Thea laughed. “That is a sight I would love to behold. Go on, I am going to go to my chambers and change for supper. I had no idea we have worked the afternoon away.”
Mary curtseyed, then headed toward the door to go to the kitchen and the cook. Thea gazed out the solar window, which faced the courtyard, chewing absently on her lower lip. She tried to ignore the uneasiness that filled her from Liam’s absence. He never failed to find some reason to be the footman that followed her around, ready to serve.
“Maybe Freddie has him out on the hunt with him,” she told herself.
That very plausible excuse did not make her feel much better. She knew the Baron of Ampleforth had come earlier to join Freddie, she had seen them both ride away with the hounds ahead and a group of servants behind. She knew from that distance she would not have recognized Liam among the footmen down there if Freddie had ordered him to attend him on the hunt.
A movement down the road caught her attention. Horses. Two of them approaching the house at a swift canter. Annoyance turned her lips downward – that despicable Baron would no doubt stay for supper. She had, fortunately, avoided him earlier but knew such would no longer be possible.
As the horsemen drew closer, Thea gasped. One of the riders slumped in his saddle, and for a moment she could not tell if it was Freddie or the Baron who was the one who appeared hurt. Both had dark hair and were of similar size. Then she remembered – Freddie rode out on the grey. The light colored horse carried the evidently injured rider.
Picking up her skirts, Thea bolted from the solar and raced down the stairs. Her heart hammered in her chest at the thought of Freddie hurt, the image of him bent over in his saddle.
What happened? Did he fall from his horse?
Hitting the main floor, she saw several footmen headed toward the door as well, but walking in the slow, sedate pace they had been trained to achieve. Obviously, they saw the riders, but not that their master had been hurt.
“Lord Willowdale is injured,” she snapped at them. “One of you fetch Mr. Noonan, the rest of you come with me.”
Her urgency worked. The footmen outran her as the horsemen cantered into the courtyard, grooms racing from the stables to help. Thea saw that the Baron led Freddie’s grey by the reins, and his grim eyes met hers briefly. Then her eyes were captured by the blood on Freddie’s chest, his right arm crossing it as his hand clasped his left shoulder.
“Freddie!” she screamed.
Amazingly, Freddie raised his head with a faint grin. “Thea, how nice of you to come to greet me.”
She went to him as he slid out of his saddle and into the assisting hands of the waiting grooms. “What happened?” she demanded, fear still racing through her despite his obvious cheerfulness.
“Someone shot him,” the Baron said, also dismounting his horse.
As the grooms led the horses away, making room for the servants to help Freddie, Thea stared at Robert of Ampleforth. “Shot him?”
“Luckily, the rifleman missed his chest, but he was hit in the shoulder.”
“I will be all right,” Freddie continued for the Baron. “Went clean through. Hurts like bloody hell and appears a mess, but I will live.”
“Thank God.”
Mr. Noonan appeared, running out the door in the wake of yet more concerned staff members, and Thea could not help but look for Liam among them. She knew he would be at the forefront of helping Freddie. Yet, he was nowhere in sight amid the footmen and maids huddled in a group. Yet, his mother, Mary Carter, stood there, wringing her hands.
Unless he is with the others still coming in from the hunt.
“By your leave, Miss Miller,” said the steward, “we will get Lord Willowdale to his chambers.”
“Of course,” she replied. “I am coming with you.”
She tried to ignore Ampleforth’s presence behind her as she climbed the stairs behind the footmen who half carried, half dragged Freddie up them. She hovered over Freddie’s bed as Mr. Noonan and the footmen gently set Freddie into it, then began to strip his bloody coat, shirt and cravat from him. Her brother’s pain-wracked eyes met hers, and he offered her a half smile and a slow wink.
Reassured, she sat on the far side of his bed, out of the way, and watched as Mr. Noonan inspected the wound through the blood. Conscious of the Baron of Ampleforth standing behind her, she wished he would just leave. But she also needed to know what had happened to her brother. She half turned toward him.
“Can you please tell me what happened?” she asked, trying not to snap at the man.
“We had just shot a stag,” he said, turning the hat in his hand over and over. “We were riding back when Freddie saw something in the hills. He said it was a flash, then he was shot.”
Thea grit her teeth. “Another attempt to kill him.”
“So it would seem, Miss Miller.”
Turning back to Freddie, who now lay with his eyes closed, she watched as Mr. Noonan used a cloth and a basin of water to cleanse the wound. It still seeped blood, and Mr. Noonan glanced over at her.
