Ezra began removing Jamie’s clothing. He hissed in pain several times, but finally the jacket was off. Next came his necktie.
“Right, then, let’s see what we have,” Maggie said, bustling in as Ezra was removing Jamie’s shirt. “You’ll step back, or better yet, leave the room, Lady Alice, but knowing your stubborn streak, I’m doubting you’ll do that.”
She should leave the room. Alice knew that. It wasn’t right for her to be here with him while he wore no shirt. But then, it wasn’t right for him to be here in her father’s townhouse either, she reminded herself.
The linen peeled away. Alice swallowed. The sight should not have winded her, yet it did. The breadth of him, the pale stretch of torso now marred with bruises forming over his ribs. A long mark scored his side. Had someone’s ring done that? Dark hair dusted his chest, trailing lower to the line of his trousers whereher eyes had no business dwelling. Her gaze moved back up his body and collided with his.
His mouth wore a small smile, and Alice couldn’t believe he had the nerve to be amused.
“I’d like a few words with those who did this,” Ezra growled.
“Aye, well, you’re not,” Maggie said, dropping a cloth in the basin. She then touched Jamie’s body with fingers that had soothed fevers and aided any number of household ailments, including Alice’s, over the years. Jamie’s jaw clenched under each probe. When Maggie touched the worst of the bruising along his ribs, a moan escaped him.
Alice stood still and wanted savagely—not for the first time tonight—to destroy the men who had done this. Jackson needed to pay for those he’d hurt and tormented.
“Bruised ribs,” Maggie diagnosed, her tone grim. “Not broken through, praise be. Your cuts will need cleaning. You’ll curse my name for the next quarter hour, and after that you’ll rest easier. Laudanum?”
“No,” Jamie said.
“Yes,” Alice added.
His eyes met hers again. “I will not lose my wits by drinking that stuff.”
“You’ll be in agony if you do not,” she returned. “A small dose, Maggie. Enough to take the edge and no more,” Alice insisted.
She ignored his protests and took the liquid Maggie poured onto a spoon. He refused to open his mouth, looking like a small child.
“I will hold your nose, while Ezra is holding down your hands if you don’t take this, my lord,” Alice said, leaning over him.
“I don’t want to dream.”
The words were whispered, but she heard them. There was pain behind them. Had he been forced to take laudanum when he was hurt at Blackwood Hall?
“I promise to be there if you dream,” Alice whispered so only he could hear.
For long moments she held his eyes, and then his mouth opened and she poured the liquid down his throat. He grimaced at the bitter taste.
“Right,” Maggie said, “we need to bind those ribs now. Help him rise, Ezra.”
“I can do that without help.”
“I’m sure you can, but as my wife gave an order, you’ll forgive me but it must be obeyed,” Ezra said.
He then levered Jamie forward by sliding an arm around his back. Alice moved to the other side of the bed to help keep him there. His skin felt hot, and his body hard beneath her hand. She focused on her maid’s actions and not the fact that Lord Stafford was half naked in her house.
Maggie wound the bandage tight around Jamie’s ribs. With each pass, he went rigid, then forced himself to relax. Alice could feel every tremor that didn’t show on his face. On the third pull of the bandage, his hand shot out and caught the fingers of her other hand.
“Nearly done,” Alice soothed.
Maggie tied the last knotting of the bandage. “Lie back, my lord.”
Alice and Ezra eased him down and he released her fingers. Sweat beaded at his temple, and she hoped the laudanum would ease some of his pain soon.
“Now we need to clean the cuts,” Maggie said. “And you get him something to put on that is not torn and bloody.”
“Pass a cloth,” Alice added.
Maggie held one out to her, and she took it. She dabbed the cut high on Jamie’s cheek, and then moved to the split in his lip. He watched her face, the intent look in his green eyes unsettling.
