Page 41 of Loving an Earl
Sit up? Did he have any idea how much pain that would cause? She readied a pillow and watched wide-eyed and winced as he tried to use his one good arm to hoist himself up.
“Bugger all.” He breathed heavily not making much headway. “Can you assist me?”
Lilly looked at Langford’s bare chest and swallowed. “In case you haven’t noticed, you have no clothes on beneath the sheet.”
“I bloody well know that. I don’t care. I want to sit up.” His brows raised. “And you’ve seen me naked, or have you forgotten already?”
She would ignore his snapping at her—this time. He was in a great deal of pain, and she knew it made people lash out. “How do you suppose I can help?”
“Carefully climb on the bed and straddle my hips. Do not, and I repeatdo not, bump my bad leg. When I say go, you put your arms on either side of my waist and lift me up and forward at the same time as I use my good arm.”
Lilly finally removed the cloak she’d kept wrapped around her through the night for warmth and draped it on the back of the torturous chair she’d slept on. Her backside was going to ache for days. She hitched up her skirts flashing her pantaloons to Langford, but at a time like this, there was little call for modesty. As he reminded her, she had seen him naked. And he had seen her naked as well. She kneeled on the bed and swung one leg over Langford’s thighs, careful not to jostle his legs or touch him. “Tell me when you are ready.” When she looked down, thinking about using his waist to aid him, she realized his arm was wrapped up and pinned to his stomach. Where on earth would she put her hands? And even if she pulled at his waist, she didn’t believe it would work. She needed to get her arms beneath his arms and lift him that way. If she was even strong enough.
She lifted her eyes to his and he said, “Is there a problem?” The laudanum was affecting him as his eyes looked glazed and he slurred his words.
“I can’t use your waist to lift you.”
“Use my hips then.”
She opened her mouth to speak twice before she closed her lips and contemplated his hips. As far as she could tell, his hips would offer even less leverage than his waist, and jostling them would only result in more pain. “I’m sliding my arms through your armpits. That’s the only way it will work. I’ll count to three.”
When he didn’t answer her, she opened her eyes and found his closed. “Langford. Are you awake?”
No answer. Just as she was about to gently climb off him, the door opened and Emmeline, Blackstone, and Caldwell entered the room.
“Lilly,” Emmeline gasped, “what in heaven’s name are you doing?”
“Will someone help me get off him?” she said, more than a little disgruntled.
Caldwell started to move forward. “I’ll help. But I must say I’m shocked. I didn’t think you were the kind of woman to take advantage of an unconscious man.”
Lilly gasped.
Emmeline threw out an arm, stopping Caldwell. “You are not helping.” She moved toward the bed and very carefully helped Lilly off of Langford and onto the floor.
Lilly rolled her eyes and exhaled. “He wanted help sitting up. That was all we could think of to aid him, but then he fell asleep in the middle of the attempt, since I had just given him medicine for his pain. Now, perhaps you two fine gentlemen can help him while I retreat to my room so I can die of embarrassment.”
All three of them laughed. Theylaughedat her.
She huffed. “I don’t see what is so funny.”
“Oh, it was funny,” Emmeline said. “Thankfully, it was only the three of us who entered the room. Anyway, how is he?”
The four of them stood around Langford’s bed while he slept fitfully, much as he had last night.
“He woke up once last night, and I told him what happened because he didn’t remember anything. Then he awoke a short while ago, I gave him the laudanum the doctor left for him, and he fell asleep again.”
“Both Caldwell and I stopped by in the middle of the night, and Mullens met with us and assured us that Edmund had awoken and was resting and the doctor had set his leg. We opted not to disturb him and went home. He didn’t explain the extent of his injuries, though. What did the physician say about his leg?” Blackstone asked as he lifted the sheet exposing Langford’s injured leg to his mid-thigh.
“That hopefully it will heal and not get infected. He will most likely walk with a limp.”
“He’s not going to like hearing that.” Blackstone replaced the sheet over his leg and then lowered it to his waist. “How is his shoulder?”
“He dislocated it. The doctor put it back.” Lilly didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it sounded positive. “The doctor said it will heal nicely.”
Blackstone’s face was pale and his eyes looked worried. “He could’ve been killed.” He then looked at Lilly and Emmeline, his brows drawn. “Emmeline mentioned the accident happened in St. Giles. I know why Langford ventures into St. Giles. He’s looking for someone he once cared deeply for. But what in bloody hell were you two doing there? The place is dangerous in the daytime, but at night, it’s...” His body shivered. “All three of you are fortunate to be alive.”
Chapter Sixteen
