Tabetha blinked but then focused her eyes on Stone again. “Chester?” she murmured.
“Rock. Your husband!” Mrs. Hettrick announced happily. “I think I hear Doc now. Yoo Hoo! Mr. Hettrick. We’re up here!”
Stone edged his way onto the bed beside her, concerned at the panic in her eyes. “Are you in pain?”
“My head,” she answered. “What’s happening?” She made an attempt to sit up but closed her eyes just as abruptly and fell back onto the pillow.
“Shhh… Give yourself a moment, duchess.” She seemed to calm down at his words. “Let the doctor take a look at you. You’re going to be just fine. Trust me, all right?” Stone may have failed thus far but from here on out, he would protect her—even if that meant protecting her from herself.
She could have died on those stairs.
“You promise?”
“I promise,” he vowed just before a bespectacled man entered carrying a black leather case—presumably, Dr. Finch. Tufts of hair stood out from the sides of his head and loose jowls swung beneath his chin as he glanced around the room. “I understand the patient is in here? Good God, what’s that?” The man’s bushy eyebrows flew up.
Stone followed the doctor’s gaze and then waved a hand through the air. “That’s… my wife’s… er… gerbil.” Stone really didn’t want the presence of Archimedes to get out. Hairless cats were hardly common in England, let alone in northern villages.
“A gerbil, you say? I can’t say I’ve ever encountered such an… unusual-looking creature.”
And now Archie had caught Mrs. Hettrick’s attention as well. “Does his hair grow back before winter? I can’t imagine an animal like that surviving the cold.”
“Ah, yes. Come November he’ll look like a small… er… bear.”
The innkeeper’s wife nodded but then turned her attention to more important matters. “Wilma, will you watch the front desk? I’ll remain with Mr. and Mrs. Chester in case Doc finch needs anything.”
Mindful of the promise he’d just made, Stone glanced at the door that was being opened and closed more than the entrance to the inn itself. He needed to keep an eye out for either the duke or any of his men. To imagine they were out of Culpepper’s reach would be foolish.
Because now that he was fully awake and reminded of the events from the night before, he distinctly remembered one of Culpepper’s thugs tailing them as they’d wandered through the village.
Marrying had been Tabetha’s idea, and at the time, he’d thought it was the safest course of action himself. Perhaps some other time he’d stop to examine if he had had any other motivations—motivation that had been compelled by a shapely figure, lush lips, and far too much whisky.
Stone moved off the bed and took half a step back. “She fell down the stairs and hit her head.” It seemed like the doctor would need to know something like that. “And she lost a good deal of blood.”
The doctor removed the now-bloodied linen that Mrs. Hettrick had placed at the back of Tabetha’s head and examined the wound. He glanced over at Stone somewhat suspiciously. “I see.”
“I can’t remember my name.” Tabetha’s eyes were open again. Stone hated the panic that had crept back into them.
“Likely temporary, my dear. Does this hurt?” the doctor asked. Tabetha flinched. “Ah. Nasty cut. The bleeding has almost stopped though. Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?”
Stone watched her expression as the doctor ran his hands down her arms and then poked at her side.
“I’m a little sick to my stomach.” Her lips were pale.
Stone didn’t know if that was from the night before or her fall.
“Taking a blow to the head tends to do that sometimes. ”
“But could she have hurt something inside when she fell?” Stone wasn’t a fan of the doc’s condescending answer—even if it was only intended to reassure her.
“I don’t think so. No tenderness in her belly, and her limbs appear to be intact.” He chuckled and then lifted his chin to stare at Stone through his spectacles, which had slid to the tip of his nose. “I understand you’re just married, and as this is Gretna Green, I’m inclined to ask a question of a rather sensitive nature. Are the two of you expecting a child?”
“No!” Stone answered adamantly.
Tabetha looked even more horrified, her eyes widened in shock. “I would know something like that, wouldn’t I?”
“We are not.” Stone stepped up to the foot of the bed and wrapped his hand around her ankle. “You are not.”
She met and held his gaze and then sent him a sad smile. “I would know. Of course, I would know that.”
