Although riding his property like this would strike most of his fellow peers as unnecessary at best, and at worst, laughably medieval—the ducal lord of the manor!—Brant had worked too hard to rescue Claremont Hall from his father’s creditors to take his own possession of the estate lightly. As often as he might go up to London, he always came back here. He loved this place, and he took great satisfaction in seeing the improvements he’d been able to make in it. Besides, at this hour, all things appeared wonderfully possible to him, especially on a perfect early summer morning like this one.
“Here, Jetty, Gus, here!” he called as his two black retrievers bounded ahead of him. “How many more rabbits can there be left to chase?”
But the dogs didn’t return as they usually did, instead racing off into a copse of trees not far from the road. Brant whistled for them, and when they still didn’t appear, he sighed and swung down from his horse, looping the reins around a branch.
“Must be a righteous big rabbit,” he grumbled. More likely the pair had stumbled upon something deliciously, foully fragrant only to dogs, and were busily rolling in it. He pushed aside the branches, letting his eyes grow accustomed to the faint gray light as he searched for the two dogs. But this time when he whistled, it was with surprise.
The dogs had discovered something, true enough. Jetty and Gus were sitting on either side of the too-still body of a woman, lying facedown in the old leaves. Hurrying to her side, Brant prayed it wasn’t a girl that he knew, a serving girl from the Hall or the daughter of one of his tenants. He believed in taking responsibility for whatever happened on his land, even tragedies such as this.
But as soon as he knelt beside her, he could see from the fine muslin of her gown and the soft wool of her cloak that she was a lady, no farmer’s daughter, and that the small, pale hand that lay curled on the dried leaves had never seen hard work. Yet lady or not, there was no question that trouble had found her: the skirts of that white muslin gown were grass-stained and streaked with dirt, her once-neat hair a tangle down her back. Worst of all was the raw, ugly bruise on her temple, swelling just below the neat curve of her brow.
Gently, Brant smoothed her hair away from the bruise and touched his fingers to the side of her throat, searching for a heartbeat. At least the girl still lived; he hadn’t been sure. He’d little knowledge of practical physicking, and he wasn’t certain what his next step should be to assist her. His experience with pretty young women—and he now could see that, beneath the dirt and bruises, this one was very pretty indeed—was generally of a far more lively sort.
Jetty whimpered, prodding at the woman’s arm with his nose.
“Stop that, Jetty,” ordered Brant softly. “She’s suffered enough without you adding to it.”
But the dog’s wet nose had already roused her, and with a groan she shifted, flopping onto her side. Her eyes fluttered open and she grimaced with pain, pressing her hands to her temple.
“You’ll be all right, miss,” said Brant. “You have my word on it. Can you tell me what pains you?”
Gingerly she touched the bruise. “Only my head.”
“You’re certain?” he asked cautiously. When he’d first seen her lying in the leaves, he’d been sure she’d been abused and abandoned by some man.
“It’s my head. I should know.” She squinted up at him from beneath her hands. “You’re not the dreaded idiot grenadier, are you?”
“I don’t believe so, no.” The poor girl had been struck on the head and was entitled to speak nonsense. “Do you think you can try to sit upright? That must be the first step toward moving you to a more comfortable place.”
She nodded, and he slipped his arm beneath her back to help raise her. She was a little bit of a thing, more fragile than he’d first realized, and once again he thought of how fortunate she was not to have been more badly hurt, whatever misfortune had befallen her. As soon as he could take her back to the Hall, he’d call the surgeon to come make sure she was as well as she claimed. He always wanted to help those too weak or flawed to protect themselves, especially if the rest of the world had abandoned them—exactly as this girl seemed to have been.
She gasped as he lifted her upright, her eyes closed and her hand still pressed to her temple. With his help, she sat there, not moving. Then to his surprise, she opened her eyes and smiled. With her face so close to his, the effect was dazzling, if dizzying.
The dawn was beginning to reach even into these shadows, and he could now see the details of her features: round cheeks and a dimpled little chin, a surprisingly strong nose softened by freckles, pale eyes that turned up merrily at the corners. She was too elfin to be considered beautiful, but too appealing for him not to smile back.
“There,” she said, her voice thick, almost sleepy. “I did it, didn’t I?”
“You did, indeed,” he agreed, shifting so that her beguiling little mouth wasn’t as temptingly close to his. He’d never been the kind of man who took advantage of such opportunities with women, and he wasn’t about to begin with now, while her wits were so addled. “Rest a moment, and then we’ll try standing.”
“Very well,” she said, reaching out to ruffle Jetty’s ears. “I like your dogs.”
“They like you, too,” he said. Without a shred of shame, Jetty was making blissful growly noises, his eyes unfocused and his tongue lolling from his mouth in canine ecstasy. “That one, there, is Jetty, and the other is Gus, shortened from the far-too-grand Augustus. They were the ones who found you here, you know.”
“Then I thank them for their trouble,” she said, wobbling to her feet. “And I thank you, sir. You see I’m mending already.”
“Don’t be too hasty, now,” he cautioned, doubting she’d be standing at all without his support. “No need to go running off just yet. Can you recall your name, or how you came to be here? I’m not going to send you on your way until you can tell me both. Besides, you likely have family or friends worrying about you.”
Her face lost its sunniness and she looked away. “I— I do not know my name. I suppose it must be my poor foolish head again, but I—I don’t know it. Perhaps if you told me your name, I—I could recall my own.”
“Forgive me,” said Brant gravely. “I should have introduced myself to you before. I am the Duke of Strachen, and you are standing upon my land, not far from Claremont Hall.”
“Oh, my,” she whispered, not listening to him as, instead, she pressed her palm over her bruise. “Perhaps I should not have stood so soon, not when…when—ah, how my sorry head does ache!”
She swayed back against his arm and he caught her just as her eyes closed and she went limp against him. She was as light in his arms as he’d guessed she’d be. But he still didn’t want to subject her to the long walk home and her head jostling against his shoulder with each step, nor could he imagine a comfortable way to carry her on the horse for the same reason. Gallant knights in old romances might carry their ladies fair on a charger like that, but in modern reality, it simply didn’t work.
With concern he looked down at Jetty and Gus, thumping their tails on the ground as they gazed up at him. If he was to be a modern-day gallant knight, then this was what he had for faithful squires. Lucky him.
“Home,” he ordered, hoping that at least for this once, they’d decide to obey. “Home!”
And for once the pair did do as he’d asked, racing off across the open field toward Claremont Hall. They were that loyal to him, or perhaps, like him, already that besotted with the nameless girl. But when the dogs returned to the Hall without him, the men in the stables would be sure to come looking,