A sudden thought occurred to him. He wondered if he kissed her again, perhaps he could erase that stubborn…
Stop,he cautioned himself immediately, irked by the direction his thoughts had taken.
“Then keep your feelings to yourself for now,” he replied.
She murmured something in protest, but he did not register it.
He didn’t respond, either—with his jaw set tightly as he ascended the grand staircase. Something awful could have happened to her, and she was being so aloof.
It was best to just ignore her instead. For he couldn’t risk stopping now. Not until he was sure.
Inside the room, he gently lowered her onto the bed, his movements surprisingly careful for a man so visibly tense.
“Stay here,” he commanded. “I’ll fetch the supplies.”
Violet opened her mouth to protest, but he was already gone. When he returned moments later, a small basin of water and a first aid kit in hand, she sighed softly.
“I really don’t think this is necessary,” she said as he knelt before her, rolling up his sleeves.
Nicholas shot her a look that silenced her immediately.
“You’re bleeding, Violet,” he said sharply, gesturing toward her leg. It was not a serious wound, only a gash, but it was enough to make him worry endlessly.
“I…oh!”Her cheeks flushed as she realized the hem of her riding gown had shifted, revealing the faint scrape along her calf. She hastily tugged at the fabric, trying to cover herself, but Nicholas gently caught her hand.
“Stop that. Let me see.”
Her fingers trembled as she released the gown. Nicholas dipped a cloth into the basin, wringing it out before carefully pressing it against her skin. Violet flinched slightly at the contact but said nothing.
“You’re trembling,” she whispered after a moment, her eyes fixed on him.
Nicholas paused, startled by her observation. His hands had been steady as he worked, but now that she mentioned it, he could feel the faint tremor in his fingers.
Why am I trembling when it is she who has been hurt?
He exhaled sharply, willing himself to regain control.
“It’s nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
As he cleaned the scrape and applied a bandage, his thoughts spiraled.
The image of her falling, the thought of what could have happened, the sheer panic that had gripped him—it was all too much. And then how he had lost every thought the moment she kissed him.
Somehow, too many things had happened in a very short time period, and he was barely managing to keep track of it all.
“You’re lucky it’s not worse,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.
“It wouldn’t have happened if I had been paying more attention,” she argued, “but it’s hardly worth all this fuss.”
Nicholas’s head snapped up, his eyes locking onto hers with a sudden intensity. “Hardly worth it? You could have been seriously injured, Violet. Do you understand that?”
She flinched slightly at his tone but held her ground. “I understand that you’re overreacting.”
“Overreacting? You think this is overreacting? Do you have any idea what it was like to see you fall like that?”
Her lips parted, but no words came. Both of them were surprised by his intensity.
