Ridge drew in a shaky breath. “Yes. Yes, I think we can.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
India opened her eyes, wincing at the sudden pain that lanced down her arm. The ceiling blurred then slowly came into focus. Ceiling?
Where was she? She glanced around, realizing she was lying in a bed, a comfortable bed, and she was inside a dwelling of some kind.
Fuzzy images came back to her in snippets. Ridge carrying her. Her father’s voice. The feel of her father’s arms around her. Had she dreamed it all?
She struggled to sit up and gasped as a wave of nausea struck her. She glanced down at her shoulder to see heavy bandaging wrapped around her chest and arm, anchoring her arm to her side.
“You’re awake.”
She jumped and stared into the face of a strange man. Yet, there was something vaguely familiar about him.
“I’m sorry to have startled you,” he said, his deep voice rumbling over her.
“Who are you, and where am I? Where’s Ridge? And my father? Did I imagine him?”
The man smiled at her. “No, you didn’t imagine him. He is quite impatient to see you. As is Ridge. Shall I summon them now?”
She nodded, her throat squeezing uncomfortably. She was going to see her father at last! He was safe. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she wiped at them with her free hand.
Footsteps clamored in the doorway, and her father burst in. “India, India, my girl! Thank God you’re safe.”
He closed the distance and gingerly folded her in his embrace. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to the feel of him. The smell.Papa.
More tears spilled in rapid succession.
“There, there. Don’t cry, girl. Everything is fine now.”
He patted her awkwardly on the back then settled her back on her pillows.
“Let me look at you,” he said, surveying her intently.
He reached out a hand to touch a lock of her hair. “What happened to your hair?”
She opened her mouth but found herself unable to speak around the knot in her throat.
She breathed deeply, shaking, trembling. Then she asked the question uppermost on her mind.
“Why, Papa? Why the deception? Why was I led to believe you were in danger?”
His eyes softened with regret. “I did not like lying to you, girl. But I did what I must to ensure that you would come. I wasn’t sure after what happened in India that you would be willing to honor a request.”
He looked down at his hands. “Arcane didn’t like that I went to such elaborate lengths to deceive you. He thought I underestimated you, and perhaps I did. But...I wasn’t sure how you would feel about me after...after you discovered that I was here.”
Her heart seized, and her jaw ached with unshed emotion. “You left me,” she said, her voice cracking.
He closed his eyes. “You cannot know how many nights I’ve lain awake wishing with all my might that I could go back and change the past. I thought you dead. I didn’t think you had a chance of survival, what with the British High Command refusing to negotiate for your release. It wasn’t until I arrived here that I learned you were alive and had returned to England.”
“Theyrefused?”
He nodded. “There was so much tension in the region, and the regiment commander didn’t feel that one woman was enough to risk the tenuous peace.”
She looked down at her hands, pressing them together to keep from shaking.
Hadn’t she meant more to him? Shouldn’t he have moved heaven and earth to try and free her?
