“Umeh,” Jane said.
Morgan blinked. She had perfectly captured his nuance if not his pitch. “I’m not sure it means the same thing when you say it.”
“Umeh,” she said again. She let him mull that over while she knelt beside the tub and examined his foot. “I think this is the best we can hope for now.” She slipped one hand under his heel and lifted it. “Give me the towel, please.”
“I can dry it myself.” Jane set her mouth stubbornly and extended her free hand. Morgan passed her the towel.
“Thank you,” she said. She patted his foot dry and then encouraged him to ease himself onto the bed until he could stretch comfortably. She removed two blankets from the chest at the foot of the bed, folded them, and then slipped the pair under his foot to keep it elevated. “Where are the bandages?” she asked.
“I think they might be under me.” He lifted a hip and reached under it, pulling out half of what she had carried in. He found the remainder under the other thigh and handed over the lot of it. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”
“No, but it is fortunate for you that I am willing to be instructed. I imagine you do know.” She held up the bandages and smiled. “Where do I begin?”
“So many answers occur,” Morgan said dryly, looking pointedly at her mouth.
Jane did not take offense. In his place she would want to stuff the bandages in her mouth as well. Her smile actually deepened. “Your restraint is admirable.”
Laughing hurt, so Morgan did the only thing he could in the circumstances. He cooperated.
Jane looked admiringly at her work when she finished tying off the bandage. “I do not think a doctor could have done better.”
“I don’t know that a doctor would have bothered.”
“Well, that is too bad. It feels better now, doesn’t it?”
Morgan looked down at his foot, rotated it slowly one way and then the other. “Yes,” he said. “It does.”
“Good. I should have offered one of my headache powder packets earlier. Would you like one?”
“I don’t have a headache.”
“That doesn’t?—”
He pointed to the washroom, stopping her. “There’s a bottle of laudanum in the cabinet.”
“I’ll put it in some tea.”
“Bring the bottle here.”
She rose from the bed, taking the leftover bandages with her. “I’ll put it in some tea.”
“Am I ever going to have the last word?” he called after her as she stepped out of the bedroom.
Jane did not respond, which was answer enough to his question. Smiling rather smugly to herself, she wondered if he found it as satisfying as she did.
Morgan groaned softly when he gauged Jane to be out of earshot. He did not know what hurt more, his ribs, his foot, or his pride. The pain seemed to be evenly distributed at the moment. He suppressed an urge to beat his head against the pillow under it. That was about as stupid a thing to do as allowing himself to be blindsided by the mare. The men knew it was a freakish thing, but Jane didn’t, and while he had not been aware of any desire to impress his bride when he approached the mustang, he certainly had not wanted her to see him handle the horse so ineptly.
He knew what could be seen from the kitchen window, and he knew from the speed with which Max and Jane arrived at the corral that they had witnessed what happened. Max vaulted the fence to get to him while Jane remained motionless on the other side. She probably did not know that her face drained of color when she saw him, but for Morgan, the picture of her chalk white features was still fixed in his mind. It had occurred to him then that she might faint. He still did not know if it was concern for Jem’s condition or gravity and weak knees that put her on the ground at Jem’s side.
Morgan had to allow that whatever Jane’s immediate thoughts were, she showed that she was adept at reining them in. By the time Max and Jessop had him on his feet, Jane was in full command of herself and, it seemed, everyone else. She had them all dancing to her tune, while it came as a surprise to Morgan that she played an instrument.
When she reappeared in the bedroom a few minutes later carrying a cup of tea, she was actually humming. Morgan thought that could not possibly bode well for him.
Jane put the teacup on the nightstand before she retrieved the laudanum. “How many drops?” she asked.
“Three.”
She added them to the cup and stirred. “Do you need help getting up?”
