“I won’t. You know I won’t.”
“Husband’s orders,” he said and hiccoughed, which jolted his right shoulder and made him wince in pain. “Or doctor’s orders. Either one.”
“Yes, either one. That’s right.” She put a hand under his chin and peered into his eyes. “Are you ready, Doctor?”
She had her hand on his face. She was standing very close to him. He could feel Paterson pick up the sheet and pull it up to chest level.
“I’ll count,” Ewen said from somewhere behind him.
Andrews picked up Alasdair’s right arm and it was agonizing even though the pulling had not even started.
“One, two,” Alasdair could hear Ewen counting.
And then a sweet smell and Arabella held his face in both of her hands and she crowded her body into him and put her mouth on his. And she was kissing him. In a totally unconstrained manner. She was kissing him the way she had in the carriage before he had warned against impulsive acts. Before she had handled his cock and made him spend and they had disagreed about romance. She was fierce and sloppy with her tongue and teeth and he was worried she was going to stop, this wild female sweetness who was giving him all her attention, so he curled his left arm around her and pulled her to him tightly and his right arm hurt like the devil but he was also hard as Aberdeen granite in his trousers and then he heard and felt a pop and his right shoulder stopped hurting. Not completely, but the pain went quickly from excruciating to bearable.
“Stop!” he yelled into Arabella’s mouth.
Arabella took her mouth from his.
“Not ye, darling, please,” he said looking up at her. “Them.”
The butler Andrews put Alasdair’s right arm down gently. Alasdair felt the sheet relax on his chest.
Arabella pulled away from Alasdair and stood in front of him. The right shoulder now looked the same as the left, with the same delicious rounding of muscle at the top.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“Ye come back here next to me, darling.”
“You are drunk, Dr. Andrews. What do we do with your arm? Oh, dear,” she turned to Andrews, “we should have asked him before we had him drink the whisky.”
“I’m not drunk. We make” Alasdair hiccoughed, “a sling and a swathe to keep the arm still.”
Paterson had gotten off the bed. “I ken how to do that, miss. May I use this sheet?” He looked at the butler Andrews who nodded.
In very short order, Paterson had ripped the sheet in thirds, the long way, and Alasdair was slinged and swathed.
“Thank you,” Arabella said to Paterson. “And thank you, Ewen.” She turned to the butler. “And of course, thank you, Andrews.”
“Yer welcome,” Alasdair said with his eyes closed. He laid back on the bed.
Ewen grinned and said, “Aye, yer welcome, miss. Can I borrow a book?”
“The books in this house are all the Lord Morpeth’s, Ewen, and right now,” Arabella cast a glance at Alasdair, “I don’t care to ask the baron for anything. But wait.” She had a thought. “My friend was to loan me a book.”
Arabella went down the hall and knocked on Rebecca’s bedchamber door. Rebecca answered the door herself and drew Arabella inside the room.
“Oh, Arabella, is the doctor well? I couldn’t find the first volume ofKenilworthfor the longest time and by the time I got downstairs, I was told ... And then I heard some screams, and well, is he all right?”
“I thought he was not stupid but it turns out he is a fool, like many men. However, I am hoping he will be physically fine,” Arabella said. “May I borrow theKenilworthand let the lad who has been traveling with us read it? I assure you that he quite worships books and will be as careful as can be with it and will return it tomorrow and likely ask for the second volume.”
“Certainly,” Rebecca said and picked up the book and gave it to Arabella. “You can ask anything of me, as you know.”
Arabella met Ewen and Paterson in the hallway and gave Ewen the book.
She had promised herself she wouldn’t blush. “Thank you again, Ewen. For your ... er, idea. And thank you Paterson for pulling so well.”
The butler Andrews was in her bedchamber still. He had taken off Alasdair’s boots and Alasdair had stayed lying crosswise on the bed, his legs from the knee down hanging off the edge, eyes closed.
