Page 33 of Her Duke in Shining Armor
She briefly considered telling the maid to tell him to go away, but had to ask, “Why?”
“Lady Darcy, My Lady,” Lisa replied. “He says her fiancé was shot.”
Eleanor launched off the bed in fright. Every lingering strain of fatigue and laziness had left her system in less than a heartbeat. Darcy’s fiancé was shot? Oh, God!
“Fill my basin with hot water, immediately!” Eleanor said while running to her closet. Her mind was running ahead of her and she hoped to high heaven that the man was not dead. Darcy had already suffered too much heartbreak in her short life. It was cruel of fate to allow her to find her love and then lose it too.
She tugged out a soft green dress, chemise, stays, and stockings and threw them on the bed. When Lisa returned with the jug of water, Eleanor quickly cleansed her person and dressed with hurried hands. Lisa had wisely stayed to help her with the stays and her hair.
Lisa was twisting her hair into an elegant chignon when Eleanor decided there was no time for such finery. “Just stick a pin in and be done with it!”
Worry was coiling in her stomach for her friend and she hastily slipped her shoes on. Grabbing her coat, she shoved her arms inside and ran down the stairs. Oberton was at the foot of the stairs, pacing furiously and Eleanor could see the worry on his face. His hair was unkempt and his clothes were rumpled.
“How is she?” Eleanor blurted.
His eyebrows danced up and he was wordless for a moment. Eleanor did not have time for this, “Is she alright, Your Grace?”
“Her fiancé is in critical condition,” he said tightly. “What did you expect?”
She marched to him with worry twisting to anger, “Must you be you now? Take me to her!”
“My Lady,” Lisa said, “Miss Malcolm is not ready yet.”
“Then you’ll come with me,” Eleanor replied to her maid, “Ambrose, when Miss Malcolm is ready, please send her to—”
“St. Bartholomew’s,” the Duke supplied. “They housed him at the Wapping Station first to make sure he was stable enough to transport to the hospital.”
Eleanor was out the door with the Duke and Lisa at her feet. as she approached the carriage, the Duke ran ahead of her and opened the door. Swiftly, she allowed him to help her and her maid into the carriage, then after he had joined them, he banged on the roof. The carriage shot off like a bat from hell.
“What happened?” Eleanor demanded.
“From what I know, he was following the head of a blackmail group who used various establishments on the river to be used as holding and transport bases for stolen goods,” the Duke replied tightly. “He had partners but they had split up and he got blindsided.”
Eleanor’s fingers clutched in her skirt and her lips were in a tight bloodless line, “I pray he does not die…I pray that he lives. Darcy has had too much pain her life from the death of her old love to suffer more.”
“She toldyouabout Johann?” the Duke’s appalled tone did not sit well with Eleanor but she tried to hold her peace for as long as she could.
“She did not tell me his name but she told me she lost her first love when she was young the day after I had seen you two at Vauxhall,” Eleanor replied. “And why do you have to make it sound like she was giving away Crown secrets?”
“Because neither Wilcox nor I knew about Johann Schmidt until six months after we had known her. You learned about it in one day,” was his sullen reply.
A humbled feeling warmed Eleanor’s chest while knowing that Darcy had told her such a secret the day they had met. What trust! She then felt a bit taken aback as she considered her position in the carriage. “Why did you leave her to get me?”
“Because she asked me to,” the Duke stated, his emerald eyes dimming with concern. “With the state she was in, I had not wanted to but she forced me to do it anyway. I left her in the care of another officer from the force.”
“You really care for her, don’t you?” Eleanor noted. “She did say she counts you as a big brother.”
“I do,” he stated. “When Wilcox first met her, she was still broken from her heartbreak. We became protective of her and like I told you, he only trusts me with her.”
Why do I suspect there is more to that story than he says?
“That is very noble of you,” she said before her face went grim. “I do hope he will pull through.”
The next thirteen minutes of the carriage ride was made in strained silence. When they came to the hospital and the jolts of the cobblestone courtyard, Eleanor briefly glanced at the two wings but focused on the main one ahead.
“Is he in the Great Hall?”
“He should be,” the Duke said while moving to open the door. He then alighted and helped her and the maid out. “He should have been moved from the surgical theater by now.”
