“I had no idea that it was,” she muttered, casting a quick glance over her shoulder to study her own rear end.
Mary choked back a laugh, while Ryan felt about ready to expire from their sister’s lack of decent behavior. William appeared to fare no better. “Still the feisty hoyden that you always were,” he muttered critically.
“Oh, William,” Alexandra continued on a sigh. “Haven’t you realized yet that I merely enjoy watching you suffer? It is such fun.”
William glowered as he turned toward his horse, placed his foot in the stirrup, and swung himself up into the saddle.
Alexandra merely grinned while Ryan hid a smile. He knew she enjoyed scandalizing him and William. “Shall we get going?” she asked, grasping the reins of her own horse. “Mary, you can take the brown mare over there. Walk her for a bit so you get a feel for her, see if you like her.”
As soon as Mary was out of earshot, Alexandra turned to Ryan with a crooked smile. “You have to admit,” she whispered, “that your marchioness certainly has an exquisite figure.”
Ryan coughed to mask his embarrassment. For a man who wasn’t prone to blushing, he could scarcely believe how often he’d been doing so lately. And he hated being put on the spot, especially by Alexandra’s outrageous remarks. “I scarcely noticed,” he told her as he took the reins that the groom handed to him.
“The hell you didn’t,” Alexandra chuckled as she swung herself up into the saddle of a gray stallion. “Your jaw practically hit the ground when you saw her coming.”
“She is right, you know,” William muttered. He’d come up alongside Alexandra and had caught the last bit of her previous comment. “You can continue on toward that gate over there,” he called to Mary. “We will be along in just a second.”
Ryan simply raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “If you as much as—”
“Easy does it,” Alexandra told him blithely. “We are both on your side, aren’t we, William?”
William nodded with great conviction before turning his horse about and heading after Mary.
“There, you see?” Alexandra reassured him. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about.” And with that, she rode off after the others, while Ryan was left to wonder how Michael had ever managed to handle his sister. Clearly, the man was a genius.
“We are going to race from here on back,” Ryan told Mary when they arrived at the remains of an old farmhouse. “It is about five miles or so. If you would like, you can ride back at a slower pace.”
Mary looked as though he’d just punched her in the face. “Have you learned nothing about me over these past few weeks?” she asked. “I do everything to the best of my abilities. I despise failure, especially in myself. So if there is to be a race, then I am not only going to participate; I am also going to do my damnedest to win it.”
“Good Lord! They are two of a kind,” William exclaimed. “Where the devil do these women come from?”
“Well, as a recent mother of one child, William, I should be more than delighted to explain that little mystery to you anytime you like,” Alexandra replied coyly.
“I shall get you for that!” William yelled, kicking his horse into a gallop and taking off at a maddening pace that sent dirt flying in all directions. The rest of them followed quickly behind him, racing with the wind beating against their faces until they could barely see where they were going.
Mary had taken the rear, but the minute she spotted Whickham Hall in the distance, she urged her mare forward, dashing ahead of both Ryan and William until she was neck and neck with Alexandra. The two women grinned victoriously at one another as they closed the space between them, barring the men from passing with too much ease.
They were just coming over a rise in the meadow when a flash of movement off to the left caught Mary’s attention. She tilted her head to look. It almost seemed as though someone were thrashing about in. . .was that a lake?
Without a moment’s hesitation, she abandoned the race and veered off to the side. The closer she got, the clearer the scene before her became. A young boy was flailing about in the water, while his friend looked on in horror from the embankment. He turned when he heard Mary’s approach.
“Help him!” the boy yelled with fear in his voice. “He can’t swim, and I—”
“How long has he been in there?” Mary asked, leaping from the saddle before her mare had come to a complete stop.
“I’m not sure,” the boy muttered, shaking his head in despair. “Enough to know he won’t be capable of treading water for much longer.”
“Hold this,” Mary told him firmly as she handed him the reins as well as her jacket. She stepped out of her boots and before considering how cold the water was likely to be, she dove in and began swimming as though hell were on her heels.
Ryan and William arrived at the scene shortly after Mary since they’d both been alarmed by her sudden change in direction. Alexandra, on the other hand, had been forced to turn back when she discovered that she’d lost all of her competitors. Ryan had immediately waded out into the water to help Mary get back to the shore, while William stood waiting to help at the very edge of the embankment.
With even strokes, Mary reached Ryan. She was dragging the limp body of a twelve-year-old boy behind her, while she herself gasped for breath. Together, they made it back to the shore, their feet struggling with the muddy lakebed as they went. “Put him on his back,” Mary wheezed as William scooped the slight figure up into his arms. Exhausted from her efforts, she grabbed onto Ryan for support. “Make sure his head is lower than his body, if you can.”
By the time Mary and Ryan scrambled out of the water together, William had already laid the boy on the embankment, just as Mary had told him to do. Mary rushed to the boy’s side and felt for his pulse. There was still a small flutter, but they had to hurry if they wanted to save him. Mary turned a steady gaze on Ryan. “Do you want to save this boy’s life?” she asked.
“I. . .I think it might be best if you—”
“Do you want to be a physician, yes or no?” she demanded. “And tell me quickly before we run out of time.”
“Yes,” he told her immediately.
“Then stop dallying and get over here,” she said. “Be quick about it, or he will most assuredly die.”
Ryan didn’t need to be told twice. He got down on his knees across from Mary so that the boy was lying between them.
“Handkerchief?” Mary asked.
William thrust one into her outstretched hand. She tilted the boy’s head backward, opened his mouth, and placed the handkerchief over it. “Now, lean forward and breathe into his mouth,” she told Ryan.
He looked as if he might protest, but the firm look on Mary’s face had him following her command in a second. He took a deep breath and exhaled it into the boy’s mouth.
“Now press down here,” she said, pointing to the boy’s chest.
Ryan did as she asked, but nothing seemed to happen.
“Keep at it,” she told him sharply. “You must not stop. Repeat the process. Come on Ryan, you can do it.”
After three more attempts, the boy finally moved. It appeared as though he were choking at first until he suddenly began coughing up water, sputtering and gasping for air.
“Come on, let’s sit him up,” Mary suggested. She looked at Ryan and smiled. “That was very nicely done, Dr. Summersby.”
“I. . .I did it,” he muttered in utter disbelief. “I can’t believe that I actually did it.”
“Thank you, sir,” the other boy exclaimed. “Thank you so very much for saving him.”
“It was my absolute pleasure,” Ryan muttered with a loopy smile. With a nudge from Mary, his mind cleared, returning to the severity of the moment. He jumped up and pulled a saddle blanket from one of the horses. It wasn’t much, but it would warm the wet child until he was able to get some dry clothes.
“No more playing near that lake,” William warned the boys. “At least not until both of you learn how to swim.”
“William, what if you and I escort the lads home?” Alexandra suggested in a more soothing voice. “I think Mary needs to get back to Whickham Hall before she catches cold.”
Ryan grabbed Mary’s jacket and held it for her so she could put it on. The fact that her corset was showing through her white shirt as the fabric clung against her skin wasn’t lost on him. William had noticed the same thing and was doing his very best to look at anything other than directly at Mary.
“I will take her back to the house and see that she gets a warm bath,” Ryan said as he lifted her up onto her horse. “And I will also make sure that there is a hot cup of tea waiting for the two of you when you get back.”
“We shall see you in a little bit then,” Alexandra said, waving them off.
“I would like to thank you,” Ryan said as he followed Mary into her room a short while later. Two maids were shuffling about, busy filling a large white tub with steaming hot water. They’d added some scented oils that filled the air with the smell of roses.
Mary turned to Ryan with a smile as she shrugged out of her jacket. He drew a ragged breath at the sight of her creamy white skin teasing him from beneath her wet shirt. The swell of her br**sts was clearly visible, while her breeches hugged her h*ps and thighs so tightly he could barely breathe from just looking at her.
God help him how he longed to rip those clothes right off her and. . .He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus.
“It feels great, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Hm?”
“Saving that boy’s life. Didn’t it feel wonderful?”
Oh, right, the boy. Ryan dragged his mind away from the visions he was having of Mary lying nak*d on her bed. “Yes,” he said. “It made me understand, in a way that nothing else ever would have, why it is that you are so reluctant to stop doing this. Saving that boy’s life. . .I cannot explain it, it just. . .” Words failed him. It was impossible for him to describe what he felt right now, and seeing the way she was watching him, he knew she understood. There was no denying that this was one of those moments that would leave a deep mark on the rest of his life.
“Mary,” he continued, “I know you will not marry me unless I allow you to continue your surgical work. I just. . .there’s too much risk involved. Do you understand?”
She nodded slightly, wishing she could have it all and knowing that she would have regrets, regardless of which choice she made.
“I have an idea,” he told her seriously. “You may not like it at first, but I hope that you will at least consider it.” He stepped forward, taking her hand in his. “We could build a hospital together, for the women and children of London—a teaching hospital even. You won’t be able to practice, but you will have a huge effect on health care nonetheless. And if you teach me everything you know, then together we can save thousands of lives.”