Free Lord Sidley's Last Season by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

watch for Sidley. She knew she ought to
return to the drawing room, her task had been fulfilled,
but the afternoon air was fresh and balmy and infinitely
more appealing than more of Katie’s preening.

    Again she heard the footman shout, “M’lord Sidley!”
    Then Sidley appeared at the curb, looking back toward Marian’s position. She waved but feared he had not
seen her in the crowd. So she stepped into the street,
which was blessedly dry and free of mud. The reward for
exposing herself so was a smile from Sidley, who raised
the restored cane in salute.
    But as the Addlestrop commotion increased in volume, as cheers arose for some passing dignitary in the
square, Sidley’s smile vanished. He, too, stepped into
the street, calling out an alarmed “Marian!” even as she
turned to face the roadway.
    The landau’s team was acting up, the near horse was
rearing in its traces, while the coachman attempted to
haul the animal back. But the heavy carriage was still
drifting unbidden to the center of the street, where two
wildly racing curricles vied for precedence in the narrow, packed turning off the square.
    The din from pounding hooves, the chattering crowd,
and anxious, whinnying animals was deafening. Before
Marian could reach the safety of the sidewalk, she was tossed there in a pained, ungainly heap. Appalled screams
heralded the collapse of a heavy male form beside her.
As she pushed herself from the pavement on shaking
hands, Marian stared in dazed disbelief at the bloody
rent in Sidley’s buckskins, just above one knee. His face
lay still and pale against the stone. Whether she managed to speak then she could not have said, but her mind
repeated numbly, I have killed him, I have killed him, I
have killed him….

regular”A Hercules !” Edgar enthused. “That’s

what they’re callin’ ‘im. Tossin’ you about like that while
snaffling old Addlestrop’s nag! Horse should be turned
over to the knacker after acting up that way. Might’ve
killed him, and you too, though I `spose Mopes and
Carroll shouldn’t a’ been racing just then, and there-”
    “I should say not!” Edith agreed. “Do stop this, Edgar.
We know how impressed you are with Lord Sidley’s
prowess. We are most grateful for it. Indeed, I can never
thank him enough. But you must see that the reminder
upsets Marian.”
    “Your pardon, cousin.” Edgar nodded to Marian in the
carriage seat opposite. “I thought you’d want to know,
though, as you-as you couldn’t see it.”
    Marian, who still felt the bruises from her rescue the week before, smiled wanly. In truth, she had not seen
much of anything, though she had heard and felt enough
to keep her occupied for some time.

    She had feared for Sidley. But he had lived, and so
had she, and because he had placed her under so very
great an obligation, she was now compelled to accompany her family to Aldersham. In any other circumstance she’d have successfully regretted the invitation
and avoided the place, or so she had convinced herself.
    “I don’t see why Marian had to make such a scene,”
Katie observed. “And not for the first time. ‘Twas ridiculous for her to be hopping about in the street at all!”
    “Yes, Katie. I was foolish beyond measure. Which
only increases my debt to Lord Sidley. A more rational
man would have left me to my fate”
    “I will never forget how quickly he moved,” Edgar
said, shifting once more into worshipful tones. “A fellow
forgets he’s at death’s door. Though one can only suppose that now he’s even more-What? Oh. Sorry” And
as his mother glared at him, Edgar lapsed into silence.
    They had almost reached Aldersham, their journey
into Kent having taken the better part of two days at the
dawdling pace Lady Formsby deemed decorous. Now
Marian felt Edith’s gaze upon her averted profile.
    “You will enjoy yourself, Marian,” she said, more in
the nature of a command than of