‘Then wash it!’ He wanted to add ‘you fool’ but he had to remind himself he wasn’t working with experienced orderlies.
When the butler looked like he was going to treat the bullet like Venetian glassware, Lord Furness growled. ‘Hurry, man!’
The butler dunked the bullet in a cup of water then took it to the window to examine. ‘Yes, sir. In one piece.’
‘Thank God,’ muttered Jacob. He dropped the pinchers on the silver tray. ‘Good news, Arthur, I don’t have to go in again and I can sew you up. Let me just try to stop the bleeding.’
But his brother didn’t hear him. He had passed out cold.
* * *
With Viscount Sandys tucked up in a bedroom, wound dressed and out of immediate danger, Jacob sat on the terrace steps, shirt bloody and unbuttoned, head hanging. The shock of the last hour was setting in. He always found it easier when he had something to do. He only let himself feel after his part was done. In a battle, that could be a day later, depending on how many waves of battle injuries they had to deal with. A single bullet wound was nothing to that.
And yet, it was different when it was someone you loved– and for all his faults, he did love his ridiculous older brother.
Lord Furness came to sit beside him. He wasn’t as bloodied as Jacob, but his face held the same shock at the sudden change to their morning.
‘Your brother saved my life,’ he said.
‘You think the shot was aimed at you?’ Jacob had been wondering. The two peers had been standing together so to distinguish which was the target was almost impossible. Unless that hadn’t mattered to the shooter: one peer, two peers, was the point to get a nobleman? As with Leyburn it might have been about his role as a magistrate or a lord.
‘I thought so. The second shot hit the parapet by my head.’
A gut instinct was worth considering. And his brother had been struck when Arthur lunged to push Furness down, putting himself in the path of the first bullet.
‘Do you have any enemies that you know of?’
‘No one springs to mind.’ Furness rubbed a hand over his face. ‘What a business! Mr Wilson has ridden into Ambleside to raise more locals to sweep the woods, but I imagine the shooter will be long gone if your Mr Smith and my men don’t catch him. There are so many ways to escape– onto the fells, across the lake, even along the road if he were quick enough and had a horse waiting.’
That was all too true. They had lost valuable minutes in the confusion after the shot. Jacob had been intent on saving his brother and it had taken precious seconds to explain what had happened to those that came running. And yet the attack and the conversation that had come before had revealed so much, hadn’t they?
‘Lord Furness, I know you are here in the hopes of arranging a match between Lady Alice and myself and I thank you for this sign of your good opinion. However?—’
‘It’s only been further raised by seeing your competence, doctor. If I get shot, I’ll make sure they call for you.’
In the circumstances, that wasn’t a joke. ‘Unfortunately, in my case, practice makes perfect. It’s not the first bullet I’ve had to dig out of a man. The good news is that was a straightforward injury, and my brother should recover if no infection sets in. What I was going to say was that my brother has misled you if he suggested I agreed with his plan for me.’
Lord Furness smiled wryly. ‘I would say he suggested that you were persuadable. My daughter is a difficult lady to please and she was pleased by you.’
‘That is also very flattering and quite underserved. The lady is everything that is desirable for a wife– clever, beautiful, talented. The problem is that I am not free to form an attachment.’
‘You are already engaged?’
Jacob hesitated. ‘I am not. But I feel obligated to another lady.’ No, that wasn’t sufficient. ‘I’m in love with someone else.’
Furness huffed out his disappointment. ‘Sandys did say you were headstrong. I thought it a good quality in a man who was to marry my daughter, who is equally stubborn. He said you needed to settle down, get a direction in your life, and she would give you that.’
‘I’ve chosen my own direction, and it doesn’t lie that way. I wish her every happiness in a future match; I’m sure it will be one far superior to anything I can offer. My advice, though, is that this is not the time to be thinking of marriage but of getting out of danger. There is a violent criminal at large in the area. After what just happened, I fear he might be targeting men of standing, such as yourself. You heard of what happened to Sir Richard Leyburn?’
‘Leyburn? You think it the same person? But that happened in London!’
‘The trouble seems to have begun here, travelled there and is now back. To my knowledge, four men have either been seriously hurt, gone missing or been killed, all in connection with this matter. I would strongly suggest you leave the area and take your daughter with you. We wouldn’t want her hurt in the crossfire even if you felt you should stay to pursue the perpetrator.’
‘No indeed. I’ll escort her home at once.’ Lord Furness got up. ‘Thank you for your work here this morning, Dr Sandys.’
‘No thanks required. Arthur’s my brother. I’d do a hell of a lot more for him than dig a bullet out of his shoulder, but I won’t marry to his order.’
‘And he’s my friend– and I admit I wouldn’t either.’ Lord Furness pulled a wry expression. ‘However, if you find your circumstances change…?’
