The muscle in his thigh felt as if someone had impaled him with a burning knife, but even so, it was a familiar sort of pain. He hadn’t done anything new to his leg, it seemed to tell him; he’d just pushed it to the limit.

Two gentlemen arrived on the scene—Sarah’s cousins, he thought—and then Daniel was there, pushing them away.

Taking charge.

Hugh watched as he checked her ankle, then he watched as Sarah put her arms around his neck.

And still he watched as Daniel swept through the crowd and carried her into the inn.

Hugh would never be able to do that. Forget riding, forget dancing, and hunting, and all those things he mourned since a bullet had mangled his thigh. None of those seemed to matter anymore.

He would never gather a woman in his arms and carry her away.

He had never felt like less of a man.

The Rose and Crown Inn

An hour later

“How many?”

Hugh looked up just as Daniel slid onto the stool next to him in the barroom at the inn.

“How many drinks?” Daniel clarified.

Hugh took a gulp of his ale, and then another, because that was what it took to finish the mug. “Not enough.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Sadly, no.” Hugh signaled to the innkeeper for another.

The innkeeper looked over. “One for you, too, m’lord?”

Daniel shook his head. “Tea, if you will. It’s early yet.”

Hugh smirked.

“Everyone is in the dining room,” Daniel told him.

All two hundred of us, Hugh almost said, but then he remembered that they were splitting up between inns for lunch. He supposed he should be thankful for small favors. Only one-fifth of the traveling party would have seen his humiliation.

“Do you want to join us?” Daniel asked.

Hugh looked over at him.

“I didn’t think so.”

The innkeeper set another mug of ale in front of Hugh. “The tea’ll be ready soon, m’lord.”

Hugh lifted the mug to his lips and downed about a third of it in one gulp. There wasn’t nearly enough alcohol in the stuff. It was taking him far too long to squash his brain into nothingness.

“Did she break it?” he asked. He had not intended to ask questions, but this he had to know.

“No,” Daniel said, “but it’s a nasty sprain. It’s swollen, and she’s in quite a lot of pain.”

Hugh nodded. He knew all about that. “Can she travel?”

“I think so. We’ll have to put her in a different carriage. She’ll need to elevate the leg.”

Hugh took another long drink.

“I didn’t see what happened,” Daniel said.

Hugh went still. Slowly, he turned to his friend. “What are you asking me?”

“Just what happened,” Daniel said, his mouth twisting with disbelief at Hugh’s overreaction.

“She fell out of the carriage. I failed to catch her.”