Bewitched (Bantam Series No. 16) Read Online Free PDF Page A

on, and he should in fact be immune to every wile and trick with which she had contrived to capture him.
    ‘One cannot fall in love to order,’ the Marquis thought almost despairingly.
    Then, as he thought it, he realised what a fool he had been to think that Eurydice would not realise immediately that he was simply making use of her.
    Yet he could not pretend to love her and he had the feeling he had made a mess of his first proposal of marriage.
    Because it made him angry to realise not only that he had made a fool of himself, but also that if the Duke did not come up to scratch there was every chance that Eurydice might accept his offer, he pushed his horses.
    He was a magnificent driver—a Corinthian—and was known to be able to control even the wildest or most difficult animal.
    Now, because he was in a rage, he took his team of four down the road which lay between the two Estates at a pace which would have made his Head-Groom look at him in surprise.
    The horses swung through the gates at Ruckley and proceeded up the oak avenue in a manner which made the fragile Phaeton seem almost to fly through the air.
    They swept up a short incline beyond which there was a sharp descent into the valley, where Ruckley House stood. As the Marquis reached the top of the rise he suddenly saw standing on the drive in front of him a lone figure.
    It was a woman with her back to him.
    Because he was moving so fast, there was nothing he could do but attempt to turn the horses at the very last moment and drag them onto the verge.
    He pulled sharply on the reins, shouting to the woman as he did so to get out of the way.
    The horses were almost upon her as she turned a surprised face in their direction.
    Then even as the Marquis with a superb effort pulled the horses clear of her, she slipped as she turned and the wheel caught her.
    The Marquis drew his horses to a standstill and looked back to see a woman’s body lying on the ground behind him.
    “Oh, God!” he exclaimed. “I must have killed her!”

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    The groom ran to the horses’ heads while the Marquis jumped down and hurried up the drive to where the fallen woman sprawled limply on the ground.
    When he reached her he saw that she was very young. The wheel had caught her on the left side. There was blood on her forehead and the white blouse she was wearing had been torn from her shoulder where the skin was gashed and bleeding profusely.
    The Marquis bent down, taking his handkerchief from his coat pocket as he did so. Then realising that the girl was unconscious, he looked around first at his Phaeton and then at the distance to the house. He decided he would carry her.
    Vaguely at the back of his mind he remembered that it was dangerous if someone was hurt internally for them to be jolted or even moved, but he could not leave her lying injured on the drive.
    She was small and slight and it would obviously be less disturbing if he carried her than if he attempted to drive her in the Phaeton.
    Very gently he lifted the recumbent figure in his arms. She was very light.
    “Drive the horses home, Jim,” he ordered his groom who was watching from the Phaeton. “Tell them at the house that there has been an accident.”
    “Very good, M’Lord,” the groom answered and set off down the drive.
    Moving slowly the Marquis followed.
    As he walked he looked down at his burden and realised that apart from the bleeding wound on her forehead, she was lovely, but in a strange manner.
    She had black hair, so long that the Marquis was certain that when she was standing it would reach below her waist and her closed eyes were perfect half-crescents with long lashes dark against an ivory skin.
    She did not look English; then glancing at her clothes the Marquis understood.
    The girl he had knocked down was a Gypsy!
    There was no mistaking the full red skirt worn, he was sure, over a number of others, the black velvet bodice laced in the front, the sash around her small waist, and the