Page 70 of A Bride for the Cruel Duke

Caroline was certain it was nothing. From the looks of things, he was just being cautious, his eyes scanning the way ahead as he continued to check on her to make sure she would be fine to ride in the dark. And where she knew she could have just continued on, not worrying about the silence, she was far too excited for that.

“Say...” she began with a wicked grin that flashed in Anthony’s direction. Not that he noticed. “What’s say that we make this interesting?”

“Interesting? What are you speaking of?”

She pumped her eyebrows. “If my memory serves, you still have one more chance to try and convince me this marriage is worth pursing, yes?” She purred and then giggled.

“Oh...” He cleared his throat, looking ahead again. “Let’s not talk of that now. Tomorrow we can?—”

“No, no,” she cut him off. “That is what I was saying. I do not know what you might have planned, but I am thinking now that we have some fun with it.” She looked right at him, waiting...

“Fun?” he said eventually, with great caution because he must have sensed where her mind was going.

“The first one back to the stable gets to choose what we do,” she said. “And the other cannot say no.”

“Caroline, that is not a good idea.” There was no humor in his voice. “It is too dark, and the horses?—”

“—will be fine,” she spoke over him, waving him down. “That is unless you are scared.” She pumped her eyebrows and chuckled.

Even in the dark, she could see the unimpressed look on his face. She chose to see past it, figuring he was just being overly cautious and protective, which she loved. So, why not go a little further with it? Why not give him a chance to further prove how much he did.

“I do not think so,” he said.

“Oh.” She sighed, feigning at being upset. “That is a shame...” Then the smile returned and before Anthony had a chance to say anything else, she kicked her heels into the side of her horse and it took off.

“Caroline!”

“Catch me if you can!” she cried out with glee as she raced across the paddock. “But you’ll have to ride faster than that!”

Caroline laughed as her horse bounded ahead. It was too dark to see properly, the only real source of light being that of the manor well over a mile away. But she did not care. Nor did she worry. Behind her, Anthony called out again, sounding more worried than angry, and she took that as a good sign,

“Faster!” she shouted as she clung on. “You will have to do better than that!”

She could not see Anthony properly, but she liked to imagine he was laughing as she was. The great big brute like to pretend that sullen and morose were his natural settings, but she knew different. This even had proven that there was so much more to Anthony than anybody had known—himself, included.

“Oh!” Caroline cried out as her horse lurched suddenly. “Oh! She exclaimed as its knees buckled and it reared back. “Argh!”

It all happened so quickly.

Her horse whinnied and kicked back. Then it lurched forward, its feet slipped through the grass. It tried to find its balance, its rear legs kicking up, only to balk and then tumble, sending her flying from the saddle and through the air.

The world turned around her. Her stomach went through her mouth. Fear wrapped her like a blanket. She fell and crashed into the ground with a thump. And that was the last thing she remembered.

* * *

The first thing Caroline noticed when she woke up was how much pain she was in. Her body felt bruised. Her head felt as if it was split open. And her eyes felt as if they were being gouged out by a pair of invisible hands. She winced as she regained consciousness, eyes still closed, doing her best to not to move because each time she did that pain rolled across her body.

“Caroline...” Anthony spoke softly from beside her.

“Anthony?” she said, smiling through the pain because hearing him by her side told her everything she needed to know. “What... where am I?”

“Your bedroom,” Anthony said. “In bed.”

She moaned and then groaned as she forced her eyes open. Luckily, it was still dark, so there was no pain from the light. The room was blurred, but she blinked it into focus as she carefully shifted herself to a sitting position.

“Argh—” She gasped as more pain stabbed through her body.

“Careful.”

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