He hauled her onto her feet. Just then Jack and Concha appeared with the horses. When they saw their companions alive and apparently unscathed their relief was evident.
‘Madre mia! I feared we had lost you,’ said Concha.
‘I thought so myself for a while,’ replied Elena, shuddering.
‘You look awful. Ghastly pale.’
Jack frowned. ‘We’d best get you in t’warm, my lady.’
‘My thought exactly,’ said Harry.
‘Next town’s not far off. According t’map, it’s not above a mile up t’road.’
Harry nodded, privately thanking heaven that they weren’t stuck in the middle of nowhere. ‘Right, we’ll go there at once.’
With the aid of his arm Elena staggered to her horse, feeling very cold and uncharacteristically shaky. The thought of another ride was distinctly unappealing, but there was no choice about that now. She eyed her mount with misgivings; somehow it seemed a lot bigger than it had before, its back much further away. In the event she was spared the trouble of mounting. Assessing the situation with complete accuracy, Harry picked her up and she experienced a brief sensation of weightlessness as he tossed her lightly into the saddle. Then, keeping a firm hold on her reins, he remounted his own horse and they set off.
Fortunately, Jack was right: it wasn’t very far at all to town. He and Concha lost no time in locating an inn and bespeaking rooms. The place was unpretentious but it was clean. Harry lifted Elena off her horse and carried her indoors, firing off a series of instructions to the startled patrón as he went. Within a relatively short time Elena found herself in a spacious private chamber in front of a cheerful fire. Harry set her down and surveyed her critically.
‘We need to get you out of those wet things.’
‘You’re wet too.’
‘I’ll worry about that presently. Right now I’m more concerned about you.’ He stepped closer and unfastened her jacket, dragging it off her shoulders. Then he sat her in a chair and bent down to pull off her boots.
‘Can you manage the rest?’
She nodded dumbly.
‘Good.’ He handed her a couple of linen towels. ‘You’ll need these.’
Leaving her to get on with it he began to peel off his own wet clothing. Elena struggled out of her sodden breeches and then glanced round. Harry had his back to her so she pulled off her shirt and, with fumbling fingers, wrapped the first linen sheet around herself. Then she turned towards the fire again and began to dry her hair with the other while he finished undressing. He stripped and fastened a towel around his waist. The sight of that hard-muscled body sent a tremor through her that had nothing whatever to do with cold.
Unaware of the inner turmoil he was causing, he set to, draping their wet clothing over chairs to dry in front of the hearth. When he had done that he straightened and turned towards her, regarding her critically. Under that penetrating stare Elena felt suddenly self-conscious.
‘I look like a drowned rat, don’t I?’
‘Not the expression I was going to use,’ he replied. ‘But you still look mighty pale, my sweet.’
‘Do I?’
‘You’ll feel better with some hot food inside you. Shall you object to dining in here?’
She returned a wry smile. ‘I think it would be best under the circumstances.’
He grinned. ‘So do I. The sight of you like that would cause a local scandal.’
She thought that the same could be said of him, but ventured no reply.
He went to the door and summoned Jack, who had been loitering in the corridor for the purpose, and sent him off for some food and a jug of mulled wine. A short time later the servant returned with the wine and the intelligence that the food would follow. Harry relieved him of the jug and goblets and, after delivering an injunction to take himself off and find something to eat, bade him farewell and shut the door. Then he poured two generous measures of wine and handed one to Elena.
‘Drink this. It’ll warm you.’
The wine was sweet and fragrant with cloves and cinnamon. She took a sip and swallowed, feeling the hot liquor carving a path all the way to her stomach. It was also dangerously heady, rather like the man opposite. Slowly the combination of inner and outer warmth began to take effect with a painful tingling in her hands and feet.
Seeing some of the colour return to her face Harry felt more reassured. It had been no lie when he said she’d given him some anxious moments earlier. His heart had been in his mouth. For a little while he’d really feared he might not find her. The thought of the alternative turned him a lot colder than the river ever had. In that moment he truly understood how much she meant to him. He also knew he wasn’t going to fail her as he’d failed Belén.