“I’m going down to the lake. Whose coming with me?” she sang the words, trying to sound light and cheerful. But inside her stomachrolled with fear. She swallowed. Her throat felt as dry as a dusty well.
She took a deep, calming breath. It’s only my imagination. No one is here. All I need to do is turn around and keep walking.
Just then a cold wind hit her from behind, extinguishing her candle. Darkness engulfed her. She turned on her heel and fled, her chest heavy with fear. Suddenly she flew forward, gasping the cold into her lungs as she grappled with the air. But gravity won. Then everything went black.
*
The sight ofBridget’s limp, muddied, and bloodied body almost brought Nate to his knees. His valet had woken him only minutes before with the news that the gardener, Thomas, had found Miss Bridget outside, bleeding from the head and half frozen. Upon hearing this, Nate had shoved on his robe and raced out of his room, just in time to see Thomas coming up the stairs with Bridget in his arms, followed by her weeping aunt, and faithful lady’s maid.
“Is she alive?” He looked frantically from the gardener to Aunt Marianne and back to Bridget’s listless body.
“Aye, luckily,” Thomas said. “But she’s chilled to the bone an’ dead weak. I’m afraid this nasty gash on her forehead cost her a lot of blood, sir.”
Aunt Marianne pressed a handkerchief to her face and whimpered. And Eliza stared at Nate with accusing black eyes.
“Let me take her.” Nate stretched out his arms to relieve the gardener’s burden. “I’ll see to it that you are rewarded for this act.”
“No, please! I want no reward. My act has nothing to do with kindness. I’ve known Miss Bridget since she were a wee girl, an’ I’d do anything to protect her. My reward will be laying her safely onto her bed if you please, sir.”
“Of course.” Nate stepped back and let the man pass. DespiteThomas’s advanced years, muscles bulged on the man’s arms and legs. He was still fit and strong enough to carry Bridget with ease.
Nate followed them into the room and as the gardener carefully lowered Bridget onto her bed he asked, “Has the doctor been called?”
“Aye,” Thomas said, turning to face Nate once Bridget was safely being tended to by her aunt and lady’s maid.
Nate tore his gaze from her still form and pale face. He swallowed, feeling helpless and somehow, at fault. “Good. I’ll go downstairs and wait for him.”
“Good idea, sir. We should leave the ladies to care for Miss Bridget,” Thomas said.
Nate nodded in agreement, though he had no desire to leave. He tried desperately to catch another glimpse of Bridget but Aunt Marianne bodily ushered the men out of the room and closed the door behind them.
“Tell me everything that happened,” Nate said as he walked downstairs with Thomas. “How did you find her?”
“I was making me way about the grounds as always this morning, seeing what needed tending to, and there she were, lying face down in the dirt. I got the fright of me life, I did, seeing her there. Almost thought my heart would give way. It looked to me like she tripped over a tree root. We have so many of them in the thicket.” Thomas shook his head. “I can’t think why Miss Bridget were in the outer thicket of the garden at night. She knows better. And she were without her pup. Curious that. She always keeps her dog with her.”
“Does anyone know where Bijou is?”
“Aye, Cook has him. She says Miss Bridget left the little beast with her overnight. She weren’t worried because Miss Bridget had done so before on occasion.”
“What about a lantern? Was she carrying one?”
“Aye, I found it beside her, the candle extinguished, of course. Poor lass.”
Nate nodded. It was obvious to him what had happened. He’d abandoned the investigation into Madam Bouffant’s death and made light of Bridget’s concerns. And then she’d decided to continue alone, taking it upon herself to play sleuth in the middle of the night. He really was at fault. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
*
It was notlong before Doctor Elias arrived, but it seemed like an eternity to Nate. He paced the carriageway outside Villa De Lacey, not caring that he still wore his nightshirt and robe. He was consumed by a concoction of worry, guilt, and anger. He worried that Bridget wouldn’t recover, felt guilt over his role in first encouraging and then dismissing her ideas about Madam Bouffant’s death, and he was furious with her for risking her safety. How could she have wandered out into the garden alone like that?
If she died…No.He shook the thought from his mind.
Doctor Elias’s coach finally passed through the gates of Villa De Lacey and made its way up the driveway.
“She’s upstairs,” Nate said as the doctor stepped out of his carriage, clutching his black medicine bag. “Let me take you.”
“No need. I was present at Miss Bridget’s birth. I know in which room she resides.” The doctor swept past Nate, who followed him.
Eliza, who must have heard the doctor make his way up the stairs, opened the door to Bridget’s chamber before they had time to knock.
