Refreshed after a good night’s sleep with his wife in his arms, Stone had breakfast and then requested a buggy and carriage be brought around so he could go for a morning drive. As he waited, he decided to invite his wife to accompany him. Most of the houseguests were still abed, and no entertainments were scheduled until the afternoon.

One foot on the stairs, he heard an all too familiar voice call his name. When he turned and found Lady MacGregor, a Scottish widow with whom he had spent a great deal of time just before he left for India, his heart lodged in his throat.

“Stonemere.” She waved him over to the salon doorway she partially occupied. “I thought that was you, my lord.”

He wanted to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. This was a disaster of epic proportions. His former lover and his wife under the same roof? And the lover was the aggressive, territorial sort. Not a good situation. “Lady MacGregor, I am surprised to see you.”

“Yes, well. I had a bit of a megrim last night, so Lady Hawksbury had her chit fill in for me at dinner. She claimed it would be good practice for the lass.”

Stone wanted to laugh at the absurdity of her obvious avoidance of him until she could get him alone. Clearly, she intended to see if there was any possibility of picking up where they had left off before he’d left for India, a lowly lieutenant in the army. “Well, I am glad to see you feeling better. Unless, of course, you are still feeling poorly and are planning to leave early?”

Her green MacGregor eyes sparkled with laughter. “Not with such enticements as yourself and Lord Brougham still in residence.” She leaned into him, plastering her breasts against his chest as she snaked her arms around his neck. Then she planted her lips on his as she tried to tease him into a deeper kiss.

Cursing himself a fool for not expecting such a move by her, he pulled his lips from hers. “Let me be very clear, Mary. I am not available for your games. My wife is with me, and even were she not, I honor my vows to her as seriously as I honored my commission in the army and the good name of my family.”

He reached up and untangled her arms from his neck, just as a swish of skirts alerted him they were not alone. Damn and blast. He turned and caught a glimpse of his wife’s blonde hair and dark blue riding habit as she turned the corner to the side of the house where the stables were located. “Your little ruse changes nothing. I am not interested in your wares.” He ground the words past clenched teeth as his anger seethed beneath his calm exterior.

Lady Mary MacGregor gasped at his blatant insult, hauled her arm back, and attempted to slap him. But, he caught her arm before she could land the blow.

“Do not presume that because you are a woman, I shall take no action. You just insulted my wife with your unwanted advances as well as upset her beyond bearing. I suggest you make yourself scarce, if not entirely absent, and I shall consider overlooking this mark on our otherwise previously congenial acquaintance.” Fury licked at his soul like flames from the deepest pits of hell. He was as angry at her for being presumptuous, as he was at himself for not being more cautious when she appeared so suddenly.

Determined to chase down his wife and set things straight, he darted down the hall where she had only recently been. Outside the house, he saw her tearing down the driveway in the buggy he had requested only a short while ago. Frustrated at the delay, he stormed over to the stable and demanded a horse. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he would have the advantage of speed on horseback.

---

Theo raced away from the intimate scene between her husband and the red-haired hussy of a woman she had never seen before. Shocked at what she had come downstairs to find, she’d stood there and watched them speak, though she could not hear a single word. But there was little she needed to hear after watching the woman press against her husband, arms comfortably twined around his neck, while she kissed him as though she’d known him intimately.

Devastated after their intense night together, Theo was certain a gaping hole could be found where her heart once resided. Tears blurring her vision, she gave the horse his head and hoped the wind would carry her tears and pain on the breeze and off to sea, or somewhere equally distant.

She’d barely crossed the Hawksbury property line when she heard the thunder of hooves behind her. To her surprise, her husband had managed to pull himself from the wanton woman and come after her. Well, she would not make this an easy conquest, because she knew as surely as he would catch her that it was too late for her heart to escape unscathed. To her horror, she realized she loved the very man who had carelessly claimed her heart and then tossed it away like so much refuse.

Flying over the bumpy road, one could only go so fast without risking both the horse’s neck and her own. But she pushed the limits, her anger superseding her better judgment. Anger, hurt, and doubt all swirled in her gut like bad champagne. She waffled between wanting to vomit and wanting to turn back around and horsewhip her husband into a bloody pulp. How could she have allowed him to fool her? To gain her trust? Another glance back over her shoulder showed Stone gaining on her. When she turned back to her front, she spied the large pit in the road at the last moment.

Tears forgotten , she got the horse safely around the hole through sheer luck and determination, but she couldn’t get one of the buggy wheels past it. As the wheel caught, she heard a loud snapping sound, like a tree limb breaking in a storm. Then the buggy listed as the horse broke free from the traces, leaving her to try to scramble from the wreckage before it went over. To her horror, her skirts twisted around her ankles, caught on something in the damaged conveyance. Stone drew closer as she looked over to him, and she felt one last stab of pain to her heart. Then he was gone from her vision as she tumbled into the road and everything went black.

---

Stone watched in horror as Theo’s buggy wheel caught in the pothole. For a moment, he thought she might make it, but then he heard the loud snapping and knew her axle must have given way. With a curse, he spurred his horse for more speed, and once again found himself staring as a woman under his care suffered. The feeling of helplessness rankled as deeply now as the first time in Cawnpore, and he cursed loudly. With his heart tumbled beneath the heap of carriage that sat in the road, he grew crazed to reach her.

A moment later, he flew off his mount at a run and knelt in the dirt beside his precious wife. The woman he loved. Dear God, he was such a fool. Why could he not have told her before this moment? Now she lay unmoving, a gash in her forehead bleeding and her breathing shallow while he came to terms with his blasted feelings.

Her horse was long gone as he scooped her up and carried her to his mount. There he scrambled up and headed back to the Grange. Torn between a full gallop to arrive more quickly and a sedate trot to arrive more safely, he settled somewhere between. Each time he looked down at her still features, fear ripped through his guts and twisted them into knots. What if he missed the chance to tell her he loved her?

As he hit the main part of the grounds, he spotted a gardener with a horse and cart. Stopping, he called the man over. “Sir, I need to take your horse and cart. My wife has had an accident up the road.”

“Yes, my lord. I saw her tear out of here earlier. I was worried then at her speed.” The gardener helped him lay her on the bed of weeds, which, while not ideal, was better than him carrying her on horseback.

“Take my mount and ride ahead to warn the house and have someone call a doctor. I shall bring her up to the house in the cart.” Stone took command as he always did, clear and decisive in his thinking despite the emotional trauma pushing at the edges of his calm.

“You can’t drive a cart, my lord. It’s unseemly.” The weathered gardener looked surprised, but Stone had no time for it.

“It is not the first time I’ve driven a cart. Now go. My wife needs the doctor more than I need not to be seen in a cart.” Stone couldn’t have cared less that he had to drive a cart and mule to get her up to the house safely. Whatever it took to make things right with her, he was willing to do. Anything, if he just had the chance.

The gardener nodded, and despite his seemingly advanced age, swung up into the saddle and took off toward the house as fast as the horse would fly. Stone, meanwhile, set off after him at a much slower pace with his wife safely ensconced in the wagon. By the time he pulled up to the front of the house, the entire house party had gathered, with Lady Hawksbury heading up her house staff. Before he’d even dismounted, the formidable woman had Theo loaded onto a stretcher and on her way upstairs. He made to follow his wife, but the firm hand of his hostess pressed against his chest. “Forgive me, my lord, but you’ve done what you can. This is women’s work until the physician arrives. Let us care for your lady wife and get her settled. Then we will call for you to visit her.”

Unable to speak past the lump in his throat, he simply nodded. And then all the women were gone, leaving the men to mill about aimlessly. Cooper stepped up beside him. “She’s made of stern stuff, ’Chilles.” The comfort of his best friend falling into his old nickname told him both how unnerving the situation was, and how much his friend cared not only for him, but for his wife.

“Indeed, she is, Coop. Indeed, she is.” He refused to think back on the scene he’d witnessed. It was too much to bear as he waited.

“Gentlemen, perhaps we should retire to the library to wait with Lord Stonemere for word of his wife?” Cooper offered the suggestion, and the group happily grasped on to the notion.

“I shall see that the horse is found and the buggy collected.” Lord Hawksbury turned to head to his stable.

“You’d best take a wagon to collect the buggy. You will find it beyond repair, I fear. Of course, I shall be happy to replace the equipage,” Stone offered as Cooper urged him toward the house.

“Never mind the buggy. Your wife’s continued good health is far more important, Stonemere. Besides, after your earlier assistance, I certainly owe you a good turn.” The man trotted off to his stable as the rest of the men filed into the house.

Stone entered the library and looked at each available seat. He found the idea of sitting violated every one of his natural inclinations to take action. To do something. So he settled for pacing before the fireplace and jamming his fingers through his hair as he waited for word of his wife. Time stretched and slowed, passing like molasses through a strainer. Each man looked at him, pity in their eyes, or shared worry and understanding of the difficulty he endured.

Guilt gnawed at his gut. If only he had walked away from Lady MacGregor as soon as he’d spied the woman. Or if he’d been quicker to chase his wife, perhaps he could have caught her and explained before she hied off. But then he also knew either of those options had little chance of changing the outcome. So he was left to pace, worry, and regret while he waited for word of his wife.

Much as with childbirth, it was the woman’s job to shoulder the care and see things through. It was the man’s burden to sit and wait, helpless to affect change or do anything useful. Patience at an end, he was turning to go upstairs and demand news when the doctor came charging through the house and rushed past without even the common courtesies.

Stone tried to take succor from the knowledge that a medical professional was tending to her now, but it was cold comfort. Needing a distraction—anything—he headed outside to see if Hawksbury had returned with the buggy. He found the pile on a wagon in the courtyard near the stable with a number of men looking it over. The stable master glanced at where the axle snapped and was pointing as he spoke to his employer.

Stone walked over and caught the last part of his words. “…I’d say ’tis no accident, my lord.”

“What’s this?” Stone jumped into the conversation, alarm bells ringing in his head. “Did you say this was no accident?”

“Indeed, my lord. See here?” The stable master pointed to the spot where the axle had sheared in half. “Right there on one side of the break, you can see clean saw marks and then splintered wood. It looks like someone partially cut through the axle so that any serious jostling could have caused it to break, let alone hitting a pit in the road like the one we found the buggy in.”

“Bloody hell!” Stone cursed and tore back into the house. This was all his fault. He’d been ignoring the multitude of accidents of late, certain they were merely a series of coincidences. A spate of bad luck. Not someone trying to kill him! And now because of his own obtuseness, his wife was injured at best—he refused to consider the worst-case scenario. Once inside, he called for Cooper, the only man he trusted at the moment. His friend ran into the main hall in answer to his bellowing summons. “Cooper, this was no accident. The stable master found a partially severed axle.”

Surprise colored every feature of his friend’s face. “Who would want to kill Theo?”

“I was meant to take that buggy for a morning drive.” Stone still found it hard to believe, but the evidence was more than clear. “She suffered an accident intended for me. I need to account for the whereabouts of everyone attending the house party since last night. Could you quietly ask about while I stand guard over my wife? On the off chance I am wrong and we are both the target, I do not wish to leave her alone until this bastard is uncovered.”

“Agreed. I shall report back as soon as I have a complete list.”

As Stone headed upstairs, fear for his wife’s safety ate at him in a way he had never before experienced. How could he survive if anything happened to her?