Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

he said softly. "I didn't know who it was until now. Have you been regressed?"

Tim did not reply for a moment. His instinct told him to be very careful. Sam was dangerous. He wished, as so often these days, that his head was clearer. "Yes, " he said at last. "I've been regressed. "

Sam nodded slowly. "So, " he said, almost to himself. "Now there are three. "

"Three?" Tim echoed.

Sam smiled. "The three men who loved the Lady Matilda. "

Tim stared at him. "And you are one of the three, " he said thoughtfully after a moment.

"Me?" Sam said. "Let us say I'm an observer. Just an observer. " He picked up his beer can and raised it to his lips. "For now, anyway. "

Chapter 27

Jo had fallen first to her knees, then slowly down until she was sprawled on the grass, her head near a lump of roughly shaped stone. Nick knelt beside her. "Jo!" he called urgently. "Jo, for God's sake, can you hear me?"

His anger had vanished, the sudden unsought surge of antagonism gone. He took off his shirt and rolled it up, gently pushing it beneath her head, and, worried by her stillness, felt for the pulse in her wrist. It was there, quick and light, but steady, her breathing shallow. As he knelt, helplessly watching her, she flung out her arm with a little painful cry.

"Jo?" he whispered. "Jo, where are you? Can you hear me?" There was no response. Her eyes did not open; her face was still.

He chafed her hand gently as the thunder rumbled closer behind them and he saw a flicker of lightning in the valley. "Jo, love, you must wake up. We can't stay up here in the rain. Jo!" He spoke more loudly, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her. She groaned and her eyes opened, but she did not see him. Her gaze went past him to the distant hills.

"Please, no, " she whispered. "Please. "

"Jo! You must wake up. " Nick shook her again, more roughly this time. "Jo. Come on! Listen to me. " He let her fall back with a sigh, and touched her face lightly with the tip of his finger. "Are you with him again, Jo? Is Lord de Clare there?" His jaw tightened. "Are you lying in his arms at this very moment?" He clenched his fists. "Why here, Jo? What happened here? What triggered it off?"

She didn't answer. Far away in the mists of that other storm, Matilda was staring at the streaming torches of the frightened soldiers.

A heavy drop of rain fell on Nick's naked back. He glanced up, aware suddenly of how close the storm had come. The sky overhead was indigo above the soft weight of the slate-bellied clouds. Two more drops fell on Jo's white blouse as he stared down at her trying to control the conflict of strange emotions inside himself. "Christ!" he cried out loud suddenly. "Oh, Jesus Christ!"

He bent over her and kissed her fiercely, his eyes closed as he felt the complex web of anger and frustration and desire ride over him. Then it was gone as fast as it had come and he was aware only of the fact that he was kneeling on the bleak mountainside with an unconscious woman and that it was about to pour with rain. He scrambled to his feet and, gently extricating the shirt from beneath her head, shrugged it on. Then he stooped and lifted her from the ground. Slowly he began to descend back toward the car, holding Jo in his arms, wary of the steep ground that was slippery now beneath the rain. He had gone perhaps half the distance back toward the lane when he heard a shout. The rain was falling harder now. He shook his head to clear it from his eyes, conscious of the sweat standing on his forehead. His heart was pounding. Jo was slim, but she was tall, and already her weight was exhausting him, tearing at the muscles of his arms and shoulders.

"Wait, man, wait! I'll help you!" The figure was gesticulating now as it appeared out of the rain, a black-and-white collie at his heels. "An accident, was it?" He was beside Nick now, a small man in plus fours, incongruous with shirt sleeves and a flat cap against the rain. Nick gently lowered Jo's feet to the ground, supporting her weight on his shoulder, gasping for breath.

"She fainted, " he said after a moment, noting with relief the broad shoulders and sinewy arms of his rescuer. "I had to try to get her out of this rain. "

"Put her arm around my neck, here. I'll give you a hand. " The man spoke with calm authority. "We'll get her to my car, see. It's only down there. " He gestured to a stony track leading up from the lane. In the dancing lightning Nick could see a silver Range Rover drawn up on the grass immediately below them.

Between them they lifted Jo into the back, her head cushioned on a blanket. Then Nick climbed in beside her as their rescuer vaulted into the driver's seat, the dog beside him. Outside the rain became heavier every second, drumming on the roof, surrounding them in a wall of streaming water as it poured down the windshield and slammed against the windows.

The man turned, his elbow over the back of his seat. "They're the devil, these storms. They come so fast then in ten minutes the sun is out again. Is that your Porsche I saw a couple of miles back?"

Nick nodded. "We walked farther than I realized. "

The man was staring down at Jo. He nodded. "Easy to do in the mountains. And in this funny old weather too. Will we take the lady to the hospital? It'll be easier in this, I reckon. "

Nick stared down at Jo. She was deathly pale, her head rolling sideways as the man turned back