Kitabı oku: «A Duke In Need Of A Wife»

Chapter One
July 1814

It all happened so fast.

One moment, everyone was oohing and aahing at the cascade of red and gold sparks bursting into the night sky. The next, they were screaming and running as a sheet of flame erupted with a sound that put Sofia in mind of a fusillade of cannon.

Worse still, the bigger people were shoving the smaller, slower-moving ones out of their way. In the panic, a tall man elbowed Sofia right in her eye as he spun away from the exploding fireworks. A split second later someone else deliberately shoved her aside. What with the blow to the face, the shove and the surge of running people, Sofia felt herself beginning to lose her footing.

Already scared, Sofia now faced the terrifying prospect of being trampled underfoot. Fortunately, the man who’d shoved her out of his way had shoved her in the direction of a clump of sturdy-looking bushes. All Sofia had to do was alter her topple into a deliberate dive and she ended up underneath them, rather than under the pounding feet of the fleeing mob.

Her heart was pounding, her limbs were shaking, but she was safe—if a bit bruised and grubby. Still, for once she’d have a jolly good excuse for returning to her aunt and uncle covered in leaves and mud. For once, she could lay the blame squarely at the feet of the beast who’d pushed her out of his way, rather than having to confess that she’d had to dig her dog out of a rabbit burrow, or rescue her from a boggy patch of meadow, or one of the many other mishaps which so regularly seemed to befall her when exploring Uncle Ned’s estates.

It took a remarkably short time for the massive crowd which had gathered to watch the fireworks display to disperse.

Still unsure that it would be safe to emerge from her cover, Sofia gingerly raised herself on one elbow and peered out from under the lower branches to see what was going on.

Uncle Ned had bought the most expensive tickets to this event which Burslem Bay’s town council had put on to celebrate the peace with France. It had not only included the price of supper, but also the right to stand halfway up the castle mound, ensuring the best view of the fireworks. It meant that even from beneath the bushes, Sofia could still clearly see that the scaffolding on which the fireworks display had been mounted was now well ablaze.

She could also hear someone screaming. She raised herself a bit further and saw, to her horror, right beneath the flaming scaffolding, in the area where the servants and shopkeepers had been standing, a woman with her skirts on fire.

A woman all on her own, desperately swatting at the flames, which were now licking up her sleeves. Sofia had seen something similar in her childhood, when a stray rocket had set a magazine, as well as the men nearest to it, ablaze, so she knew that the woman ought to lie on the ground and roll, not leap about the way she was doing. But this was England in peacetime, not a fortress on high alert. Which meant she could well be the only person here who knew what needed doing.

So Sofia wriggled out from under the shrubbery and began running back down the slope as fast as she could, desperately hoping she’d be strong enough to wrestle the panicked woman to the ground and extinguish the flames before it was too late. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two men also running in the same direction—two of the waiters who’d served at supper, to judge from the white shirts they wore, with blue sashes wrapped round their waists. They reached the burning woman first. One of them pushed her to the ground. The other one, who was slightly behind him, and who’d clearly had the presence of mind to grab a champagne bucket on his way, upended the contents over the unfortunate woman, putting out most of the flames at once.

By the time Sofia got there, the waiters had extinguished all the flames and were standing back, breathing heavily and looking a bit sick at the state of the poor woman who lay there moaning and shaking.

Most of one side of her dress had gone and her hair looked as though it, too, had been singed. Sofia wasn’t surprised the woman was trembling. Her clothing had caught fire, she’d been flung to the ground by one burly man and then had ice-cold water thrown over her by another. She’d felt pretty shaky herself when she’d been lying on the ground, after two men had treated her rather roughly. And her gown had only been ripped a bit. It hadn’t melted away, leaving her legs exposed.

How she wished there was something she could do for the poor woman.

Well, actually, there was. She tore at the fastening of her cloak, and, falling to her knees beside the woman, flung it over her body. It might not be able to stop the tremors racking the poor creature, but at least it would prevent the two men from being able to look at her exposed limbs.

‘Don’t just stand there staring,’ she shouted at them. ‘This woman needs medical attention! One of you run and fetch a doctor!’

The two men exchanged a glance.

‘I say...’ one of them began to protest.

But the other one, who was still holding the empty ice bucket, held up his free hand as though to silence his colleague.

‘She’s right, Gil. Go and fetch Dr Cochrane.’

As the first waiter hurried off, the other one tossed the ice bucket aside and stepped closer. By the flickering light of the blazing scaffolding, Sofia noted heavy, straight dark brows and a beak of a nose, which gave him a harsh appearance.

‘You can leave her now,’ he snarled at her.

Snarled? What right had he to snarl at her? And why was he glaring so ferociously?

‘The doctor will attend her.’

‘When he gets here,’ she retorted, ‘I dare say he will. But until then, I prefer to stay with her.’ She took hold of the injured woman’s hand, to offer the poor creature what meagre comfort she could.

‘You look to me,’ said the waiter with the ferocious eyebrows, ‘as though you could do with medical attention yourself.’

At that, Sofia realised that her eye socket throbbed at the point where it had encountered the tall man’s elbow. And that she had scratches up her arms from diving under the bushes.

‘And you really ought not to have removed your cloak.’ As his eyes made a swift perusal over her person, she recalled thinking that muslin was not the best of fabrics to wear when diving under bushes. She was thankful that she’d have an acceptable excuse to give Aunt Agnes for ruining yet another gown.

‘Yes, that’s probably true,’ she admitted when the waiter’s eyes lingered over the portion of her tattered skirt through which her knee was poking, ‘but right this minute, I believe this lady needs it more than I do.’

‘She is not a lady,’ he said, somewhat pedantically to her way of thinking.

‘What does her station in life have to do with anything? She is clearly hurt very badly and needs both a doctor and a cloak to cover her far more than I do.’

The waiter raised one of his brows, just a fraction.

‘That is a very...compassionate thing to say. Nevertheless, I am sure there are people looking for you, people who will be concerned about your welfare. You ought not to be wandering about alone, in the dark.’

‘I am not wandering about alone. I am kneeling on the ground, tending to a woman who has been badly hurt. And I intend to stay with her until there is some other female who can take my place.’

As though in gratitude, the injured woman gave Sofia’s hand a rather shaky squeeze.

‘Oh, how I wish I could just take you home with me and nurse you myself,’ Sofia said apologetically. ‘It must be awful to be in this state and reliant on strangers.’ For the second time that night, Sofia felt the unpleasant sensation of childhood memories surging to the forefront of her mind. Only this time it was of the days following her papa’s death, when she’d been passed from one harassed officer to another before finally being loaded on to a ship returning to England. Though none of those men had meant to be unkind, nor had any of them really had much idea how to handle a fellow officer’s orphaned daughter.

‘You are a stranger to her yourself,’ put in the waiter, who was beginning to really annoy her.

‘Yes,’ she shot back at him, ‘but at least I am a woman!’

‘Look, miss...’

‘Underwood,’ she supplied automatically.

‘Miss Underwood,’ he said. ‘I promise you that I will ensure this woman has the best possible care. And that as soon as is practical, I will procure a female to tend to her.’

‘Yes, that’s all very well, but until then...’

‘And to set your mind at rest, I will also send word of her progress. If you will allow me to know how I may contact you?’

Sofia bit down on her lower lip. The most annoying thing about the waiter was that he was correct. Her aunt and uncle would be getting worried about her once they discovered she’d become separated from them during that stampede. And there wasn’t anything more she could do for the injured woman, not really.

‘Yes. Very well. We have taken lodgings on Marine View. In Theakstone Crescent.’

The man appeared a little taken aback. He took a breath as though to say something, but never got the chance. Because Uncle Ned came bustling up.

‘Sofia! What the devil do you think you are playing at? Your aunt is worried sick about you! Get up off the ground and come here this instant!’

She got up. And under cover of brushing some of the leaves and ash from her skirts, she sidled closer to the waiter. ‘I have a little money of my own,’ she said softly. ‘I would gladly contribute towards the cost of nursing her, if that would help.’

‘Sofia!’ Uncle Ned grabbed her arm and pulled her to a respectable distance from the waiter. ‘Where is your cloak?’

She pointed to the injured woman.

‘Great heavens above,’ groaned Uncle Ned, rolling his eyes for good measure. Sofia winced, imagining the scene there was going to be when she explained how she’d disposed of a garment she’d only borrowed from her cousin Betty on the understanding she would take the greatest care of it.

Uncle Ned could clearly imagine it, too, for, as he dragged her away from the scene, he muttered, ‘Have you no sense?’

* * *

Oliver clenched his fists as he watched the man clamp one hand round Miss Underwood’s upper arm and drag her away as though he’d just caught her committing some crime. If there was one thing he detested, it was men who used their superior strength against females. Particularly females of their own family.

If it wasn’t for the even more badly injured woman lying right at his feet, he’d have gone after Miss Underwood and given her uncle a piece of his mind. Only there was an injured woman lying at his feet. A woman whose need outweighed that of the one who’d been able to walk away from the catastrophic ending to the evening.

He bent his gaze in her direction. She’d stopped moaning. Was that a good sign, or a bad one? If only he knew what to do, the way Miss Underwood had instinctively seemed to know.

She had knelt down and held the burned woman’s hand.

But then, Miss Underwood was female. As he’d become all too aware when her knee had peeped out at him through a rent in her skirt at that critical moment.

It would probably not prove soothing if he were to kneel down and take hold of the burnt woman’s hand. But he had to do something. He gazed round, through the flickering, reddish shadows at the milling crowds. Where was that damned doctor? What was taking Gil so long?

The woman suddenly gave a convulsive shudder.

‘The doctor will be here soon, Miss... Mrs...’ He broke off, grinding his teeth. He hadn’t even thought to ask her name.

‘Pagett,’ the woman croaked.

‘Pagett,’ he repeated, in what he hoped was a reassuring sort of way.

She moaned again.

‘Be brave,’ he said. ‘Just a little longer and the doctor will...’

‘That’s just it,’ she whimpered. ‘I can’t afford no doctor. Not to pay for treatment of this...’ she moved her legs, waved her arms vaguely ‘...not this much.’

And Miss Underwood had thought of that, as well.

‘You must not worry about that,’ he told Mrs Pagett. ‘I will make sure all your bills for treatment are met. And that you have the nursing you need, for as long as you need it.’

‘You?’ She frowned up at him. ‘Why should you do that?’

‘Because it is my duty. And that of the committee who organised tonight’s events to take care of you. And,’ he added as an afterthought, ‘your family, should you be unable to work to support them for any length of time.’

She rolled her head from side to side. ‘It’s all very well you saying that now. But who’s going to listen to what you have to say?’

‘Everyone,’ he said with perfect assurance. ‘Because I am the head of the committee.’

‘You are?’ She gazed up at him in disbelief.

‘Yes,’ he assured her. ‘I am the Duke of Theakstone.’