Crown Jewels (Off-Limits Romance #1)(78)

Thinking about him makes my head hurt more. I rest it against her shoulder again.

“You okay?”

I try to nod.

“Do you get migraines?” she asks.

“Sometimes.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll slow your boy here down to more of a slow walk.”

“Thanks.”

I loosen my grip on her midsection and try to keep my breathing even as my mind races.

This is wrong, my conscience tells me. Make her go. It doesn’t matter if she thinks she likes you. Think about her safety, and the baby’s.

Now that I know she’s pregnant, what kind of person would I be if I let Lucy stay near me and the poison that’s my life right now?

I can feel my pulse pound in between my ears as my shoulders start shaking like my hands are.

Calm down, I try to tell myself. That’s the last thought I remember.





TWENTY-NINE Lucy





Everything happens so fast. In one fraction of a second, I notice how heavily he’s slumped against my back. Half a heartbeat later, something knocks my shoulder, and I realize Liam is falling to the ground.

At first I think he jumped off, but a frantic blink shows me he’s crumpled on the grass.

“Liam!”

I’m tossing one leg over the top of the saddle before I jerk Peg’s reins, so when I dismount, I land on the grass with some bounce.

“Liam…” I’m reaching for him several steps before I’m close enough to drop down beside him. The moment my knees hit the grass, Liam rolls from his side onto his back, groaning as his eyes blink.

“Oh my God, are you okay?”

His brows draw down over his squinting eyes. The corners of his lips turn down. I notice that his face is white, so white it’s almost gray.

“Oh God, Liam—can you move?” My voice cracks as my right hand hovers over his forehead.

Finally, his gaze finds mine. His eyelids are heavy and his eyes glassy, but I feel better with him looking at me. I grab onto his hand, then let it go because if he can’t move, I might hurt him.

“I…can.” The words are grunted; low. He shifts his shoulders, then, before I can protest, he’s sitting up. He brings his hand up to his forehead, leaning over just a little. His mouth is still drawn up.

“What happened? Should I call somebody?”

“No.” He starts to shake his head, then stops abruptly, squinting from between his fingers. “No. I’m okay.”

He starts to get up, and I grab him by the bicep, helping balance him as best I can, considering I’m so much smaller. When he’s fully on his feet, he groans again, and winces—and I notice he’s holding his right arm at a weird angle.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t call someone?” My voice is shaking. My body is shaking. “I’m worried.”

His left hand reaches for my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I don’t know…” He shakes his head slowly. I watch him look down at his right arm, mouth pressing into a flat line as he straightens it. “I don’t know what happened,” he says quietly.

“I think you should let me call someone. I don’t think you should get back on the horse.”

“I can walk back.” His gaze moves to the trees around us.

“Are we close?”

“Yeah.” He rubs a hand over his eyes, then shifts his attention to my face. “Are you okay?”

“Of course! I’m fine. Are you sure you’re okay? What was that?”

“My head…” He blinks slowly. “I just need to get home.” His eyes shut for a moment. “You should ride Peg back.”

“Are you kidding me? No way.”

“It’s just…through there.”

It turns out Liam is right. We’re maybe two hundred yards from the castle. We walk arm in arm the whole way back, with Peg following behind Liam like some kind of big, obedient dog.

A few times, I think I feel Liam shudder, but I’m probably imagining things. He’s walking fine and talking fine and says his head isn’t hurting—at least not in a concussion sort of way. Obviously, he landed on his arm. He tells me he gets migraines sometimes; it’s nothing new.

Still—I have a feeling he’s trying to downplay how badly his shoulder hurts. I know I’m right when we reach the spotlighted lawn of the castle. In the low light, I see his face tighten when he moves his right arm.

“You must have landed on that side.”

He nods. When Liam notices me staring at him, he bumps me with his left shoulder. “Lucy…” He smiles faintly, then arches his brows. His face looks tired; he still looks pale, but he smirks a little as he looks into my eyes and tells me, “I’m okay.”

“If you say so.”

He pulls his arm from where it’s laced through the crook of my elbow and takes my hand. His is warm and slightly damp, but its fingers seem to know just what they’re doing, stroking mine with care. We go into a door I’ve never seen before, which leads into what appears to be a giant storage room.

“Kitchen stuff,” he says as he steers me between tall shelves.

At the far end of the room, Liam lets my hand go and opens a wide door. It puts us out at the bottom of the narrow staff staircase.