What choice had he? He lifted his fork and began to devour the plate she had brought him, trying his utmost to distract himself from unworthy thoughts. Thoughts that involved hauling her across his lap, sending the tray to the floor, and kissing her breathless.
* * *
“You must tellyour brothers soon, Caro.”
The firm, low edict of her patient hit her.
She stiffened, turning back to him, distracted from her task of tidying the bedside table with its assorted tinctures and vials. The wickedly handsome, green-eyed stranger Caro had saved from the alley behind The Sinner’s Palace was a man she had not previously met. But he was one she had heard of on many occasions.
Living in the East End, a Sutton, ever aware of her family’s greatest foes—the wicked Winters—how could she not? Oh, it had taken some days for his bruises to abate. For the swelling and the discoloration—blue to purple to green—to subside. But once it had, the truth had been impossible to ignore, just as his identity was.
“I will tell them when the time is right and you are well enough to face them,” she assured him gently, hating herself for perpetuating the lie, although she knew she must.
In truth, her eldest brother, Jasper, had discovered her secret within hours of the man’s arrival at The Sinner’s Palace. As her brother Rafe was fond of saying, not even a mouse could fart in their gaming hell without Jasper being aware of it.
Jasper had taken one look at her mysterious stranger after he had discovered her secret and had recognized him.
“Gavin Winter, as I live and breathe,” Jasper had muttered upon viewing her sleeping patient. “Of all the fucking luck.”
Her heart had sunk, for she had already developed a bond with the man she had found bruised, bloodied, shot, and beaten nearly to death that day.
“We must tell the Winters then,” she had reluctantly acknowledged. “They will be wondering where he is, worrying over him.”
“Not yet,” Jasper had countered with the devil’s own grin. “Give me some time, Caro, whilst I decide what’s best.”
Caro shook herself from the memory and surveyed Gavin now. He was diabolically handsome, even bruised and battered. It was said he was stronger than a giant, and he certainly possessed the height and size to convince her of the veracity of the words. Though it was difficult to think her gentle patient capable of such feats now, he was London’s greatest prizefighter, a man who had defeated all the opponents he had faced with his fists.
A man she was deceiving. Their every interaction was a betrayal, each day cutting deeper than the last. She shuddered to think of what would happen if he ever discovered the truth.
“I am not afraid to face your brothers now, if you will allow it,” Gavin told her, before forking some eggs into his mouth.
His appetite had returned, which was an excellent sign. He had nearly consumed the entire plate she had brought for him. The sight of him, color in his cheeks, his body on the mend, heartened her.
Unbidden, the sight which had greeted her upon her entrance to the chamber rose in her mind. His chest was broad and lightly covered in whorls of dark hair, so much more beautiful now that he was moving and filled with life than when he had been bedridden and still. His abdomen was flat and well-defined with cords of muscle. His legs were long. But it had been another portion of his anatomy which had stolen her gaze and forced the heat into her face and the tingling low in her belly.
If Jasper or the rest of her brothers found out she had seen Gavin Winter naked as the day he was born, and that she had seen his cock, they would be furious. And furious Suttons… Well, they were decidedly dangerous. She would not wish her irate brothers upon her worst enemy, let alone Gavin.
Heavens, her ears were going hot, and so was the rest of her, just from recalling how splendidly formed the man was.
“You cannot face them just now,” she forced herself to say, before turning back to the bedside table and pretending to tidy once more.
It was easier to look at bottles and ointments than it was to watch Gavin Winter eat his breakfast. Partially because the bedclothes had slipped low on his waist once more. Partially because she did not want him to see her discomfiture, which was caused by a combination of the effect he had upon her and the lies she was telling him.
“Then have a seat, at the very least, if you’ll not allow me to speak to them. I’ll not have you going about the room, righting the mess I have made, when it is your own. To say nothing of the manner in which I have overtaken your rooms. There is a word for this, I believe. A right fancy one. Begins with a u…”
“Usurping,” she finished for him, and quite easily, too.
Jasper, as the eldest, had seen all their siblings educated when their finances had finally allowed for the expense. Caro had an affinity for the medicinal and for words both.
“Yes,” he agreed. “That is the bloody one. I’ll not keep you from your bed any longer.”
Reluctantly, she turned back to face him, trying her utmost to keep her gaze upon his face instead of all the masculine skin revealed to her.
“But have you anywhere else to go?” she pressed, hating herself as she asked the question.
She offered it for the sake of her conscience. If Gavin Winter recalled who he was, then she could happily return him to where he belonged. She would have no other choice, and her brother Jasper would have to accept it, regardless of what it cost him.
However, if Gavin’s brain remained muddled …if his memory continued to elude him, then there was no recourse save one. The one in which she already found herself hopelessly embroiled, torn between loyalty to her family and her growing feelings for Gavin. Despite the shame threatening to eat her alive, she could not deny she enjoyed having Gavin here. That she enjoyed tending to him, becoming acquainted with him.
