Carousel of Hearts by Putney Mary Jo

Author:Putney, Mary Jo [Putney, Mary Jo]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Regency romance, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780786281367
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Published: 2005-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

As soon as he received word that Judith Winslow waited in the private parlor. Simon hastened downstairs to see her. She had just removed her rain-soaked cloak when he entered. He thought irrelevantly that she had the true English mist-born complexion. “Thank heaven you came so quickly. Is Adam . . . ?”

“Alive and reasonably well,” she said quickly.

“Thank God,” he said, the relief like a breath of fresh air. “All that the innkeeper could tell me was that Mr. Yorke had been injured and that his life was despaired of.” Simon gave his visitor a melting smile. “That was incredibly rude of me. How are you, Judith? It’s good to see you again.”

“Well enough.” The fine-drawn tension of her delicate features belied her statement, but she refrained from saying more while a maid bustled in and set down a tea tray.

After the maid had left, Judith said, “While Adam’s life is no longer in danger, he is still suffering the effects of his injuries. He has lost his memory of everything before the explosion.’’

“Good Lord,” Simon said blankly as he sat opposite where Judith perched on an oak settle. “He remembers nothing?”

“Not a thing. Not his name, not Antonia, not me. Nothing.” Judith’s voice wavered, and she glanced down, lifting the teapot and pouring as if it were the most important task in the world.

It took time for Simon to assimilate the import of her words. At length he said softly, “Total amnesia. So he would not remember me, either.” At Judith’s nod, he asked, “I assume that a physician has been consulted about the prognosis?”

“Yes, there happened to be an excellent man within earshot of the explosion, and he tended Adam through the critical period. Antonia also summoned the best physician in Buxton after we returned from Macclesfield.” Judith spread her hands helplessly. “They both agreed that when a head injury causes amnesia, memory usually returns within a few days or weeks, but there is no way of knowing for sure until it happens. He may never remember his previous life.”

“Is Adam suffering any mental effects from the injury?” Simon asked sharply. The thought of his friend’s quick, questing intelligence being destroyed was almost as hurtful as the prospect of his death had been.

“No, he can read and speak and write normally, and he seems to recall all his abstract knowledge. Some things he forgot, but he relearns them almost instantly. It’s his personal life that is a blank.”

Now that his worst fears for Adam had been allayed, Simon was able to proceed to a topic of nearly equal urgency. “Does Antonia ever mention me?” he asked haltingly. “Do you think she would see me if I called?”

“If you had returned to Thornleigh before the accident,” Judith said slowly, “I think Antonia would have fallen in your arms. She was desperately unhappy after you left.”

So they had both been desperately unhappy. Why had he decided to give her several weeks to recover her temper? Why had he

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