“Take that monstrosity off!”the duke commanded, pointing at Jane’s cap. “If I set eyes on it again, I shall personally carve it into very thin ribbons.”
Jane removed her cap, folded it neatly, and put it into the pocket of her dress.
Her employer had turned his attention to the doctor.
“It was Miss Ingleby who changed the bandage,” he said, apparently in answer to a question that had been asked before her arrival, “and cleansed the wound.”
“You did an admirable job, ma’am,” the doctor said. “There is no sign of infection or putrefaction. You have had some experience in tending the ailing, have you?”
“Yes, a little, sir,” Jane admitted.
“She spooned purges into all the damned orphans when they overate, I daresay,” the duke muttered irritably. “And I am notailing. I have a hole in my leg. I believe exercise would do it more good than coddling. I intend to exercise it.”
Dr. Raikes looked horrified. “With all due respect, your grace,” he said, “I must advise strongly against it. There are damaged muscles and tendons to heal before they are put to even the gentlest use.”
The duke swore at him.
“I believe you owe Dr. Raikes an apology,” Jane told him. “He is merely giving you his professional opinion, for which you summoned him and are paying him. There was no call for such rudeness.”
Both men looked at her in sheer astonishment as she folded her hands at her waist. And then she jumped in alarm as his grace threw his head back on the pillow and roared with laughter.
“I do believe, Raikes,” he said, “that a splinter from the bullet in my leg must have flown up and lodged in my brain. Can you believe that I have suffered this for a whole day without putting an end to it?”
Dr. Raikes clearly did not. “I am sure, ma’am,” he said hastily, “that his grace owes me no apology. One understands that his injury has severely frustrated him.”
She could not for the life of her leave it alone. “That is no excuse for speaking abusively,” she said. “Especially to subordinates.”
“Raikes,” the duke said testily, “if I could go down on bended knee in humble sorrow at my words, I would perhaps do so. But I may not so exert myself, may I?”
“No indeed, your grace.” The doctor, who had finished rebandaging the duke’s leg, looked considerably flustered.
It was all her fault, of course, Jane thought. It came of having grown up in an enlightened home, in which servants had invariably been treated as if they were people and in which courtesy to others had been an ingrained virtue. She really must learn to curb her tongue if she was to have this chance of earning three weeks’ salary to take with her into the unknown beyond it.
The Duke of Tresham submitted to being carried downstairs, though not before he had dismissed Jane and instructed her to stay out of his sight until he summoned her. The summons came half an hour later. He was in the drawing room on the first floor today, reclining on a sofa.
“My head appears to have returned to its normal size this morning,” he told her. “You will be pleased to learn that you will not be much called upon to use any of your considerable resources in entertaining me. I have given Hawkins leave to admit any visitors who may call, within reason, of course. He has express instructions to exclude any milliners’ assistants and their ilk who rap on the door.”
Jane’s stomach lurched at the very thought of visitors.
“I will excuse myself, your grace,” she said, “whenever someone calls.”
“Will you indeed?” His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“I assume,” she said, “it will be mostly gentlemen who will call. My presence can only inhibit the conversation.”
He startled her by grinning at her suddenly, completely transforming himself into a gentleman who looked both mischievous and far younger than usual. And almost handsome.
“Miss Ingleby,” he said, “I do believe you are a prude.”
“Yes, your grace,” she admitted. “I am.”
“Go and fetch that cushion from the library,” he instructed her. “And set it under my leg.”
“You might say please once in a while, you know,” she told him as she turned toward the door.
“I might,” he retorted. “But then again, I might not. I am in the position to give the commands. Why should I pretend that they are merely requests?”
“Perhaps for the sake of your self-respect,” she said, looking back at him. “Perhaps out of deference to the feelings of others. Most people respond more readily to a request than to a command.”
