A Lady in Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

you."
    "Well, permit me to put your mind at rest. My wounds are not horrible, but honorable. I was shot, I fell, and was ..."
    He'd received a ball in the thigh during the first charge. He could not recall now what it had felt like. That moment was too quickly overlaid by other memories, though he knew an obscure pride at having kept his seat and at turning about to lead the next attack.
    The dust and the heat and the sharp smell of blood, cutting through everything else. The scream that he strove to keep behind his lips, only to fail as he tumbled from the saddle. The face of the dead Spaniard beside him on the field. And above all, the feel of a bayonet in his back, swelling up to override every other sensation, even of the pain of the ball in his chest.
    But he had lived, and that was something. He could look down and see the gleam of bright hair beneath the rising moon and know the beautiful eyes of Miss Sarah East were looking back. He knew many men who would never see anything more, nor hear the gentle voice of a naive girl, nor, for that matter, breathe the scent of an English garden. Thinking of them, Alaric wanted to cough, to go back to that stuffy hall, for there at least he could inhale without remembering those others.
    "Lord Reyne?"
    He shook his head, and she saw a quick gleam of teeth. “I was decorated. Miss East, for my regiment took the hill we were after. And that is the total sum of my military career. The doctors assure me I should soon be as flexible as any acrobat. I do, however, regret that day has not yet come, for your foot's sake.” He half-bowed, wryly.
    "I think I know what we could do about that.” How sweet to be able to combine herself with him, even if only for a moment. She stood up, the big toe of her right foot just brushing the ground. “You see how we are at the very edge of the terrace? There's a ha-ha down there. It's not very deep. If I sort of dangled my foot, could you ... ?"
    "Attach your sandal? I think I could. Where does one get down?” He took the sandal from her gloved hands.
    "There are some stairs over there."
    Looking up a few minutes later, Alaric saw a white oblong object hovering in mid-air. “Can you come down any further?” he whispered. Obliging, the object dropped a trifle.
    Though he could feel the strain across his back when he lifted his hands, Alaric realized the girl was balanced precariously on one foot. If he made too many demands, she might tumble off the wall. Touching her foot, he felt her tremble and hoped to God the chit wasn't ticklesome.
    "Good evening,” she said from above his head. Alaric stayed his hands on the slim ankle. For the first time, he realized the strangeness of his position, deep in a ditch, looking up like a decadent Romeo at the girl above. “Oh, no,” the girl said. “I'm just enjoying ... enjoying the view. I mean, the night. Isn't ... isn't the moon lovely?"
    Sarah fought down a giggle. If only he wouldn't touch her so gently. She said to the elderly couple before her, “Mother? I know she's about some ... somewhere. I saw her inside. No, no, she'll be glad to have you call at any time.” She felt another laugh bubbling up. Containing it was painful.
    Now her left knee began to shake with the strain of sole support. And the dear woman before her was telling her the entire recipe for eel soup that Mrs. East had requested. Then, the tormenting touch on her foot was gone, and in its place, a palm pressed under her right sole, pushing up to offer a steady platform on which to stand. Gratefully, Sarah rested against it, though by no means putting her full weight down.
    When Sarah was once more alone, Alaric quickly fastened the last two buckles, forcing his fingers to hurry where they would have lingered, strictly of their own volition. Golden Sarah East, dressed in a white gown that hinted at the firm curves beneath, was as lovely as any woman he'd ever seen. But a blossom in her first youth was not the sort of girl a man of