He understood why she was so concerned about his leg holding up, but honestly, he walked great distances on the estate every day. He merely had to walk them slower than most.
As they were entering the area that contained the university buildings, they approached two men unloading trunks from a cart in front of a tavern, laughing and joking as they carried a trunk inside. It was the kind of idyllic scene that could take place in any town in England.
Joshua and Lady Gwyn had just passed by the cart when a loud crash sounded behind them.
It instantly catapulted Joshua back to the deck of theAmphion, to the explosion cutting through their rigging . . . and both side’s men. Instinct sent him whirling into a crouch and, scarcely aware he did it, he drew his flintlock and cocked it. It took him a few more precious seconds to notice the open trunk with its pewter mugs clattering over the cobblestones.
The two fellows who’d dropped the trunk froze at the sight of his pistol. He froze, too, disoriented.
Suddenly, he felt Lady Gwyn’s hand covering his. “I think there’s no need for the gun just now,” she murmured.
An agony of shame swamped him. Damnation, what was he doing? “Remove your hand, Lady Gwyn,” he said tightly. “I have to uncock the pistol.”
She did. He rose and went through the complicated process of uncocking his weapon safely.
Then he rounded on her. “For God’s sake, never,evertouch a man’s hand when he’s got a cocked pistol in it!”
She swallowed hard. “I–I’m sorry. I was just—”
“I could have shot them.” He couldn’t seem to calm himself. “I could have shotyou. If I had turned—”
“But you didn’t,” she said, though her flaming cheeks showed she’d taken his warning to heart. She grabbed his arm to draw him away from the two men, who were now watching with avid curiosity. “Everything’s fine.”
“Everything isnotfine.” He was still quaking at what he could have done. “We should return to the inn.”
“Not until you’re calmer.” Still clinging to his arm, she continued on toward Cambridge proper.
He went along, even as his heart hammered in his chest. “This is why I shouldn’t be going to London, shouldn’t be acting as bodyguard toanyone, damn it. I need quiet places, preferably with no one around.” Or he needed to be in the Royal Marines again, where his behavior would seem normal.
“Balderdash. You realized what you were doing pretty quickly, I’d say. No harm done.”
He lifted a brow at her. “You’re still gripping my arm as if to keep me from hurting anyone. Don’t tell me it’s no harm done.” When she released his arm self-consciously, he said, “Now you know why the residents of Sanforth steer clear of me.”
Especially the women, who had begun to regard him with alarm whenever he went into town.
Yet Lady Gwyn wasn’t doing so. “Have you reacted that way before? At home in Sanforth or on the estate, I mean?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“How often?”
He gritted his teeth, though she had a right to know. “A few times.”
“Have you ever shot anyone? Hurt anyone?”
“Not yet. But—”
“Then you are dealing with it as best you can. And for what it’s worth, I, too, jumped when they dropped that trunk behind us.”
“You didn’t shoot anyone.”
“Neither did you.” She smiled doggedly. “Now, we’re going to change the subject and finish our walk.”
He stared hard at her. “You’re rather high-handed for a woman.”
“You’vemetmy family, haven’t you? When we’re all together, it’s the battle of the dukes, everyone struggling to get their own way. I have learned that if I want my own wishes considered at all, I have to throw myself into the fray with the rest of them.”
In spite of everything, that made him smile. Her assertion reinforced the impression he’d gained of her family himself.
