Free A Lady's Vanishing Choices by Wareeze Woodson Page B

around her shoulders.
    “Are you all right?” Linda’s voice trembled while gazing down the road. “Why didn’t that Bedlamite stop?”
    Taken up with her hammering head and stinging arm, Bethany barely heard her friend. The pain in her hip throbbed through her entire body, focusing all her attention on her discomfort. She gritted her teeth to hold back a moan.
    The vicar erupted out of the cottage, his face pale and filled with distress. “My child. What a dastardly thing to have happened.” He turned to Linda. “Send Sam for the doctor. Be quick about it.”
    With his arm still around her for support, Lord Rivton brushed her hair off her forehead. “There’s blood in your hair. You have a large knot, too.”
    She caught her breath when she gazed into his eyes. His mesmerizing stare snared her, familiar, disturbing and with the same intensity she’d witnessed the first time she’d met him on the lane. Drawn in by his scrutiny, then as now, she withdrew mentally. The cut direct still rankled.
    Royce’s gaze roved over her. “You have blood on your arm. Where else are you injured?”
    At that moment, she became aware of the sting running down to her wrist. Bethany slowly exhaled a shaky breath. “Mostly my shoulder and my arm.”
    Her forearm had a scrape from the elbow to the wrist and her hip felt very little better. She certainly had no intentions of mentioning that to this particular gentleman. Pain radiated throughout her body, but informing him wouldn’t help the situation.
    “Perhaps you should allow me to examine your shoulder before I move you inside.”
    “Certainly you may.” While he examined her shoulder, the heat from his hands traveled through her thin garment down her arm to the tips of her fingers. Much to her dismay, his examination even affected her breathing. His competent control of the situation heightened her reluctant awareness of him, too. He leaned in and the slight sound of his breathing so close to her ear sent a tingle down to her collarbone.
    The vicar hovered over her. “Let’s get you inside.”
    Royce lifted her in his arms. “She’s shaking. Probably shock.”
    “Quite right.” The vicar straightened. “The doctor should be here shortly.”
    A sensation of panic swamped Bethany. Not because of the strength of his arms. She’d been held before. Of course, Perry had been only a young boy, a mere stripling, and this was a man with a man’s strength. Being held so close to him would be an ordeal, but she was more concerned his arm would rest against her throbbing hip. When he lifted her, she couldn’t control a wince.
    “Where else are you injured?”
    “My hip,” she forced out between gritted teeth.
    He headed to the house, his calculating scrutiny never leaving her face. “Then I’ll have you settled in a flash.”
    Linda opened the door and snatched a shawl off of the sofa. “Bring her in here.”
    Royce smiled down at Bethany with gentle concern before he lowered her to the sofa. A butterfly fluttered in her throat, forcing her to catch a quick breath. She swallowed heavily. Strangely bereft when his arms were no longer supporting her, she settled into the sofa. Not that she wanted his embrace. Far from it, but the sensation snatched all the air from the room. She placed her hand on her chest. She should be above such nonsense, especially after he snubbed her earlier in the day . I’m insane.
    “I’ll fetch a bandage and the basilicum powder.” Linda rustled away.
    Royce straightened. “I hesitate to alarm you, but it appeared the driver headed straight for you—deliberately.” Grimly, he eyed Bethany. “Were you able to catch a glimpse of the driver?”
    Bethany gave a shaky laugh. “All I saw was a huge beast charging straight at me. He knocked me down.”
    “Perhaps a good thing, else the gig would have driven directly over you.” Royce’s lips tightened. “I witnessed the entire incident. However, I was too far away to give chase.”
    The