“Careful.” Alastair grabbed her arm. “Don’t get too close.”
She craned her neck, trying to peer into the hole. “Howard, is that you?”
A groan answered, then a muttered, “Holy crap.”
Her heart plummeted. Howard could be seriously injured.
“Call an ambulance,” Alastair whispered. “I’ll go downstairs to check on him.” He rushed from the room.
An ambulance? A wave of dizziness swept over Elsa, and she crouched on the floor to keep from falling. Where had she left her handbag and cell phone? In the kitchen? The parlor? Had Howard gotten hurt bringing her flowers?
“Howard?” She crawled toward the hole. It was dark in the cellar, and she could barely make out his form.
“Elsa, don’t get close to the edge,” he called up to her. “You could fall.”
He was worried about her? Her aunts had to be wrong. Howard wasn’t a beast, planning to harm her. The poor guy had to be in pain, yet he was more concerned about her safety than his own injuries.
“How badly are you hurt?” she asked.
“Just a few scrapes. No big deal.”
She suspected he was making light of it. “What were you doing?”
“I—I was running late this morning. I thought I could leave through the window opening.”
A pang of guilt shot through her chest. He had tried to leave the house without her seeing him. He’d gotten injured trying to honor her wishes.
A light suddenly brightened the cellar, and Alastair appeared below, aiming a flashlight at Howard. She gasped at the sight of blood on his arms and chest. He’d fallen at least ten feet right onto hard cement. His clothes had been ripped by the jagged ends of the wooden floor that had cracked and collapsed under his weight.
“Any broken bones?” Alastair knelt beside him. “Did you hit your head?”
“I’m okay.”
“We’ll let a doctor decide that.” Alastair glanced up at Elsa. “Did you call the ambulance?”
“No!” Howard sat up and grabbed his rib cage, wincing. “I don’t need that.”
“Bloody hell,” Alastair hissed. “You should have been backboarded. Now lay still until—”
“No.” Howard rose slowly to his feet. “This is no big deal. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re not fine!” Alastair shouted. “You’re bleeding.”
Howard limped out of Elsa’s view. She scooted back, then ran toward the head of the stairs. In a few minutes, she saw him slowly climbing up from the basement.
Her heart squeezed. He looked so beat up. “Can I take you to a doctor?”
He glanced up at her. “I appreciate that, but there’s no need.”
“I’m so sorry you felt you had to . . . escape out a window. I feel terrible—”
“No, don’t feel bad.” He reached the top of the stairs and whispered, “I’ll be fine. I’m self-healing.”
She blinked. “You mean you can—” She leaned close. “It’s like a superpower?”
“Something like that.” He gave her a wry smile. “Can we meet sometime when I’m not bleeding on the floor?”
She gazed into his eyes, and for the life of her, she couldn’t see the wild beast her aunts warned her about. All she could see was a man who was strong enough to retain his sense of humor and polite demeanor even when suffering from pain.
“Howard,” Alastair said as he came up the stairs, “at least let me take you to the clinic in town.”
“It’s not necessary,” Howard assured him. “There’s a clinic where I work, so I’ll be on my way.” He gave Elsa a hopeful look. “Will you call me?”
She nodded. “Yes.” Her aunts would throw a fit if they found out, but they didn’t know Howard like she did.
“Good.” He smiled at her. “You must think I’m an awful klutz.”
She shook her head, her cheeks warming with a blush. “No.” She thought he was the sweetest man she’d ever met.
He glanced toward the front door. “To avoid sustaining further injuries such as gunshot wounds, I’ll just make my exit out the back.”
She winced. “I understand.” As he walked haltingly toward the back door, her heart squeezed.
“Be careful,” she called as he eased out the door.
“You’re totally smitten,” Alastair whispered.
“Hush.”
“Not that I blame you. The man nearly killed himself just to bring you flowers.”
She shot him an irritated look, then rushed into the kitchen. She spotted Howard through the small window over the sink. He was walking into the woods.
She opened the note he’d left with the flowers.
“Oh, Howard,” she whispered. She glanced back at the window.
He was going deeper into the woods. Shouldn’t he be going toward the road so he could return to the school and the clinic there?
She bit her lip, watching him disappear among the trees. Where was he going? How did he heal himself? Dammit, there was so much she didn’t know about him. How could she make an informed decision on whether to trust him, when she didn’t have enough information?
She rushed into the foyer.
“Oskar’s here,” Alastair yelled as he headed for the front door.
“I—I’m going to make sure Howard gets back to his car all right.”
Alastair glanced back with a smirk. “Right. Take all the time you need, luv.”
“Ah, if you could not mention it to my aunts—”
“Mum’s the word.” Alastair pretended to zip his mouth.
“Thanks.” She slipped out the back door and jogged into the woods in the direction Howard had gone.
After a few minutes, she was surrounded by trees and beginning to wish she’d left a trail of donut crumbs. It would be just her luck to get lost in the woods. The dark, creepy woods.
She snorted to herself. Some Guardian of the Forest she made. All the trees looked alike to her. She glanced back. The house was no longer visible. A deer peeked around a tree, watching her. Then another deer peered around a bush.
“Sheesh,” she whispered. “You guys always show up. At least I don’t have to worry about being alone in the dark, creepy woods.” Though she doubted these two deer could offer her much protection.
The deer ambled closer.
They were bigger than she’d thought. She stepped back. “That’s close enough.”
They stopped but continued to stare at her.
“What do you want?” Did they expect her to do some sort of guardian thing? What the heck did a guardian do?
She waved a hand in the air. “Carry on, my loyal subjects. Cheerio.”
They gazed at her blankly.
Apparently, being a guardian wasn’t like being a queen. “Look, I don’t mean to disturb your normal routine. I’m just trying to find a man who passed through this way.”
The deer sprinted past her, then paused to glance back with an inviting look.
“He went that way?”
They cantered off, and she jogged after them. “I hope you’re not taking me to some weird animal ceremony. I never liked venison, okay?” Except in sausage, but she wouldn’t tell them that.
She winced. What if they could hear her thoughts?
She followed them for about five minutes, weaving around trees and jumping over moss-covered logs. Then they scampered downhill, moving quickly and nimbly. She slowed down, afraid she would skid on the damp, fallen leaves and hurt herself in the middle of nowhere.
The sound of rushing water grew louder, and the ravine grew steeper and rockier. She picked her way down
