Alfreda shrugged. “You need to reach common ground with him so he stops pushing you away. He might find an arrangement or a bargain acceptable, and that might get you a truce. Then you can move in for the kill.”
Brooke burst out laughing. “I wouldn’t exactly call enticing him to love me moving in for the kill.”
“It’s his animosity you’ll be killing. Anything is possible after that.”
This interesting thought was a much more palatable option. She might indeed get the wolf to bargain with her if she convinced him she wasn’t going to leave no matter what. She just needed to figure out a bargain that would benefit him. It would be a way to become friends with him. Like before love. Friends before lovers. It would give her time to endear herself to him, time to get into his thoughts and then his heart. It would certainly be a challenge, probably the biggest of her life, but if she set her mind to it...
But one obstacle she might not be able to surmount. What if she couldn’t get past her dislike of him? Yet she was adept at hiding her feelings... well, she was before she came here! But she could get that under control. So as long as he didn’t guess that she didn’t like him....
Chapter Sixteen
AFTER ALFREDA HELPED BROOKEout of her traveling garb and into a simple day dress, the maid immediately went off to her room in the servants’ wing to get the herbs they needed for Dominic.
Brooke hadn’t expected her first day at Rothdale to be so trying and fraught with unpleasantness, surprises, and anger. She supposed there were a few bright spots, though. The greenhouse was not being used, so she and Alfreda could cultivate their herb garden there. She had a pretty bedroom and no one had yet come to tell her to get out of it. She walked over to a window. She found the views of the lovely park and the two horse pastures soothing. Oh, and she’d gotten in the wolf’s door. All in all, she’d made her escape from her unloving family. She really ought to keep that in mind and do everything possible to get along with Dominic Wolfe, at least until he and she could come to some sort of special marriage arrangement.
She turned away from the window when Alfreda returned and handed Brooke two colored pouches and a small potion bottle. “The herbs in the red pouch will draw out the poisons that are causing the inflammation. Mix them with water and make a paste, and apply it to the wound three times a day until the redness is gone. Then use the herbs in the blue pouch. They will make the wound close more quickly and form a scab. The potion will help him to sleep more soundly, which will also aid the healing, but you might want to explain that to him before you offer it.” Then Alfreda added stubbornly, “I’m never going back in that room. I don’t care if he’s taking his last few breaths.”
Brooke nodded. She didn’t blame Alfreda for feeling that way. She also knew Alfreda didn’t mean what she’d said. The maid wouldn’t ignore someone close to dying, no matter how she felt about the person. But the wolf probably wouldn’t die now, so Alfreda was no longer obliged to deal with him.
Brooke concurred, “I’m not going back in there either. We’ve done more’n enough for him when we shouldn’t have helped him a’tall.”
Alfreda tsked, giving Brooke a look of disapproval before reminding her, “We settled on a plan. The more you help him, the more his heart will open to you. When he’s better, he will remember what you did for him and start to love you.”
Brooke sighed. “Very well.”
“Be pleasant.”
“I doubt that’s possible.”
“Be soothing,”
“I know that’s not possible.”
“Then just be yourself.”
Brooke laughed. “I think I’ve been doing just that!”
She knew Alfreda had given her sound advice so she decided to at least try a combination of all three. If she didn’t lose her temper again. If she could ignore his surliness.
Gabriel answered Brooke’s knock and let her into Dominic’s room, even though he whispered, “He’s sleeping.”
“No, I’m not” came from the bed.
He had keen hearing like a wolf—that was an unnerving thought. But approaching that bed again was even more unnerving because his long, muscular bare leg was still on top of the sheet, not beneath it.
She tsked when she saw that the leeches were back on his leg.
He admitted in a somewhat normal tone, “I assumed you were done helping me.”
“Did you? You were half-correct.” She set the medicine on his nightstand. “These leeches will have to come off. The sooner I apply the salve, the sooner you will start to heal.”
“A servant can do that.”
“A servant will not know how.”
“Your maid does—”
“You’ve offended her. She won’t be back.”
