone met him in the anteroom. “What has she done?”
