“No, I just like making faces. Help me up.”
“I’ll call for a physician. You don’t look well, son.”
He knew the signs since the chandelier fell. His back was going to go out, but this couldn’t be the time. “Patience, help me up. I’ve enough strength to stand if you help.”
“Duke, maybe we should stay for a doctor.”
His mother hovered over him. “Let me take care of you, son.”
She clapped her hands for servants, but Busick wouldn’t be here a moment longer.
He grabbed Patience’s cravat and drew her close. “Get me out of here.” This second part of his order, he set at a whisper. “I beg of you.”
Her eyes grew big.
Did she understand? Or would she defy him, thinking she knew better? Better was not here.
“No, Mrs. Jordan. I’ll get a footman and put him in a room. He’s too hurt to leave.”
He flopped back. He was about to be trapped with his mother.
“Sir, on the count of three.” She’d put Lionel’s basket down and had Busick’s arm. “One, two, three.”
She pulled him to a seated position. “Now, up sir. Again, on the count of three. One, two, three.”
Clasping his cane, he held his breath. It took all his power to withstand the pain in his body when he rose, but he did it. By Jove, with her help, he stood.
Patience ducked under his arm. “Commander, let’s walk together.”
With a thud, he set down his cane. “You keep counting, Patience. I’ll not pass out. Proceed.”
Taking up the basket with her free arm, she started them moving, step by step to the door. They fell into a blessed rhythm.
“Busick, you’re being stubborn. I can postpone my trip a few days. Let me take care of you. I took care of your father. I’ll have you good as new.”
Those words were the scariest he’d ever heard. He wasn’t his father, wasn’t an invalid. And he’d never let a woman he didn’t trust have any control over him. “Night, Mother.”
“A mother should take care of her son, not a stranger.”
He ignored her and held tighter to the woman he did trust.
His mother went in front of them with her arms wide. “Mrs. Jordan, I order you to stop.”
“I’m sorry. I have a different commander. Out of our way.”
He wanted to smile, but everything hurt.
It seemed like an eternity before they reached his carriage.
She waved at the grooms, and they hoisted him inside.
Patience climbed in and put Lionel’s basket on the floor. She knelt beside Busick’s seat.
“Repington, are you sure you don’t just want to stay? The carriage will jar you all the way to Hamlin.
He stretched and put his palm to her cheek. “You’re the only woman I trust, Patience Jordan. Get me back to Hamlin, nurse me to health.”
“I’m serious.”
