Her driver limped toward her.“It’s my fault, Your Grace.Your barouche was in top condition when we left London.”
Shaking her head, she gulped again.“Accidents happen.I only wish that we’d had time to hire outriders.You and I will have to get on the horses and go to the next town for help.We are going to need a wagon to transport Robert to the doctor, so that his leg can be flat.Maybe Lord Sunderland, too.His arm is wounded.”
Mr.Walpole clucked his tongue consideringly.“Why don’t I take Robert’s head and you grab his feet, and we can put him close to the carriage.Then we’ll ride together to the next city for help.”
“And Lord Sunderland?”
“He’s safe in the carriage, isn’t he?”
His reasoning made sense, so Mantheria took Robert’s boots as gently as she could and helped her driver carry him closer to the tipped carriage.The moon was only a thin crescent in the sky, and it was growing darker by the minute.She followed Mr.Walpole to the four horses.They were still snorting and stamping.He untied one from the carriage and cupped his hands for Mantheria to put her boot on.There was no saddle on the horse.No way to keep herself on it, unless she were to ride astride.Something she hadn’t done since she was a small child.But now was not the time to worry about propriety.She put her hand on Mr.Walpole’s brawny shoulder and her foot in his makeshift stirrup and swung up on the back of the horse.The skirt of her dress and her shift both bunched up at her waist, and the white of her petticoats could be easily seen as both of her legs were almost entirely exposed.Her fellow Society matrons would be horrified.
She took the rope from Mr.Walpole that she was to use as the reins and guided the horse closer to the carriage.“Sunny, sit tight.We are going for help.”
Mantheria could hear movement inside the carriage, and in the light of dusk, she could see the profile of his face and crooked nose.“You’re leaving me?”
“No time for tittle-tattle,” Mr.Walpole said, now atop his own animal.“We’ll be back as soon as we can, Your Grace.”
The driver gave a little whistle, and Mantheria followed him down the road at a steady gallop.By the time they reached the outskirts of a village, it was almost completely dark.The lights in the buildings were their only guide.Despite usually going first, she was more than happy to let Mr.Walpole lead.
Her driver dismounted and handed the rope of his horse to a young hostler and told him to see to it that the beast was watered, fed, and brushed down.He placed a penny into the boy’s hand.
The lad doffed his hat to him.“Thank you, guv’nor!”
Mr.Walpole came closer to Mantheria and her horse.“I don’t rightly know how to get you down respectably, Your Grace.”
Mantheria might have been able to dismount from her horse like Mr.Walpole if her inner leg muscles weren’t quite so sore.She wasn’t used to riding bareback and astride.She didn’t trust that her legs would hold her.“If you don’t mind, just put your hands on my waist and I will slide down.”
None of her servants, besides her lady’s maid, ever touched her, and she could see and feel Mr.Walpole’s reluctance.“We don’t have time to waste, Mr.Walpole.Robert is seriously injured, and possibly Lord Sunderland as well.Lift me down ...please.”
The driver put his two large hands on her waist, nearly encompassing it, and lifted her down like she weighed no more than a feather.Which was not true!
“Thank you, Mr.Walpole,” she said formally.“Now, let us get help for our friends.”
He didn’t speak, but he gave her a curt nod and followed her into the building.
4
Sunny couldn’t decide what was more painful: his aching arm or the fact that he’d come to escort Mantheria to help her find her son, and so far, he’d been completely useless.Perhaps he would not be a very good stepfather or husband after all.She’dgone for help, and he’d sat in a dark carriage with his dark thoughts.
Nearly an hour had passed before he heard the sound of horses’ hooves coming his direction.Cursing at the stabbing pain in his arm, he managed to get to his feet and stick his head out of the window and take a peep.Mantheria and her driver were sitting on the perch of a wagon, and there were two riders following them.
Mr.Walpole pulled the pair of horses to a stop by the carriage that was on its side.Mantheria jumped down, and Sunny expected her to run to him in relief.He held out his one good hand so that he could grasp hers.
Instead, she went first to the groom, who was groaning on the ground near the carriage.
“Robert, Robert.It’s all right.We are here.These two nice men from an inn are going to put you in the back of the gig and take you to a doctor.”
“Th-thank you,” the groom muttered as the pair of strangers picked him up and began to carry him to the wagon.
Sunny wished that he had rescued Mantheria, but it appeared that she was going to need to rescue him.His right shoulder hurt like the devil, and with only one working arm, he hadn’t even been able to extricate himself from the overturned carriage.“I have tried to get out, but I can’t seem to manage it.”
Exhaling, Mantheria nodded.“I’ll climb back in and get on my knees.You can step on my back, and our two extra hands can help pull you up from the top of the carriage.I will help push from the bottom.”
Sunny didn’t like this plan at all, but he could not think of a better one.Mr.Walpole appeared to be injured, and the pair of blokes from the inn were not small men.There was no way for their girth to fit through the carriage window.He stepped aside as he watched Mantheria shimmy up the side of the carriage and swing her lovely legs through the window.She dropped easily to the floor.Then she got on all fours.
He hesitated.How could he possibly put his weight on her back?He weighed over twelve stone, and she couldn’t be more than eight stone.
“We haven’t got all night, Sunny.Climb on my back.”