Chapter 8

Kate's face burned with embarrassment as Anthony carried her bridal style toward the house. She had never been carried around like this, at least not since she had been a small child, and despite her confused feelings about Anthony, she wasn't exactly keen on him carrying her around like this in the middle of a large party filled with dozens of their neighbors.

Wasn't she heavy to him? Kate knew she wasn't fat by any means, but she was tall – at least as tall as Anthony. And he was carrying her as if she weighed nothing.

Kate was trying not to think about how that made her feel.

"Seriously Anthony – put me down," Kate muttered to him, acutely aware of everybody around them staring at her in alarm and concern. "I just hurt my knee, I'm not bloody disabled."

"This is faster than you limping your way to the house," Anthony argued firmly. "I don't think you should be putting any pressure on your knee right now."

Kate tried to argue his point when Mrs. Bridgerton, Mrs. Danbury, and Mary all hurried toward them, looking worried. "Oh my God, what happened, Kate?" Mary asked, alarmed.

"I'm fine. I just hurt my knee playing pall mall," Kate said placatingly. Anthony turned to his mother.

"Mum, where's the first aid kit?" he asked her. "And do we have a knee brace she can use?"

"We might. Follow me," Mrs. Bridgerton said, turning and heading inside the house. Anthony followed her, along with all the Bridgerton kids, Edwina, Penelope, Simon, Mary, and Mrs. Danbury. Kate blushed as she saw all the other people in the backyard staring at the whole group as they went inside the house.

"This is completely unnecessary," Kate grumbled, but Anthony ignored her as he carried her into their expansive living room and settled her on the expensive-looking leather couch. Kate was now able to get a better look at her knee, and she saw the large reddish bruise blooming along the upper part of her kneecap. It did hurt quite a bit to bend her leg, but she was reluctant to admit it at the moment.

"Do you have an ice pack we could use?" Edwina asked Anthony worriedly, gazing down at Kate's hurt knee. Kate softened slightly upon seeing her sister so worried about her.

"I'm fine, Bon. It's just a little bruise," Kate said comfortingly, her pet name for her sister accidentally slipping out.

"We do have an ice pack. Let me go grab it," Anthony said, and he quickly hurried down the hall toward the kitchen. Edwina sat on the edge of the couch while Daphne went to grab a pillow to better elevate Kate's leg.

"I've seen you get tons of cuts and bruises from working with horses, Kate, and even then you said you were fine," Edwina said, looking at her sister with a skeptical glare. "Forgive me if I think you're not being completely honest."

"This is hardly comparable to a riding injury. I just got hit by a rogue mallet," Kate stated. At that moment, Anthony re-entered the living room with an ice pack and a towel, and Mrs. Bridgerton followed right behind him holding a first aid kit.

Kate blushed as everybody fussed over her: Daphne propped her knee up with a pillow while Mrs. Bridgerton took out a tube of Arnicare bruise cream and rubbed a liberal amount of it on her knee. Anthony then wrapped the ice pack in a tea towel and handed it to Kate.

"Thank you," she said begrudgingly as she held the ice pack to her knee, feeling the freezing cold sensation on her skin. Despite how embarrassing it was for the Bridgertons to be so fussy over her knee injury, she did think it was rather sweet of them to worry so much.

"Are you sure we don't have a knee brace?" Anthony asked his mother. "I thought we still had that one from when Colin dislocated his knee cap last year."

"I don't need a knee brace," Kate said firmly. "It's just a bruise – I'll be fine in a few days' time."

"Even so, darling. I don't think we should take any chances," Mary said worriedly. "Edwina and I can swing by the chemist's and get you a brace later today."

"Fine," Kate said impatiently. "Get me whatever you want. But I don't want everyone fussing over me so much, especially during a party. I'd rather just go home."

"We're trying to help, Kate," Daphne said, gazing at her worriedly. "We feel awful that this happened to you at our house."

"This is all my fault," Eloise frowned, moving to sit beside Edwina on the edge of the couch. "I never should have agreed to play stupid pall mall."

"It's okay, Eloise. I actually had a good time," Kate smiled at her reassuringly. She glanced over at Anthony. "Especially since I won."

Anthony smirked at her, his tense expression finally relaxing. "You wish. It was a tie."

"Believe what you want," Kate smirked back at him, lifting her chin haughtily.

Anthony simply chuckled. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate noticed Daphne watching their exchange with an odd expression on her face. She chose to ignore it, however.

"Perhaps we should get you home," Mary said to Kate. "If your knee is too hurt for you to walk around, I think this party is out of the question. And I don't want to impose upon the Bridgertons' hospitality for too long."

"Honestly, Mary, we don't mind," Mrs. Bridgerton insisted. "We just want to completely make sure she's alright."

"I am alright, Mrs. Bridgerton," Kate insisted. "Thank you for your concern, but I would like to go home now."

Edwina and Eloise got up from the couch so Kate could bring her legs around and face forward. She pushed herself up to her feet; throbbing pain shot through her knee, causing her to stumble slightly, but Anthony caught her before she fell.

"Are you alright?" he asked concernedly, his face quite close to hers. Kate blinked a couple times, momentarily distracted by the feel of his arm around her waist and his warm breath on her skin.

"Er… yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, a blush stealing over her face. "Just lost my balance a bit."

Anthony gave her a look, though didn't immediately make a move to let her go. Kate was feeling unusually warm being in direct contact with him like this, as well as with both their families standing around watching. She put weight back on her hurt leg, ignoring the pain as she limped away from him.

"Thank you for inviting us today, Mrs. Bridgerton," Kate said as Mary and Edwina moved to either side of her, helping her walk. "I'm sorry it had to end like this."

"Oh, it's not your fault darling," Mrs. Bridgerton said compassionately. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that you were hurt at our house. Please, don't hesitate to call us if there's anything else we can do to help."

After several more assurances that she was fine and she didn't blame the Bridgertons for what happened, Kate made her way out into the foyer with the help of her mother and sister. She could feel Anthony's eyes on her as she limped out the front door and headed across the lawn toward her house.

~/~

It was annoying, how much Anthony had been thinking about Kate since she left earlier today. It was like having a disease of the brain or something.

For the rest of the party and for a few hours afterward, all Anthony had been able to think about was Kate. Was her knee okay? Was the pain getting worse? If it was getting worse, would she need to go to A&E? Maybe she wasn't icing it properly, or the bruise cream wasn't helping. He hoped she wasn't moving around too much either: she practically collapsed when she stood up from the couch earlier today. And he saw the way she was limping across the lawn when heading back to her house.

God, not knowing how she was doing right now was driving him insane.

Seeing Kate get hit in the knee by that heavy mallet and watching her fall down, her face screwed up in pain, was like a shock to his system. He knew it had probably been inappropriate for him to pick her up and carry her into the house, but he couldn't help it: she was hurting, and he needed to get her inside the house as quickly as possible so he could help her. She was clearly irritated by his overprotectiveness, but he didn't care. He hated seeing her hurt, especially when there was something he could do about it.

Yeah, something was definitely wrong with him.

Once the party was finished and everything was cleaned up, Anthony went upstairs to the study to check his emails, mostly in an effort to distract himself from his thoughts of Kate. This room was designed like his father's old study: Edmund's old, overlarge bookshelves lined the walls, filled up with his books about business and real estate. His old mahogany desk sat in the middle of the room too, and on the desk was Anthony's Apple computer and silver laptop, both of which he'd brought back from Harvard. He knew these computers were a few years old, and that he could easily afford the latest Apple products, but he was attached to these computers and refused to give them up.

Anthony sat down in the desk chair and booted up his computer. He was just about to click onto his email when he heard a light knock on the door and Daphne poked her head inside.

"Got a minute?" she asked, though she stepped inside and closed the door behind her before waiting for an answer.

"Sure," Anthony said, logging onto his email account. "Simon still here?"

"He's playing video games with Gregory," Daphne smiled slightly as she thought about her boyfriend. "I'm starting to think he genuinely enjoys Fortnite."

"Doesn't surprise me," Anthony chuckled. "He's heading home soon?"

Simon had a one-bedroom condo near London, bought with the money his parents left him after they died. Simon and Daphne spent so much time together, though, Anthony suspected the two of them were going to find a new place nearby so they could move in together.

"Probably. But I'm not here to talk about my significant other," Daphne walked up to the desk and crossed her arms, staring down at her brother. "I'm here to talk about yours."

Anthony reared back slightly in surprise. "What?" he sputtered out. "I don't have a girlfriend. Unless you mean Siena, but she and I broke up over a year ago."

"No, I don't mean Siena. Don't be daft," Daphne rolled her eyes. "You know I'm talking about Kate."

Anthony felt his heart rate kick up when hearing her name. "Kate Sharma?"

"What other Kates do we know?" Daphne asked with a smirk. "You know, I suspected that you liked her after seeing you interact with her at dinner the other night, but the way you reacted to her getting hurt today just solidified my belief. You do like her."

Anthony couldn't help but feel annoyed as he turned back to his computer. "What, so I'm not allowed to show concern when someone gets hurt?"

"You were showing quite a bit of concern," Daphne noted. "More so than the rest of us."

"Well maybe that's your problem," Anthony stated, the annoyance in his voice obvious. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I think it's great. You haven't liked someone in a long time, and Kate's awesome," Daphne said sincerely, moving to perch on the edge of his desk. "And she definitely likes you too, you know."

The happiness Anthony felt upon hearing that was immediate, but he made sure not to let it show on his face. "She told you she likes me?" he asked, trying to sound casual as he focused his attention back on his computer screen.

"Well… no," Daphne admitted. "Not really. But it's obvious from the way she looks at you that she likes you. I saw it when you two were talking to each other during pall mall, and again when you brought her inside after her knee injury."

Anthony swallowed down the hope that burgeoned in his chest upon hearing that. "The fact that we constantly argue with each other is what tipped you off?"

"That, and the fact that you haven't yet denied liking her too," Daphne smirked at him, looking annoyingly superior. Anthony rolled his eyes, and a moment later, Daphne's smile softened. "I can talk to her, if you'd like."

Anthony frowned. "Talk to her?"

"About how she feels toward you," Daphne explained, as if it were obvious. "She might deny it, but who knows? Maybe she's just waiting for you to make a move."

The thought of Kate becoming his girlfriend made Anthony happier than he wanted to admit, but the last thing he wanted was to have Daphne get involved. He loved his sister, but she would lord it over his head until the day he died. "Do not get involved, Daff," he said insistently, looking directly at her. "Kate was just injured on our property. Don't go bothering her with this stuff."

Daphne grimaced, looking unconvinced. "I wouldn't be bothering her. We would just have a friendly conversation…"

"I said no," Anthony insisted. "Alright?"

Daphne twisted her lips slightly as she regarded him. "Alright," she said, although something in her voice made Anthony frown. She got to her feet and walked toward the door, not looking back as she closed it behind her.

There wasn't a doubt in Anthony's mind that Daphne would talk to Kate. He groaned to himself, wishing (not for the first time) he didn't have such a nosy family.


A/N: So Daphne knows :) What do you think is going to happen? Comment and let me know!

Thank you all for your continued love and support :)