Charity and The Devil by Emma V. Leech

Author:Emma V. Leech
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“Wherein our hero fights fate.”

Dev was frantic by the time he saw the sorry image of the bedraggled horse and rider lit up in the bright white glare of the lightening. He had been searching for hours, having ridden all the way into Tillforth, and then back again once the pub’s landlord had assured him that Kit had left hours ago. Dev knew how easy it was to miss the path in the dark and frenzy of a storm on Dartmoor. He prayed nothing worse than a good soaking had befallen the young fool though, in his poor health, that could be quite dangerous enough.

“Kit!” he yelled through the din of the storm, urging his tired horse forward.

To his dismay, he found the young man slumped in his saddle with exhaustion.

“David,” Kit said, the word barely audible as he gave a wry grin. “Bit foxed,” he admitted. “Lost the path. Devil of a thing, never done it before.”

Dev clamped his mouth shut against the barrage of angry words clamouring in his head. He needed to get the fool home and in front of a fire. Then he could shout at the blasted scapegrace to his heart’s content. It soon became clear that Kit was in no condition to ride, however.

It took all Dev’s strength to haul him onto his own horse, and then time he could ill afford chasing Kit’s reluctant mount about the moors as he tried to evade being recaptured. Eventually however, horse and rider were firmly in hand and Dev made his weary way back to the farm with as much haste as he dared. The ground was treacherous, and his mount slipped and slid under the extra burden it carried.

By the time they reached the farm, Kit was unconscious. Dev hauled him down from the horse, both men sopping wet. Thankfully he was by far the larger of the two and, though it was a struggle, he hauled Kit over his shoulder and carried him to the house.

“John!” he shouted as he thundered through the front door. The boy ran from the parlour, wide eyed with horror as he saw Dev carrying his big brother. “John, see to the horses. They need rubbing down. I’ll look after, Kit, don’t worry. Don’t come up until you’ve dried yourself off, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said, his voice faint with worry.

“He’ll be all right, John, you’ve my word,” Dev said, praying he wasn’t making promises he couldn’t keep. “Where’s your sister?”

“I put her to bed an hour ago, sir.”

“Good lad. Knew I could rely on you,” Dev said as he climbed the stairs. He didn’t wait to see if John followed his instruction; he knew he would.

For once in his life, Dev felt pity for the valets he’d employed over the years who’d struggled to deal with him in various states of inebriation. Undressing an uncooperative man was no mean feat, especially when that man was soaked to the bone. Just getting his blasted boots off had Dev sweating and cursing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.