"He's alive." Reaching with assurance, she swept back his hair before carefully raising one eyelid, then the other. "Hmm." Concussed, there was no doubt about that. Without jarring him in the slightest, she slid her hand around his head. Her fingers stroked through that thick, overly long hair to gently probe for any sign of — oh yes, there it was. A sizable knot was forming on the back of his skull. Lucky fellow, for that was the hardest part of what was quite certainly a hardheaded person in the first place.

And handsome. Heavens, had she ever seen a more beautiful man? Perhaps it was the mystery of his sudden arrival but she had the oddest sensation something important had just happened.

Who in their right mind would take on a fully grown ram? A man perhaps well-conditioned to ferocity, she mused. A soldier, one who still carried the battlefield in his soul.

"I believe he should be brought to the manor. I must keep an eye on him overnight." She stood and several hands reached to aid her rising. She retreated a few steps, and the villagers flowed into the space she had left like water when a river stone was removed.

"You hurt yourself, then?" The voice came from one side of her and Gemma smiled at the familiar brisk tone.

"It's only a sprain, Jennie. I landed wrong on my wrist. It could've been worse. It could be me they pulled from the wreckage."

"Aye, that was a good thing, him flingin' you out, though too roughly done."

From beyond Jennie, Gemma heard a giggle. Two of the village girls gazed rapturously at the unconscious newcomer. "Oh he's a fine one, ain't he?"

Gemma remained composed, although she had just been thinking the same thing. I don't think I have ever seen such a magnificent man.

Beside Gemma, Jennie sniffed. "Fine is as fine does." Jennie crossed her arms over her maternal torso. It was clear that Jennie would be delivering the fifth Gosling child in a matter of weeks — and tilted her head as she gazed narrowly at Gemma. "You'll be wanting to take care of him, I suppose. Like you take care of every crick and crack in this village, even down to the dogs and cats." Jennie shook her head. "I'll not try stoppin' you, because it won't do a bit of good. But you watch that one. We don't know him and we don't know his people."

Gemma glanced at the spot where she'd landed, which was really quite astonishingly far from the dangerously broken wreckage. He is so strong. "He saved me, Jennie."

Jennie spared another suspicious glance at the limp fellow now being lifted on a section of shattered planking. "You wouldna needed saving if he hadn't happened by in the first place."