Almost a Princess by Elizabeth Thornton

of his mouth.
    She kept her voice steady. “I should hope you would!”
    “Did you find Razor? When the buggy got stuck, I unhitched him but he ran off before I could get up on his back.”
    “If I know Razor, he’ll be home and warm and dry by now.” Then, as Case knelt down beside her, “This is Lord Castleton, Ben. I wish you had seen how he stood up to Lord Reeve. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and shook him till his teeth rattled. I thought all his teeth would fall out.”
    Ben’s laugh faded to a moan of pain. “I didn’t tell him nothing,” he said, rallying a little. “I didn’t tell him your name. Miss Drake did that.”
    “Hush now,” said Jane, “we’ll talk later.”
    Case said. “We have to get you up and out of here, Ben. Do you think you can manage if I help you?”
    Ben nodded, but as Case tried to ease him up, he whimpered in pain.
    “Where does it hurt?” asked Case.
    “My arm. I can’t move it.”
    “Hold the light for me, Jane.”
    As Jane held up the lantern, Case began to test for broken bones. Ben bore it stoically until Case tried to lift his right arm. Then he let out a howl.
    Case said to Jane, “I don’t think it’s serious, but we have to get him to someplace warm and dry so I can see what I’m doing.”
    It was dark now, and outside the pool of light from the lantern, there was nothing to be seen, no lights winking at them from cottages or outside lanterns. And to make matters worse, it had started to snow again.
    “We might as well make for home,” Jane said, sounding confident for Ben’s sake. “It can’t be that far and Lance can show us the way.”
    Case removed his coat. “Hold my horse steady,” he said.
    Talking soothingly all the while, he wrapped his coat around Ben and hoisted him into the saddle, then mounted up behind him. Ben’s piteous moans and groans had Jane gritting her teeth.
    Case looked at her set face and said harshly, “There’s no other way. And there’s more to worry about than his injured arm. He’s been out in the cold too long. His skin feels like ice. So, let’s move. Walk your horse and hold up the lantern so that I can follow you.”
    He’d got the wrong idea. She wasn’t finding fault with him. She was well aware that she couldn’t have managed Ben on her own. She’d thank him later, but first they had to get Ben home.
    She called Lance. “Home,” she said, then the little caravan moved off with Lance in the lead.
    It was a journey Jane hoped she never had to repeat. In spite of the lantern, they were walking blind and had it not been for Lance, who kept them together like sheep in a little flock, they would have had to stop.
    The lights of home had never looked more welcoming. “Home!” she shouted, or tried to shout, but her voice was hoarse from the cold and she couldn’t be sure that she was heard.
    When the front door was thrown open and the housekeeper was silhouetted against the light, Jane’s eyes welled with tears of relief. They soon dried when the earl came abreast of her and started issuing orders.
    “Take care of the horses, Miss Mayberry, while I see to Ben.”
    At mention of Ben, Mrs. Trent descended the steps. “You found him? Thank God! Come this way, your lordship, come this way.”
    A moment later, the front door closed, leaving Jane, Lance, and the horses out in the cold. She looked at the weary beasts and her pique melted. They looked to be in worse shape than she felt. “We couldn’t have managed without you,” she told them, and murmuring nonsense interspersed with endearments, she led them to the stable.
    Anxiety for Ben made her hurry through her chores. She’d been right about Razor. He was in his stall, munching his head off. If she hadn’t loved animals and abhorred their ill treatment, she would have whacked him on the nose for leaving Ben in the lurch. In any crisis, or if there was work to be done, Razor could be counted on to look out for himself.
    She was drooping with