Tears on her cheeks, Ellie put a hand to mouth. ‘You should have gone when you had the chance,’ she whispered.
Should he? Had he wanted to go without her? What would be the point?
Castlefield flung himself off his horse. ‘I’ll kill you for that.’ Better a bullet than the noose.
Ellie stepped between them. ‘William, he saved my life.’
‘More likely he saw it as a way to save his own skin, the coward.’
Castlefield yanked off his cravat, swung Garrick around by the shoulder and pulled his arms behind him. Using the strip of fabric, he tied Garrick’s wrists together. Garrick flinched as his ribs protested against the rough treatment.
Castlefield grunted approval. ‘That will hold you until they put the chains on.’
Eleanor gasped. ‘William, no!’
The heartbreak in her voice was like balm to Garrick’s soul. He flashed her a grin. He didn’t want her to think he was surprised by this turn of events.
Castlefield pushed him toward the two officers and a couple of farm labourers with a cart. ‘My friends can’t wait for the honour of escorting you and your pack of villains to prison.’
Eleanor’s heart seemed to have been cut in two, her chest hurt so much. Garrick had looked so hopeful. If William hadn’t arrived at that moment, what would she have said? Her breath stilled. She had the strangest feeling she would have said yes.
She stared after Garrick’s tall, straight figure, so proud in his defeat. The pain intensified. Her eyes misted. She felt as if she might fly apart. She wrapped her arms around her stomach.
If only she didn’t love the way he smiled at her as if there was no one else in the world but the two of them, the way he teased and made her laugh, the way he held her, and the sensations he brought to life in her body.
Oh Lord. After all she knew of him, how could she feel this way?
A drop of something dark glistened on the ground at her feet. With a horrible premonition, she bent and touched it with a fingertip. Blood, sticky and red.
Garrick’s wound must have opened. He needed a doctor. She hurried after the two men.
By the time she’d crossed the open ground, Garrick lay on the straw in a cart, a prisoner in his tumbrel, looking as calm as if he were out for a Sunday drive. Ellie trembled to see his lips looking bloodless and the skin on his cheeks ashen.
William, talking to Martin, didn’t see her until she tugged on his arm. ‘He’s wounded. He needs a doctor.’
‘Not now, Eleanor. There are more of these criminals to be rounded up.’ He turned back to Martin. ‘Follow them as best you can.’
‘Yes, my lord.’ Martin strode off as Caleb’s unconscious body was thrown on to the cart beside Garrick.
She grabbed William’s arm. ‘Beauworth had nothing to do with my abduction.’
‘The courts will decide innocence or guilt,’ William said, and began walking away as if she was of no more importance than a bothersome insect.
‘Damn you, William.’ She ran after him. ‘Give me your knife.’ She snatched it from his belt. ‘I can at least bandage the wound before he bleeds to death.’
William hunched a shoulder. ‘Be careful. He’s chained, but he’s a dangerous man.’
‘Not when he’s half-dead,’ she muttered. ‘Where are you going?’
He stared across the common, his eyes narrowed. ‘There’s something I need to take care of. Wait here for me. I’ll be back in a moment.’ He marched toward the Beauworth carriage, his limp more pronounced than usual. Too much time on horseback, no doubt. He wouldn’t welcome her suggesting he rest and arguing would keep her from Garrick.
She ran back and scrambled up on the cart. Once there, she slashed a strip from the bottom of her petticoat.
One eyebrow raised, his gaze on her ankle, Garrick smiled. ‘Very nice.’
‘Let me see where you are hurt.’
He lifted his hand from his side, revealing a sticky dark patch. ‘A scratch,’ he said.
A new wound. Oh, heavens. So much blood. ‘I need to bind it.’
He frowned, his gaze flickering to Caleb. ‘This is no place for a lady.’
‘I’m Lady Moonlight, remember.’
He grinned at that.
She pulled his shirt free of his pantaloons and found a jagged tear below his ribs, blood oozing in a steady flow. She swallowed the urge to gag. ‘I hope this is the last time today you are going to walk in front of a bullet.’
He chuckled, then winced with a hiss of breath through his teeth. ‘Me, too.’
Panting, fearful, she pressed the wad against the gash. ‘Hold this.’ His fingers covered hers for a brief second, his skin chill. ‘Thank you.’ She glanced up to find gold flecks danced in his eyes and his lips curved in a smile, a smile she might never see again.
Her eyes blurred. Blinking, she pulled her hand away, bound the second strip around his torso. Would it be enough?
He lifted a hand, touched her cheek. The ugly chain attached to the manacle encircling his wrist rattled. ‘Now go.’ He looked over at his companion. ‘I don’t want you here. Do you understand?’
The words hurt. But of course he didn’t want her here. She’d rejected him.
He pushed forwards, as if he planned to get up.
‘Leave now, Ellie.’
The labourer guarding the cart hefted his pitchfork.
‘Miss?’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t be up there.’
She didn’t want to leave him like this, but if she didn’t go, more bad things would happen. ‘I’m leaving. Garrick, please, take care of yourself.’
He slumped back against the side of the cart and closed his eyes, pain etching deep lines around his mouth.
By the time she reached the ground, she was shaking so hard her legs wouldn’t hold her. She leaned against the cart’s wheel. A hand pulled on her shoulder. She jumped and whirled around.
‘For God’s sake, Len,’ William said. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her face. ‘You cannot be crying over that blackguard.’
She hadn’t known she was crying. ‘He needs a doctor. Please, William. You can’t be so cruel.’
His lips flattened in a thin line, William stared into her face. ‘You don’t understand, Len. You don’t know what he did, to us. To me.’
‘It was his uncle.’
‘No. It wasn’t. There are things you don’t know.’ He let go of a long breath. ‘We will discuss it later.’
‘He needs a doctor.’ She was beginning to wonder if she had any other words. Never again, she swore silently. Never would she be anything but a model sister, if he would just get Garrick a doctor.
‘All right. I’ll see to it. But then enough until we get home.’
‘Thank you.’
A young lieutenant approached leading a couple of horses. ‘Lucky thing we accompanied you from Portsmouth, wouldn’t you say, Wills?’
‘Very lucky,’ William said. He gestured to the cart. ‘Can you escort that rubbish to Haverstock for me while we mop up here? Have a doctor sent to attend Beauworth the moment he is behind bars.’
The lieutenant snapped a salute.