Nicola Cornick Read Online Free PDF Page A

rescuing us both! I had not the least idea he was back in this country,’ she added reflectively, ‘but if the two of you are to meet at all in future, my love, you will need to preserve at least a semblance of politeness!’
    ‘I see no reason to speak with him at all,’ Alicia returned, sulkily,but there was the glint of tears in her eyes and Miss Frensham sensibly chose to let the matter drop. It was very unusual to see Alicia put so out of countenance. Although she was renowned for possessing the fabled temper of the Stansfields, this loss of control was quite another matter. No doubt she had been more shaken by the accident than she would care to admit.
    ‘Let me have that sodden cloak, my dear,’ she urged, changing the subject and coming across to help Alicia to her feet. ‘Indeed, I am sure I do not know how long it will be before we get a fire in here! This really is too bad! No fire, no bedchambers, and no doubt no one to go for a doctor!’
    ‘I do not need a doctor,’ Alicia repeated fretfully. ‘Truly, Emmy, I shall be very well with a little rest.’ She let Miss Frensham take the cloak from her and place it across the back of the chair, shivering slightly in the damp air. The matching bronze travelling dress beneath was not damp, for Alicia had not been out in the rain for as long as Miss Frensham, but her right wrist was starting to ache badly. She was determined not to mention it and add to her companion’s anxieties.
    Shaking out her skirts, Alicia cast her first critical glance around the room and gave a silent sigh. Not only mental turmoil to contend with, but physical discomfort as well! Her gaze moved thoughtfully on to Miss Frensham and she was concerned by what she saw. There was a hectic flush in that lady’s cheek and a glitter in her eyes which Alicia did not like the look of at all.
    ‘It looks as though you are the one in need of a doctor’s attentions, Emmy,’ she observed judiciously. ‘You must have taken a chill. Since Lord Mullineax has evidently failed to raise the landlord, I shall do so myself. We must see you to a bed immediately!’
    Miss Frensham gave a muffled groan. She had suddenly started to feel very unwell with the combined effects of the soaking and the worry of it all, but it made her feel even worse to contemplate Alicia wandering the corridors of an alehouse alone. Not that Lady Carberry, being a widow, required chaperonage in the sense an unmarried girl would, but Miss Frensham was a dragon for preserving the proprieties—it was one of the reasons that Alicia had employed her. She sat down rather suddenly in the chair Alicia had recently vacated.
    ‘Oh, no, my love, you cannot go looking for the landlord! I feel sure that he will be here directly, and only imagine if you should meet anyone; we should be quite undone!’
    ‘Nonsense, Emmy,’ Alicia said robustly. She was already halfway tothe door. ‘This is no time to be worrying about the conventions! I am well able to take care of myself, and besides, there is nobody else here!’
    Whatever reply Miss Frensham might have given was drowned out by a sudden noise outside the inn. Alicia moved across to the grimy window to try to see what was happening but the rain was lashing down so violently now that it was too dark to see anything at all. A moment later the doorbell pealed sharply. Alicia and Miss Frensham exchanged a look and Miss Frensham stifled another moan. This was the worst thing that could befall them, alone and unprotected in a seedy alehouse—she had temporarily forgotten the dubious protection available from the Marquis—with goodness only knew what kind of disreputable travellers about to burst in on them.
    ‘Who could possibly be out on such a night? Oh, Lady Carberry, I fear we shall be ravished in our beds—or worse!’
    Alicia forbore to point out that they did not even have any beds in which to be ravished, for she did not think this would help. In silence they waited. Once more it