AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He dared to speak truthfully. “That you might never forget the baron and open your heart to me.”
She squeezed his hand. “I care very deeply for you, Remington. That I can say with every certainty. But when it comes tolove—” She shook her head almost sadly. “I can’t give you a precise timeline. All I ask is that you just… give me some time.”
“I will,” he vowed. “And I shall take comfort in the fact you will be there to warm my bed at night.”
She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance, but before long, the carriage lulled her to sleep and Rem soon followed suit, content for the first time in days.
Rem was jerked awake what he believed to be a short time later by the sound of pouring rain, along with a shout from the coachman. There was a sickening crunch of wood, and the urgent listing of the carriage to one side. The screeching cry from the horses told him everything he needed to know.
When Isadora started and glanced at him in alarm, he held on to her tightly. “Hold on!”
The entire vehicle careened to one side with Rem taking the brunt of their weight when they hit the ground. The entire carriage groaned as the frightened horses bolted and dragged them down the road. They hit every rut and bump, as Rem clenched his teeth in pain. But he was determined not to let Isadora go, lest she be thrown about the interior and sustain even more injuries. He would die before he allowed anything to happen to her.
Finally, the nightmare ceased as the horses either broke free, or the coachman had somehow found a way to calm them down. As they stopped, Rem hit his head. Dark spots danced before his vision, but he vowed that he would stay awake long enough to see if Isadora was unhurt. He opened his mouth to speak but found it odd when no sound emerged. When the carriage door was thrown open above him, rain hit him in the face, and although he could see the outline of someone there, his mind couldn’t seem to pick up on what they were saying, even though it was obvious they were speaking and Isadora was replying.
He sighed in relief. If his lovely wife was coherent, then that meant she was suffering no ill effects.
He closed his eyes.
“Remington?”Isadora looked at her husband and realized that he wasn’t responding to her. It was then that she noticed the blood along his temple, and her face instantly paled. “Rem?” Her throat was hoarse, and yet the coachman was still urging her to get out of the wreckage.
“My lady, you could very easily slide down the embankment and sustain further injuries—”
“I’m not leaving him!” she snapped heatedly. “Either go fetch someone who can help us, or we’re going to have to lift him out on our own.”
He sighed in apparent frustration. “You don’t understand. Lord Osgood might need medical attention, but we’re still several hours away from Broxbourne—”
“Where are we?” she interrupted.
“Near the village of Bedford.”
“Then that will have to do. Surely there is a local doctor who sees to patients.”
He looked affronted now. “You would subject a marquess to a country quack who would likely cause more injury?”
She glared at him, and using her best authoritative tone, she said firmly, “The longer we stay here and discuss the matter, the less chance he shall have. So I suggest if you don’t want to be on the wrong side of amarchioness, then you will do as I say!”
The coachman paled and quickly bobbed his head. “O… of course, m… my lady. There was a local hamlet not far down the road. I shall… go retrieve assistance… right away.”
Isadora leaned her head back against the side of the ruined coach when he finally departed, but that was all the frustrationshe allowed herself. Instead, she got to work doing what she could to assess Remington’s injuries.
She tore off a section of her petticoat to use as a makeshift bandage and tied it gently around his head. Then she carefully felt the rest of his body, searching for anything that might appear to be broken. Thankfully, the rest of him appeared to be intact, but she knew that head injuries could be deadly.
Isadora closed her eyes and prayed. He had saved her life by refusing to let go of her, or she might have suffered the same fate. No one had ever sacrificed so much for her. He truly did love her.
She sniffed, and then sniffed again.
She lifted her hand and wiped at her cheeks. When she glanced at her palm, it was wet. She gasped because she knew what this strange sensation was. After all this time, she was actuallycrying. The floodgates abruptly opened and she sobbed. And not light, delicate sniffles, but hard, gut-wrenching sobs that tore at her chest. It was as if something was crumbling inside of her.
The wall was coming down at long last.
She bent down to Remington and held on to the lapels of his jacket as she whispered in his face. “Rem? Can you hear me? I hope you can because you won’t believe it. I’mcrying. For you. For us. You can’t leave me alone now, not just when I know what it means to truly live. It isn’t about being independent, but being happy withyourself, no matter the consequences.” She gave a humorless laugh. “I can’t believe I’ve been so blind. I hope you will wake up so you can call me a stubborn idiot, and we can argue and make up all night long.” She paused, hoping there would be some sort of reaction, a flutter of his eyelids—but there was nothing.
She laid her head down on his torso and was comforted by the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the thumping heart that beat beneath her cheek. “You fight, Remington Fletcher, Marquess of Osgood. You fight with everything that you have. Rest assured, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Isadora laid close to him until the sun started to slowly dip toward the horizon. When she heard the thunderous sound of horses, she was comforted by it, because it meant that help had finally arrived.
It wasn’t long before the sound of hooves ceased that the coachman appeared above her once more in the midst of the downpour. “My lady, I brought men from the village to remove the marquess, but you need to come with me.”
