Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [72]
“I—” Her hand tightened on his. “I want to. But who would he be meeting out here in the middle of the night?” She gestured with the hand holding her satchel.
“You ask an excellent question, Madam Midwife.” They reached the shed and Dominick pushed open the door.
The metallic stench of blood mixed with mildew and fish swirled out to greet them, along with a thud and a groan.
“Raleigh?” Tabitha darted into the outbuilding. “Raleigh, can you hear me?” Concern, affection, and a hint of anxiety gentled her tone. “That’s a nasty bump, Raleigh. Are you in pain?”
“Stupid . . . question.” He slurred his words like an intoxicated man. “Never . . . Who’s with you?”
“Dominick.” Tabitha paused. “Did he do this to you?”
Dominick leaned his head against the door frame, wondering if Raleigh Trower would tell the truth or an outright lie. He expected Trower to take the latter action, claim Dominick’s guilt—a guilt that would likely get him sent to Kendall’s plantation along the James River if he was lucky . . . sent to prison if he wasn’t.
“I—” Trower’s indrawn breath was audible from six feet away. “I don’t know. I didn’t see him.”
“But he was here. He came to fetch me,” she concluded.
“I d-don’t know anything,” Trower mumbled.
Dominick still did not relax.
“If he came to fetch you for me, I expect he is the culprit,” Trower continued.
“But we’d have to prove it, even for a bondsman, since he’s Mayor Kendall’s servant,” Tabitha mused aloud. “Maybe he didn’t mean this to happen. You’re still bleeding.”
“I feel like a stuck pig. Is my father out fishing?”
“No, not tonight. It’s gotten too rough.” Fabric rustled. “I’ll fetch him out here. Dominick stayed to help carry you.”
“Don’t want him touching me,” Trower grumbled.
“Good, I’ll leave,” Dominick said. “Perhaps I should have let you drain of blood like that stuck pig, instead of using my own shirt to help stop the bleeding. One of my three good shirts, I might add, and fetch Tabitha, and—”
“Stubble it, Dominick,” Tabitha broke in. “If you were where you belong, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“You presume.” Dominick straightened from the door frame. “I’ll be on my way.”
“And no one the wiser regarding you being here? Do I tell them his attacker fetched me before running off?”
“Tell them what you like.” He turned his back on her.
“Dominick—thank you.” She touched his arm. “You did take a risk coming to me, whatever the cause of his injury.”
“I did no one but Trower a favor if you think I had a hand in it.” Heart feeling as though it would rise up and choke him, Dominick departed.
Outside, the night had turned more wild than before. As he broke into a run on his way back to the village, he couldn’t hear his own footfalls above the surf, nor his own breath over the wind. He barely saw the ground beneath his feet or obstacles in his path. He smelled only his own wet wool and sandalwood, the sea, the memory of Tabitha’s roses. He felt only the rough wool of his coat against his scarred back, the slap of rain against his face, the ache in his heart.
He hadn’t come to America to fall in love. That was sheer folly. Love distracted the mind and caused mistakes. And no woman worth having would love a man in his position, as she saw it. Matters would be worse for the future of his heart, with the truth of his purpose in America stirred into the mix.
She thought she knew that truth. She knew too little, just enough to make her knowledge dangerous to him. He knew only enough to realize his danger. Yet how could he speak against Raleigh Trower without sounding spiteful? Without giving away what he was still trying to deny himself—how much he cared for her?
How much he loved her.
He couldn’t. If he survived this night’s work without being punished in a way that would remove him from his useful position, he would have to take Tabitha into his confidence to protect himself. To protect her.
Gravel crunched under his feet, and he slowed. He’d reached the walkways along the village streets and didn’t want to draw attention to his presence. A few lights shone through