Page 18 of The Duke's Auctioned Spinster
“It’s only a small wound. It’s not as though I lost my thumb entirely.”
“I am not sure about that. This could get infected. I might have to take it off right here and now. I will have to use one of the knives I brought. It should be like cutting into a thick steak,” he said, grinning.
“You are not as funny as you think you are.”
Despite his grim words, Edmund handled her wound with delicacy. He gently swept away the blood with a handkerchief and then wrapped said handkerchief tightly around her thumb. The pressure hurt a little, but he had a practiced hand.
“You’ve done this before,” she said, noticing the way he precisely folded the handkerchief around her thumb.
“It happened to us many times as children. They probably don’t remember it, but I had to do this very thing for Lydia and Charlotte frequently.”
His voice was low, and concentration was etched upon his face. Rose stared at him. He might have been a rake, but she felt entirely safe in his presence. And, she was beginning to see a different side to him, the side that Lydia had spoken about. It was easy to forget amid all his bluster, but this was a man who had taken on the responsibility of caring for his younger sisters after their parents had died.
He had been a young man when it happened. How would she have coped if she were thrust into such a position?
The answer did not come to her, though, as there was far too much playing on her mind otherwise.
“There we go. You should be fine now, though you may want to have someone look at it when you get home. And feel free to keep the handkerchief. It might make a nice keepsake to mark the occasion,” he said, again with his customary grin.
Rose couldn’t imagine she would ever want to keep his blood-stained handkerchief for anything.
“You are well, aren’t you, Rose? It’s just that I know some women feel quite shaken at the sight of blood,” he said. As she drew her gaze away from his hand, she suddenly realized how close he was. There was barely an inch between them. She slipped her hand out of his and felt tension running across her chest. There was a sense that the rest of the world was melting away. His eyes, his lips… everything about him dominated her vision.
His voice was low and seductive, almost enough for her to ignore the patronizing nature of his words. How many other women had been in this position? How many other women had given in to the urge and felt his lips upon theirs?
He was close enough so that she was almost curious, almost… tempted. His warm breath drifted toward her, and she wasn’t cold any longer. It was surreal, as though for a moment she had completely lost herself.
“My lady! Where are you?” Jenny’s voice came rising through the air, like a cold snap of reality. It helped bring some sense to Rose’s mind. Rose stepped away, gulping to compose herself and still the tremors that reverberated within her heart. This wasn’t proper. It wasn’t even wanted. Edmund was hardly the type of man she desired, although in truth, she had never given the matter enough thought to decide what type of man that would actually be.
“We should return,” she said, and strode back the way she came. She clasped her hands together, but still wasn’t paying proper attention to the ground. Thankfully, her feet found no divots,and she emerged from the copse, breathing a sigh of relief as Jenny rushed toward her.
Edmund was not far behind.
“My lady, I apologize. I must have lost sight of you,” Jenny said, her face etched with worry.
“There is no need to apologize. The fault is mine. I saw a stray, wounded dog, and I followed in case it needed assistance, but it was scared and ran away from me when I got too close.”
“That is most kind-hearted of you, my lady. Is His Grace…” Jenny said, but then realization came to her eyes as Edmund appeared. Her expression shifted, and Rose wondered if she believed something untoward had happened.
Jenny grew closer as she unfolded the shawl, and only then saw Rose’s wound.
“My lady,” she gasped. “What happened?”
“It’s really nothing. I caught my thumb on a thorn, and His Grace was kind enough to tend to the wound.”
“Yes, it was a harrowing ordeal, and she was close to losing her life, but I managed to stop her from bleeding to death. Let us not share this with anyone, though; they would only throw a parade at my heroism,” he said.
Jenny giggled while Rose rolled her eyes.
“I believe it is time for us to return home. As you suggested, Edmund, I should have someone see to my thumb,” she said, eager to bring the evening to an early close, considering the strange feeling that had swept over her in the copse when he was so close.
I must have been suffering from blood loss.
“That is a shame because we have to miss out on the evening activities I planned. I was going to wrap a string around a star and pull it from the sky for you, but alas, we shall have to leave that to the realm of imagination.”
Rose was almost tempted to stay and call his bluff. Instead, she was tired of his bickering and was keen to bring the day to an end.
“It was a pleasure, Edmund. I shall see you again soon. Now we have four to go,” she said, making sure to remind him that the moments were counting down.
