He might have been injured, but he had an arm of iron.

Lucy was powerless.

She felt her face against his--and her breast against his.

The pounding of his heart was like blows.

The first instant she wanted to laugh, despite her pity.
Then the powerful arm--the contact affected her as nothing ever before.
Suppose this crippled rider had taken her for a boy--She was not a boy! She could not help being herself.