Page 96 of The Rebellious Lady and the Phantom Lord
“What are you doing?” Phaedra gasped. “Do you want to tear open your wound?”
She tried to force him back into bed, but it would have been easier to move a block of granite. He pushed her aside.
“Where are my clothes?” He took a few unsteady steps and Phaedra thought she read murder in his eyes.
“Please!” She thrust herself in front of him. “My grandfather is already dying. Nothing more that you can do will change?—”
“To the devil with him. I’m going after Julianna.”
“You cannot possibly. Not all the way to Yorkshire. You’ll be dead before you get there.”
But James had managed to make his way to the wardrobe. Pawing through the drawers, he located some garments, which had been fetched by one of the footmen from the Heath. Jamespulled out a pair of breeches and a shirt, his jaw grim with determination.
She fled to the door, calling for Gilly.
By the time her cousin arrived, James had already painfully struggled out of the nightshirt and into his breeches. His face was as white as the bandage that bound his shoulder.
“What the deuce!” Gilly said.
Phaedra quickly explained, but she did not receive the support from her cousin that she had expected. His brows drew together in a furious scowl.
“Well, I cannot say as I blame the man. If it were my sister, I would be off like a shot myself.”
“Gilly! You can see he’s in no condition to ride anywhere.” She glanced to where James was pulling on his shirt, his features contorted with pain. Phaedra started to rush to his aid, then stopped. She would be damned if she lifted one finger to help him with this madness.
“In any case,” Gilly said, “I don’t know how you think I’d be after stopping the man, short of brute force.”
“I don’t advise you to try it, Fitzhurst,” James growled, his fingers fumbling with the buttons.
Phaedra glanced from one man to the other. James’ face was set; Gilly’s was equally obstinate. Her shoulders slumped with defeat. She turned to her cousin.
“If you won’t stop him, I want you to go with him.”
“I don’t need a blasted nurse,” James said as he located his boots.
“Don’t fret,” Gilly flung back. “You’re not getting one.” He looked at Phaedra. “Are you mad, Fae? Do you think I’d be after leaving you to tend a sick old man and with that Goodfellow business still hanging fire in the courts?”
“It will be all right,” she said. “I will have Jonathan to help me.”
The skeptical look that passed between James and Gilly showed clearly what they both thought of Jonathan’s capabilities.
“Pay her no heed,” James said. “I will manage quite well on my own.”
“No, you won’t!” Phaedra stomped her foot, impatient with all these arrogant male heroics and stupidity. “Gilly, please, after all my grandfather has done, I feel that I owe?—”
“You don’t owe me a damned thing.” James cursed savagely as he painfully thrust his foot into a boot.
But Phaedra clutched at Gilly’s arm, giving him that melting look she knew he could not resist. “He’ll never make it alone,”Phaedra whispered. “He’ll break open that wound and bleed to death somewhere on the road.”
Gilly exuded a deep sigh. “I suppose the journey would take but a fortnight at most.” His gaze traveled ruefully toward James. “But it will not be easy. His lairdship doesn’t take too kindly to the notion of my company.”
“You can go or stay. It is all the same to me.” James jammed his heel into the other boot. “But don’t expect any gratitude. I will likely curse you every league of the way.”
“I have been cursed frequently, Englishman,” Gilly said. “In more tongues than you are master of.”
When she saw Gilly relenting, Phaedra gave him an impulsive hug. While James gathered up the rest of his belongings, Gilly treated her to a stern lecture. “While I am gone, you keep to yourself and out of mischief. No matter what happens, I don’t want you making any noble gestures. No heroic confessions, coz.”
“Of course not,” Phaedra said, avoiding meeting Gilly’s eyeS. She knew she would do whatever she deemed necessary.
