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“I’m taking you back to the house I was staying in,” he said simply as he began his walk back.
“Are…” she broke off, as if shock had overridden her speech, “are you out of your mind?”
“You are injured,” he said simply. “And I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but there is a storm coming. We should take shelter before it hits and you definitely cannot be out when it does. And at some point, you need to see a doctor for that ankle.”
“But you cannot just pick up a random stranger and carry her away!”
He stopped, when they were already near the door. “You’re right,” he said in a thoughtful tone. “Would you like for me to carry you back from where you came?”
The woman’s cheeks puffed out in what seemed like irritation. Stephen didn’t know whether to laugh or to admire how adorable she looked. “All right,” she conceded.
Satisfied, he brought her inside. He carried her straight to the sofa and lowered her onto it, saying, “I’ll go back out and bring the horse to the shed around back.”
She said nothing to him as he left again. He hurried through the task, taking the horse around back to share the space his own horse before he rushed back to the abandoned house. He tried not to seem too eager when he returned to her side.
“Are you still in pain?”
She was watching him, her eyes never leaving his face, from the moment he re-entered the house to the moment he knelt next to her. Slowly, she nodded.
Stephen swallowed. Her eyes were not only big, but they seemed to pick up everything he did. As crazy as it felt, he half wondered if she could read his mind.
“What is your name?” he asked her as he began to examine her leg. She flinched when his cool fingers brushed her skin.
She took a moment to respond. “Hannah.”
“What are you doing out here in the middle of the night, Hannah?”
“I was…running away from my employer. I was headed to London.”
“London, were you?” He twisted her ankle from side to side, not exactly sure he what he was looking for. He was by no means a physician. He opened his mouth to ask another question, eager to know more about this mysterious woman, but then he remembered his manners. “My name is…Stephen,” he told her.
It’s probably best not to share who really am. Who knows who she might tell? I know my Mother will not appreciate any rumors of me spending the night with a runaway servant.
“It’s nice to meet you, Stephen,” she said. “Forgive me if I’ve been a little rude to you. You were only trying to help me.”
“Think nothing of it, Hannah. You are a woman who is lost, and I am a stranger to you. Your reaction to me is quite understandable.’
“I never said I was lost.”
He looked up at her. “Pardon?”
“I never said I was lost,” she repeated. She held his stare, stating her words matter-of-factly. “I said, I was on my way to London.”
“By coming this way?”
She blushed and looked away. Stephen would have thought it odd if he hadn’t been so enraptured by the endearing sight.
God, she is the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen. And I’m staring.
Stephen quickly looked away and back at her ankle. “Your ankle is swollen,” he informed her. “It seems to me like you sprained it, but I think it would be best for you to have a physician take a look at it.”
“What a pity you aren’t one,” she said softly, looking down at her ankle.
“Well, I think I may be able to help, somewhat. We should wrap it.”
Without hesitation, Stephen ripped a hole into his sleeve using his teeth and tore a strip of fabric with one strong tug. He began to wrap her ankle tenderly, trying not to look up at her at all, out of fear that he would get distracted.
When he was done, Stephen sat back and gazed at her. She was staring at her makeshift bandage and then she calmly looked at him. Stephen couldn’t hazard a guess at what she was thinking in that moment, but his hopes flared when he noticed how pink her cheeks were.
