“Yes,” he replied, his smile faltering.
She nodded her head, turning to the table where fresh linen was piled high. Cordelia reached for an already damp towel, soaking it again in the steaming basin. Moving to the opposite side of the bed, she looked around for a chair, but much to her disappointment it was on the opposite side of the duke’s chambers.
Sighing, she made a move to reach for it but stopped when Justin said, “Where are you going?”
“Getting the chair,” she said.
“Why?” he asked, placing his hand on top of the coverlet. “I don’t bite.”
Yes, you do, she thought suddenly, an image flashing in her mind of her nipple between his teeth. Where her cheeks had once been warm they were now scorching.
“Dear lord, Lia,” he said. “You’re simpering like a milk maid.”
“You shouldn’t call me that,” she snapped, marching over to the wooden chair and dragging it across the room with renewed purpose.
“Why not?”
“Because,” she replied, setting it down, “it is not proper.”
Justin chuckled to himself as she gathered his arm in her hands, untying the bandage. Cordelia’s heartbeat quickened as she felt his gaze on her. She was thankful for the few silent moments he was allowing her as she set to work cleaning the wound. It was looking much better, and for that she was wordlessly grateful.
“Cordelia,” he murmured as she worked. “I hope you haven’t been avoiding me these past few days.”
Avoiding him? Of course, she had been avoiding him! What else could he expect, after she’d acted so stupidly after their…encounter. Encounter was a bad word to describe what had taken place between them. More like an earth-shattering, life-altering happenstance, which she would think about in the years to come. Which she was already thinking about whenever her mind was unoccupied.
When Cordelia did not respond, Justin said, “I should be offering my heartfelt thanks.”
Cordelia looked at him suddenly, mouth agape. “Really?”
Justin breathed, “For saving my life.”
Cordelia’s heart fluttered as she regarded him, knowing that in the real world it would be her turn to say something to the effect of,You have rescued me so many times, it was only fair I finally returned the favor. But none of this felt real, so she didn’t. “Yes, well,” she began, “I only did what was needed.”
“Is that all?” he said.
“What more would you like?” she asked. “You have the manor house, the title, and now your life. You’ve readily taken everything.” Cordelia did not addfrom me. That would have been too petty. Nevertheless, she was growing irrationally angry with the man and wasn’t sure why. Asking him to approve her marriage to Rhys was growing more difficult.
“Only things that have been offered freely,” he countered.
Cordelia gasped; he’d misunderstood her insinuation.
“Can we have a discussion that does not eventually become an argument?” he asked, shaking his head. “Did you know that you can be quite infuriating at times?”
“Howdareyou?” Cordelia replied, pointing the scissors she was using to cut the linen at him. “If you continue to speak to me like this, I’ll leave.”
He growled something under his breath.
“What was that?” Cordelia asked, in a sour voice.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“I thought so,” she replied. Satisfied with the length of linen, she set to work wrapping it around his forearm, leaning over thebedspread. Doing her best to tie off the knot, she noticed that Justin was pulling it farther and farther away from her.
“Stop that!” she hissed, reaching over to salvage a piece of bandage that had come undone. But Cordelia lost her balance and proceeded to fall directly in his lap.
“There, that’smuchbetter,” he murmured.
Cordelia scrambled to sit up, searching for purchase between the covers and his warm, inviting body. She pressed a hand to his chest, righting herself, but he clapped his palm over hers, pressing it into his heated flesh, her fingers tangling in the dark downy hair there.
