Read The Groom Says Yes for Free Online

here alone. And I didn’t mean to be so personal. It was an accident.” She held out her hand, and promised, “I will not even breathe your name to another soul if you come with me.”
    He stared at her as if not believing one word she’d spoken. She wondered what or who had created such distrust in him—
    His body began to spasm. He turned from her, leaning over, as dry heaves racked his body. The man had nothing in his stomach. All he could do was suffer through the convulsions.
    Sabrina inched closer to him to tempt him. “You need nourishing food. A good broth will help you. Without some substance and a safe, warm place to stay, you will die.”
    He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His body collapsed as he drew in great, shuddering breaths. Sweat beaded across his brow. His eyes started to close.
    Sabrina dared to place her hands under his arms. “Help me lift you,” she urged quietly. “It is only a few steps to the cart. And then you may sleep.”
    She could feel the struggle within him. He didn’t want to comply, and yet he had no choice. She attempted to help him stand and after the briefest resistance, he staggered to his feet. She slid his arm around her shoulders and directed him to the cart. He didn’t try to open the narrow door into the vehicle but fell forward over the side, where he landed on the floor.
    Dumpling gave a snort of surprise.
    “Steady,” Sabrina cautioned both of them, but Mr. Enright was beyond caring. He curled up and appeared to fall asleep.
    She fetched his jacket and neckcloth, then opened the cart door and did her best to climb in without stepping on him. He took all the room on the floor of the cart. She covered him with his jacket and had no choice but to set her feet upon him as lightly as she could. She lifted the reins, and released the brake.
    “Let’s go, Dumpling.”
    The pony wasn’t pleased with the idea. He knew he had no choice, but he groaned mightily to let her know he was pulling what he considered an intolerable load.
    Still, once they hit the road, and Dumpling understood they were finally, truly returning home, he picked up his pace. The afternoon was growing late. Fortunately, they didn’t meet anyone on the way. Sabrina didn’t know how she could explain away the presence of a man under her feet.
    Within three-quarters of an hour, she pulled into the yard of the stone house she shared with her father.
    The two-story house was modest in appearance, nothing like the family estate of Annefield, where the earl lived, but it was a very nice house indeed. Besides the small stable and paddock, there was a good-sized garden, making it one of the finer homes in Aberfeldy. The location was choice as well. They had a view of General Wade’s bridge and their closest neighbor was several hundred feet from them.
    Her pup Rolf, a brown-and-white hound who was busy growing into his paws, came bounding from his post beneath the back step and gave her a happy bark of greeting. She’d rescued him as a puppy from a group of cruel boys and he was devoted to her.
    Sabrina climbed out of the cart, gave Rolf an absent pat and glanced at the house. A shadow moved in the ground-floor bank of windows that looked into her father’s study.
    He was home, and her conversation with the Widow Bossley came roaring back.
    Mr. Enright had not moved other than to cough or reposition himself as best he could in such close confines. He was a big man in a very small space. Yes, she knew a bed and nourishing food could help him, but she knew her father well enough to realize she’d have to break the news of Mr. Enright carefully. Her father could be prickly. He was not always a generous man. For example, he refused to let her pup Rolf into the house now that the dog had grown bigger and, if requests for Sabrina’s time interfered with his comfort or his plans, he could be out of sorts for days.
    Even knowing him as well as she did, she sometimes did not accurately anticipate his moods or