Constance sighed and pushed the rest of her half-eaten meal away. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said irritably. “I should be going. I have an appointment this morning.”
He offered her a mock salute. “I’ll take care o’ our patient.”
She barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Devin was hardly a child that needed continual observation, and yet, the threat from Granelli was still very real and the idea that someone was there who cared about his welfare was rather comforting. She just hoped he corroborated her story and wasn’t the type to chat about his peccadilloes with the older man.
As she headed for her room to gather her things to depart, she paused by Devin’s closed door. Instead of walking past, she decided to knock on the hard wood and make sure he had the same understanding.
When there was a muffled sound to enter, she walked inside and abruptly stopped short. Her mouth instantly gaped open when she saw him standing on a ladder, leaning quite precariously in her opinion, against one of the posters holding up the maroon, bed canopy. She set her hands on her hips. “What do you think you’re doing? And where did you get that?”
He was dressed in buff trousers and a white shirt rolled up to his elbows and glanced at her with an infuriating grin. “Taking a lady’s advice.”
“I told you to stay in this room and rest, not do…” She waved a hand with a huff of breath. “Whatever it is that caused you to climb up on that rickety thing!”
He lifted a brow. “You mean this?” He moved up and down slightly, and she was quite sure her heart ceased beating entirely. “It may not be the prettiest item made out of wood, but it’s quite sound, I assure you.”
She wasn’t satisfied. “I demand that you get down at once!”
He ignored her and turned back to his task. “Calm down. I’m nearly finished.”
Her frown deepened. “Just what exactly are you working on?”
“I’m sewing this loose piece of canopy back together,” he mumbled, as if he had something between his teeth.
As she drew closer to him, she looked up and saw that he had just bit through a piece of thread. “There.” He patted the fabric. “All done.”
She blinked. “You can sew?”
He flashed her one of those heart-melting smiles. “And here I thought you would be impressed by my handiwork instead.” He turned back to inspect his stitches one last time. “My mother taught me before she passed. After all these years, I suppose her teachings sort of stuck. I might have even been able to close up my own injury if I hadn’t lost so much blood.”
“Oh, dear.” The very image nearly made Constance ill. She waved her hand at him now. “Well, now that you’re finished, please climb down from there.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Very well.”
“And promise me that you won’t do anything so dangerous when it could slow your recovery even further,” she added firmly.
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, but there was a decided hint of mockery in his tone.
Constance intended to give him a proper scolding when he reached the safety of the floor, but when he was nearly there, he started to teeter on one of the rungs. She instantly rushed to his side. “You’re going to fall!”
“I’m perfectly—”
But his words were cut off when he tilted to the side. Constance uttered a shriek just as he fell directly on top of her—pinning her neatly to the bed.
Her eyes fluttered, because she wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened, but now that the danger had passed and she couldn’t feel anything but a firm male body pressed intimately against hers, she found it particularly difficult to breathe.
“It looks like you were right,” Devin said huskily, as he propped himself on his elbows and peered down at her.
For a moment, she couldn’t make her mind function properly. “I… what?” After this morning when she hadn’t been sure how she might approach him again, now the previous night’s interlude came flooding back into her brain and Madame Corressa was screaming at her to finish what they’d started.
“The ladder,” he reminded her with a hint of a smile, as if he too, knew the turn of her thoughts. “It turned out to be quite dangerous. I’m lucky that you were there to catch me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she chided, although her words lacked the necessary conviction. “Now that you have been aptly rescued, perhaps you might get off of me?”
“I’m not sure I can do that,” he murmured.
She inhaled calmly through her nose. “And why not?”
His brows drew together, as if in concern, but she saw those dark eyes dancing with amusement. “I seem to be feeling a bit lightheaded. It could cause further injury if I were to move too quickly.”
