out for him. I will have to get some protection until he is caught. Well done, Rufus, good boy,” Rupert said, reaching down awkwardly to pat the dog.
Rufus spat a piece of bloody cloth out, and Rupert picked it up.
“Could you fetch the doctor and explain that I have a shallow wound from a musket ball,” he said to the grooms, and they pulled their forelocks and hurried off to do their lord’s bidding.
They moved back into the main house, and Rupert sat down on a chair in a drawing room looking shaken. And she understood. It must feel heart-wrenching to know that a family member tried to harm him most foully.
The drawing room was warm as the fire was blazing. Farrant eased his master from his overcoat and then from his coat. Rupert’s shirt sleeve was bloodied but not soaked, which Verity found reassuring.
“Please fetch boiled water, a basin and clean linen to bandage my lord’s arm,” Verity asked one of the senior maids, who bobbed a curtsey and rushed to do her bidding.
The maid brought in hot water and linen strips torn from an old sheet for bandages. Verity rolled up Rupert’s sleeve above where the musket ball had scored a runnel of blood across the flesh above his bicep.
“Farrant, do you think you could fetch me some of my lord’s brandy and a couple of glasses, please,” she asked.
“Do you drink brandy, Verity?” Rupert asked, searching her expression.
“No, my lord, I thought you might like a glass before I wash that wound with the contents of the other glass. You got lucky, I don’t think it has even torn the muscle, but I think it will hurt rather a lot to be cleaned.”
“Your voice is trembling,” he said.
She swallowed. “Are you not scared?”
“I am, and also furious that he would do something this despicable.”
Her hands shook, and she closed her eyes briefly.
“Verity?”
Her lashes fluttered open.
“You’ll not lose me, I promise,” he said solemnly.
Fierce emotions tumbled through her. “How can you make such a promise?”
“Because I see the fright in your eyes, and I know you are recalling losing Richard and the awful pain. I can see you think the same fate might befall our romance. I can see that you are planning to run from me, which frightens me more than Maurice trying to harm me. I do not want to lose you, and I promise I will do everything in my power to ensure that blackguard does not steal my life…and take me from you. We have at least sixty years together and I mean for us to enjoy every one of those years.”
She slashed a hand through the air. “You are not God, Rupert! You do not have the power to make me such assurances.”
A fierce frown split his brows. “Verity—"
She slowly swiped away the tears that slipped down her cheek. “Please…let’s not talk of this now, my lord. What is most important is the doctor attend to you and the wound does not get infected.”
I could not bear it should anything happen to you…
My lord? The heavy weight in Rupert’s heart grew more pronounced. Verity was pulling away from him. It was as if he could feel her trying to protect herself from a pain, she was all too familiar with. The air which had been warmed with passion and hope now seemed cold and uncomfortable.
“Will you still marry me?” he asked quietly.
Her eyes widened and a hand fluttered to her chest. “I have given you my word!”
And he understood then. Of course, she would marry him. She was an honourable woman. But would she love him? Would she risk her heart for him?
“I’ll marry you, Rupert,” she said softly.
The cool wariness in her gaze gutted him, but he did not press the issue. She seemed too brittle.
A throat cleared behind them, and she glanced up to see a beaming Farrant.
“A wedding,” his butler murmured happily.
Verity smiled and quickly brushed a very improper kiss on Rupert’s mouth before moving away. That sweet gesture should have warmed him, but he felt increasingly cold. The doctor was not long in arriving, as he had been dealing with a servant at Verity’s brother’s manor. By that time, Verity had already cleaned Rupert’s wound and was considering bandaging it up. He was relaxed from the two glasses of brandy he consumed.
A basin of water and soap was brought for the doctor, and he shed his coat and rolled up his sleeves. Verity watched the doctor keenly and was