Captive Surrender by Rebecca King Page B

molten lava and she physically shook with
the urge to rant at the unfairness of it all. It wasn’t bad enough
that they were under continual threat from Levant; they now had a
dead body on their hands and a badly injured man and one, if not
two of them, could be facing a prison sentence in the morning. It
all seemed so hideously unfair.
    She took a moment to
steady herself before she hauled Robbie to his feet. “Now dry your
eyes, Robbie. I am sure that he will be fine. He is going to be
even better when he is upstairs where it is warm and dry, and we
can take a good look at his injuries. Let’s give it one last go and
get him up there. Then we can all call it a night. I don’t know
about you, but I have had more than enough for one day.”
    She knew that even once
he was upstairs and in bed, it was going to be a long, sleepless
night for her. She had no idea what to do with a man who had
injured his head, but her conscience, and her sense of duty,
wouldn’t allow her to leave his side for long. As she bent down to
grab his arm, she sent a silent prayer heavenward that he wouldn’t
need the services of the doctor because they didn’t have any money
with which to pay one.
     

CHAPTER
SIX
    It took them nearly an hour to get the man up the
stairs and into the room next to the stairs without causing him any
further injuries. It was Prudence’s room, but she didn’t raise
objection given that nobody had the energy to drag the man’s heavy
weight any further. She wished he would wake up and at least help
them but, from the trail of blood they had left behind on the
stairs, it was going to be some time yet before he returned to full
consciousness – if ever. She quickly blanked that thought out and
pulled the sheets back off the bed before they hefted him onto the
crisp sheets.
    Once the man was on the
bed, Robbie flopped onto his back on the floor and lay staring at
the ceiling, while Madeline collapsed into the chair beside the bed
and began to fan herself. They were so wet that they all squelched
when they walked, and would have to clean the water and blood off
the floor before they went to bed, but that was of little
consequence given how pale and unresponsive the man was.
    Despite their exhaustion,
Eloisa and Prudence turned their trying to establish how much
damage they had caused. Prudence leaned over the man and peered at
the sticky patch of hair on the back of his head. When she turned
his head gently to one side so she could part his hair to see his
scalp, he groaned.
    “ Great, now
he decides to wake up,” Robbie snorted in disgust.
    Prudence shared a
relieved smile with Eloisa and turned her gaze back to the man. She
could see only one cut on the back of his head, and it wasn’t too
deep, but it was covered with hair that would have to be washed
before he could be bandaged.
    Up close, his hair wasn’t
as long as she had first thought, and he hadn’t got it tied back at
his nape at all, it was just unfashionably longer than most and
brushed the collar of his shirt, but it seemed to suit him
regardless.
    “ I will go
and get some water,” Eloisa murmured and nudged Robbie with her toe
as she passed him. “Come and give me a hand.” She ignored his low
groan and continued to badger him until he followed her down the
stairs.
    “ He is
soaked,” Maggie sighed as she plucked at the sodden sheets beneath
him. “We have to change the sheets.”
    “ There is no
point changing the sheets while he is so wet. We need to get him
out of those clothes.”
    This caused Maggie to
yelp in alarm. “We can’t take the man’s clothes off,
Prudence!”
    “ What do you
want us to do?” Prudence demanded matter-of-factly. “We can hardly
ask Robbie to do it and, if we leave him like this, he is likely to
die of influenza even if he does survive the head injury.” She
hated the idea of undressing him, but the thought that he might
actually die from cold forced her to put her own feelings aside for
the sake of his