Brooke didn’t know the full story, but even if she did, she wouldn’t reveal it to this young woman, and Brooke’s expression must have confirmed that because the lady sighed before offering Brooke a bright smile. “But how forgetful of me! I’m Lady Priscilla Highley of York. We would have met in London if you had gotten that far, but you’ve come here instead. What a marvelous tidbit to share when I reach—”
“Must you, Cilla?” Dominic cut in.
“Oh, indeed, I must, darling.”
“I would as soon not be gossiped about,” Brooke said coldly as she crossed the room to grab the herb pouch. “And unless you would like to tend to his wound instead...?” She gestured toward the door, not caring how rude she was being. Dominic could wait untilafterhe was healed before he romped with his mistress. She almost said so. Almost.
“Goodness, no!” Priscilla laughed, then whispered to Dominic as Brooke marched to the bathing room, “She already treats you like a wife? Lucky you.”
Bristling over that whispered remark that she couldn’t help hearing, Brooke put a little more of the herbal dust in the bowl this time than she ought to. It was going to sting him. She knew it would, but she didn’t start a new batch. It only occurred to her belatedly that she had no right to evict anyone from his room.
Returning to the bedroom, she gazed around the entire area to make sure the woman had left. Everyone had left, even Carl. Only the dog remained, curled before the fireplace.
She wasn’t going to apologize for her rudeness. Dominic shouldn’t have received that woman in his bedroom no matter what she was to him, not when his soon-to-be-bride was in the house. If he thought she would tolerate... Her emotions spiraled down until only despondency remained. What choice did she have in the matter? None.
“Jealous?”
Her eyes snapped to his, and she couldn’t stop the words that came out of her mouth. “Of a gossiping harlot? Hardly.”
She lifted the sheet off his leg, relieved to see that his wound was still easy to get at and not covered by the pants he’d donned. If she’d had to stand there and wait for him to remove his trousers...
Some pink rose up her cheeks. She might have seen a lot of his skin since she’d arrived at Rothdale, but watching him undress would be her undoing. He was watching her, though, too closely as usual. It was unnerving how his eyes rarely left her when she was in his room. Was he gauging reactions? Searching for something to use against her?
“I notice I didn’t have to yell today,” he pointed out.
“What?”
“You can hear again?”
“My hearing was only mildly impaired, but, yes, I have recovered,” she replied without blushing.
“Priscilla is quite sympathetic to my plight,” he remarked casually.
Did he really think she wanted to hear about his mistress? “So am I, though I do pity myself more’n you. You’ll just go on as you did before, doing whatever it is you do. What is that, actually?”
He began unwrapping his bandage for her. “Aside from meeting with my managers who handle the many enterprises my ancestors dabbled in, I breed horses for the continental army, for officers to be precise.”
“So no thoroughbreds for the common solders?”
“Your tone implies you don’t like discrimination?”
“I don’t.”
“And I don’t stipulate who can ride the animals I send to the army. I’m even tasked occasionally with purchasing larger herds for special units. But the common soldiers aren’t given mounts of any sort. They walk. That’s one of the reasons why it’s taking us so bloody long to wrap up the war.”
Brooke was pleased to see that a scab had formed over his wound and there were no signs of inflammation. Alfreda’s treatment had worked. He had to be feeling much better now. So why hadn’t he said so? Because he didn’t want her to stop visiting him? More likely he didn’t want to have to thank her and Alfreda for helping him.
She probably wouldn’t have used this herbal salve today if his damn mistress hadn’t shown up. She heard the hiss of his breath as she applied the extra-strong mixture, but he said nothing and she refused to glance up at his face as she gently rubbed the salve over and around his wound. She wished she hadn’t been so thin-skinned and pretended to have an earache the last two days, because although she was spending so much time in proximity to him, they were no closer to getting along than they had been the day she’d arrived. Now, more than ever, after reading those few lines in Ella’s diary, she wanted to talk to him about Robert and Ella, and the baby, and find out how Ella had died. But knowing how the subject of his sister enraged him, she decided to start out with a less offensive line of conversation.
Before she could do so and not realizing she’d absentmindedly applied more salve than was necessary, he asked, “Will you miss rubbing my thigh once I’ve healed? You seem to be enjoying it today.”
Brooke snatched her hand away. “My mind was wandering for a moment.”
“Thinking of other parts of my body you’d like to soothe?”
Brooke gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to take the bait and get angry. “I was wondering about what sorts of family enterprises you were referring to earlier.”
“Of course you were,” he scoffed, but he deigned to answer her. “Coal mines, but after my grandfather expanded those, competition got rather fierce, so he built a fleet of ships, which enabled him to sell the coal abroad. The shipping business turned out to be quite profitable and now transports other commodities besides coal. And then there are tenant issues that I usually handle personally.”
