Page 71 of Her Wily Duke

Benedict turned his gaze directly to Ariana.

“It wasn’t real, I didn’t….”

Ariana blinked, but didn’t want to argue with the person trying to rescue her while someone else pointed a gun at her. Nonetheless, she could not prevent herself from responding, the words slipping from her mouth before she could call them back.

“Don’t try to deny it,” she said. “I know what you did. I overheard you and Fitzherbert talking about it. I never loved you, I — I only thought I did. I felt what you wanted me to feel.”

Lord Jasper smiled with malicious satisfaction as she glowered at Benedict.

“You felt what you felt,” said Fitzherbert, his head scraping against the boughs of the yew tree. “I never gave Benedict a love potion. I gave him a bottle of water to which a squeeze of lemon had been added. The tonic had no effects - apart from making him feel better about your marriage.”

“He only just told me this,” said Benedict. There was a desperate tone in his voice, as if he worried that Ariana might go to her death thinking he had manipulated her. “When you loved me, you loved me.”

Ariana wished that she hadn’t learnt this while staring a gun in the face. She ought to have known that she had really loved Benedict. Those feelings were too complex to have been manufactured, and in any case, she still loved him. Not that there was much she could do about it now, when death was imminent. Instinctively, her hand went out towards him.

“Very touching,” interrupted Lord Jasper, apparently irritated that Benedict had stolen Ariana’s attention away from him. “Do you have any other final words to say to each other?” Benedict held her gaze for a moment, his face pale, but said nothing as Lord Jasper watched, chuckling in a manner quite mad. “No? Then let’s make this quick…”

It ended quickly, though not in the way that Lord Jasper had intended. Once more he pointed the pistol at Ariana; but then, with a swiftness which might have proved fatal, he turned it in Benedict’s direction. Fortunately, it appeared that Benedict was prepared for just such an eventuality. Without a second’s hesitation he surged forward and flung the rock at Lord Jasper, just as the gun fired. Both men cried out in pain — a bloody wound had blossomed above Benedict’s right arm, while Lord Jasper, perhaps underestimating Benedict’s aim and the size of the rock, was surprised by a blow to the head.

For a split-second Lord Jasper stood there foolishly, as if regretting the actions of the past hour. He then fell to his knees, revealing a massive gash on the side of his head, tumbled over the cliff edge, bounced off the rocks and slipped head-first into the water below, whose powerful currents snatched him and dragged him away.

Ariana could only feel that justice had been served.

Lord Jasper was surely doomed, and he could be retrieved later – for now, Benedict was all that mattered to her.

With a speed and urgency that she hadn’t known she possessed, Ariana ran to Benedict’s side, fell to her knees, and began tearing off strips of her petticoat in the hopes of staunching the bleeding. Fitzherbert lowered himself to assist her, wadding the cloth, and holding it hard against Benedict’s bleeding shoulder whilst Ariana used more strips of her petticoat as a makeshift bandage to hold the wad of cloth in place.

She wasn’t quite sure how she continued moving, continued doing what was necessary, in the confusion of the next several minutes. Part of her felt sure that Benedict was going to die in front of her, now that she had realised how much she loved him.

She was stunned by his bravery in defending her from Lord Jasper, especially given the fact that Lord Jasper had been carrying a weapon and Benedict had not.

“He doesn’t deserve to die like this,” said Fitzherbert gravely. “He deserves a long life with his tea and his books. And with you.”

“I don’t know if he would have wanted me, given all the times that I turned away from him.”

She felt like her own heart was about to shatter in her breast, to stop beating from the pain of loss. Surely he wasn’t going to die, rescuing her after another one of her idiotic escapades. He deserved better than that.

A sob escaped her. Slowly, Benedict opened his eyes.

“I’m not hurt,” he said quietly. She half opened her mouth to protest that statement, when he gave a wry grin and went on. “Well, yes, perhaps I am hurt. But I’ll live.”

“We need to get you inside,” said Ariana. It had started to rain harder again, and the darkness closed in around them, the chill of the night deepening. “I don’t want the wound to get infected.”

“James will carry me, I hope.” Beside her, Fitzherbert nodded. Benedict raised his free hand to her cheek, and stroked it gently. Even with all that was going on, Ariana thrilled to his touch. “You don’t have to worry about me. As long as I know that you’re safe, I don’t care if I lose one arm or two.”

“I would like my husband to have both arms, please.”

For the first time since she had fled the house that afternoon, she smiled. He returned that smile, his eyes widening, and stroked her cheek again.

“Have you decided that you want a husband after all?”

Benedict’s tone was surprised, and Ariana felt a flush of embarrassment – for it appeared that he had saved her, even whilst believing that she did not want him in her life.

“Of course. The worst part, just now, of knowing I was most likely going to die was that I would never see you again. You’ve been so good to me.”

“I’ve tried to be. Even if I haven’t always succeeded.”

“You’ve been more than enough.”