All About Seduction(12)

Caroline took a step back, half surprised he was conscious. “She’s fine.”

A tall lanky man scurried through the crowd with a long metal bar and braced it on the gear trapping the young man. Together with a heavier man, he leaned against the pole, trying to turn the giant metal cog. The trapped worker’s face twisted but he did not cry out.

“I don’t know as we can get him out, ma’am,” said the foreman, sidling up beside Caroline.

“Do whatever you have to,” she said.

“Might have to take off that leg.” The foreman twisted his cap in his hands.

The injured man glared in their direction. “No.”

Her stomach turned. That hadn’t been what she meant by doing whatever was needed. She had to take charge. Pulling command from a hollow hole in her chest, she instructed, “Dismantle the gears.”

“Iffen he dies, we’ll just cut off the leg,” said the foreman. “Reckon we can crank it out the other side. Mr. Broadhurst don’t hold with taking apart the machinery.”

“Mr. Broadhurst is not here. I am in charge of the mill today.” Mr. Broadhurst was at the house awaiting their visitors.

The foreman stared at a spot beyond her shoulder, not following her order. She made a concession to the gods of production. “The sooner he is out, the sooner operations can resume.”

The foreman scratched at his temple.

Summoning all the haughtiness of generations of aristocracy, she said with cool disdain, “Dissemble the machine now, sir, without further delay.” She let her tone imply an or else.

Yet, her stomach twisted and a cold sweat started on her spine.

“Yes, ma’am.” The foremen directed a worker to fetch tools.

A couple of the men pressed reddened cloths against the young man’s arm. He would need a physician. All around, the men watched.

“Who can ride a horse well?” she asked.

“I can.” An older man stepped forward.

“Take the horse tied by the office and fetch a doctor from Warrington. Get the one who was with the army in the Crimean. Tell him to hurry.” Warrington was a decent sized town, but five miles away. Even at a gallop, it would take at least a quarter hour to get there. “Ride as fast as you can.”

The man touched his forehead and bumped through the growing crowd. Women and children from the upstairs weaving rooms filed into the room. “Oh my God, it’s Jack!” one cried out.

The murmurs went back through the room, and the injured man coughed weakly. His skin was gray. Just minutes ago he had looked so alive, with the wind ruffling his hair.

“What happened?” cried someone.

“He’s hurt bad,” said one of the men pressing a cloth to Jack’s arm. “The belt snapped on him and his ankle is crushed.”

From other parts of the mill workers filed in, pushing and bumping closer. Had all of them come to watch him die? No, he couldn’t die.

Reluctantly, Caroline tilted the child in her arms toward a group of women. “Take her out of here. Take all the children out of here. This is no sight for them.”

A woman took the girl. Caroline gave the tiny girl a reassuring pat. Her stomach knotted, but she had to remain calm and keep in control.

She found the foreman in the crowd and met his eyes. “Clear the onlookers.”

The foreman followed her instructions, ordering the idle workers out of the room. A mature woman stumbled forward, shouldering through the crowd. Caroline recognized her from injured man’s home. Wanting to protect her from the sight of Jack on the floor, she stepped in front of the woman.

“What happened? Is it Jack?” The woman tilted, trying to see.

At Caroline’s nod, the woman glared with icy eyes and skirted around her. If she was his mother, she would want to offer him comfort.

The woman drew to a halt and stared at the leg caught in the machine. First in a whisper she said, “No.” Then she screamed shrilly, “No, no!”

Hoping to calm her, Caroline put her hand on the woman’s fleshy shoulder.

“How could you let this happen?” she shouted, while shoving back her lank colorless hair.

The short man working at freeing Jack said in a low voice, “He saved little Mattie when the belt snapped. She dropped her load of spindles and he rolled on one.”

Mattie must be the little girl spattered with blood.

“Why would you do that? Have you no sense?” the woman screeched at Jack.