The doctor shoved Jonathan back down.“If I don’t take your arm off, you’ll die.”
A commotion sounded in the other room just before the door swung open.Adam Trent marched through the door, his dark hair in disarray, his gray eyes sparkling with anger.His expression dared anyone to stop him.“I’ve just arrived to find my sister and my friend shouting!What’s the meaning of this outrage, Blackman?You told me you’d take care of the man.”
Blackman looked over his wire-rimmed glasses at Adam.“I just found out this man was your friend, sir.Taking care of him is what I’m trying to do.As a matter of fact, I was getting ready to operate before your sister burst in here.”
“It’s about bloody time, ol’ boy,” Jonathan said as he twisted his head to see Adam.Jonathan managed a small smile.“Please inform this gentleman, and I use that term loosely, that I’d prefer to keep my arm.”
The surgeon grimaced with disgust before he picked up the end of his apron and wiped his face.“If I don’t amputate, you’ll die of gangrene.Even if I do save it, you’ll never have the use of that arm again.”
Elizabeth stood out of the way in the shadowy corner.Surely, she thought, the man couldn’t be correct.Jonathan would be fine—he had to be.She glanced at her brother.Certainly, Adam wouldn’t let this atrocity happen.
Adam stared at Jonathan.“If you hadn’t tried that fool stunt and ended up on the battlefield, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“I took a wrong turn.”
“You never did have a sense of direction.”Adam shook his head.“Jonathan, it’s your decision.What do you want to do?”
“There is no debating the issue.I’ll keep my arm!”
The doctor grumbled about the odds, but Jonathan stopped him.
“I will take my chances,” he said with quiet emphasis, signaling the end of any further discussion.
“You heard him.Clean up his arm and stitch it the best you can,” Adam instructed.He motioned to his sister.“Elizabeth and I will wait outside.”
“Where is she?”Jonathan asked, twisting his head to find her.
Elizabeth eased back over to the bed.“Here I am.”
Jonathan looked up at the vision of loveliness standing before him.Her long, black hair hung loosely around her shoulders, reaching almost to her waist.It glistened under the light like the sun shining down on a raven’s wing.How he longed to run his fingers through the silky strands.Even that small effort proved too much at the moment.He couldn’t lift his arm, much less hold her.
Gazing into slate-gray eyes so much like her twin brother’s, he saw the tears that threatened to spill over Elizabeth’s thick lashes and slide down her cheeks.
“I’ll be all right, my love.”He took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb back and forth across the top of her knuckles.It was all he had the strength to do.
“It will take much more than a bullet to stop this scoundrel,” Adam stated as he placed an arm around his sister’s shoulders and gently squeezed.“Come.Let the man do his work, and then we can take Jonathan home.”
The surgeon, who had been working the whole time they were talking, finished tying the last bandage in place.He looked at Jonathan, his grim expression making his words chillingly clear.“As far as I’m concerned, you can take him home now.I can do nothing further for him.”Blackman looked at Jonathan for a long moment.
Finally, Dr.Blackman shook his head while he wiped his blood-stained hands, then placed the grimy towel on a white stand beside the bed and tossed his instruments into his bag.“That arm will be useless to you.”He turned away.“If you live at all,” he muttered.
Jonathan’s clear blue eyes darkened like angry thunderclouds.“Then I’ll die in one piece.”
“It’s your choice.”Blackman shrugged and hurried on to his next patient.
“He’s one friendly soul,” Jonathan remarked as he glanced up at Adam, noting his friend’s bandaged shoulder for the first time.“What happened to you?”
Adam chuckled.“It seems a friend of mine thought he was invincible and could race across a battlefield with bullets flying all around him without being harmed.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Bloody stupid is what it was.And once you went down, I had no choice but to cut a zigzag across the field to rescue you.”
“And I do appreciate it, ol’ boy.Evidently the Scottish haven’t lost their aim.”
“Evidently.”Adam frowned.With his good arm and Elizabeth on the other side, they managed to get Jonathan to his feet.“Let’s get you home.”
Carefully, they moved down the front steps of the old brick hospital.Adam nodded and his coach pulled up to meet them.The footman jumped down and opened the carriage door.
