Page 46 of A Rake's Redemption
“Nothing seems to be broken,” he said and helped her to sit. She gave him a dazed look and then slumped on his shoulder. He could feel her trembling. “Are you hurt somewhere?”
She rubbed her face against him, which he took to be a “no.” He had the strange urge to sit there and hold her for hours, but he could hear footsteps ascending. Reluctantly, he shifted position so he could stand, and lifted her with him. As soon as Inis put weight on one ankle, she winced. Alex picked her up and carried her up the last few steps back to her chamber. Kicking the door open, he laid her gently on the bed.
“What happened?” Mrs. Bradley hurried inside while the chambermaids crowded into the doorway.
“She fell on the stairs,” Alex said, sitting on the bed beside a chalk-faced Inis and tucking her hair back from her face. “Get the physician.”
Mrs. Bradley turned and motioned to Elsie. “Go tell Evans to bring Dr. Baxter here.”
The maid, who was almost as pale as Inis, turned and left the room without a word. The housekeeper walked over to the dresser, dipped a washcloth into the water in the basin and brought it back to the bed. She started to place it on Inis’s forehead when Alex took it from her.
“I will do it.”
Mrs. Bradley nodded and then coughed discreetly. Alex looked up, and she shifted her gaze subtly to his shirt, which was hanging open. He glanced at the chambermaids in the doorway. Their mouths were gaping, too. He grimaced and fastened two buttons, then turned back to Inis.
“How are you feeling?”
Her eyes moved from his fingers to his face. “A little sore.”
“To be expected. Can you tell me what happened?”
“The carpet came loose,” Inis replied. “I did nae see it until my foot slipped.”
Alex frowned. “Loose carpet?”
“Aye. I hadn’t noticed it before,” Inis said, “but I came back upstairs to get Fern’s mop cap.”
“Fern’s mop cap?” Mrs. Bradley asked and turned to the chambermaids. “Why was your mop cap in this room?”
Fern stepped forward. “I’d forgotten I left it here Saturday night when I sat with Inis. This morning, I spilled cream on my other one.”
“I probably dropped it on the landing when I fell,” Inis said.
“You did,” Fern answered. “I picked it up.”
“Inis should rest until the doctor gets here,” Mrs. Bradley said and made a shooing motion to the maids and then looked at Alex. “I will stay with her if you want to check the carpet.”
Alex didn’t want to leave, but he did need to look at the carpet. Reluctantly, he nodded and rose from the bed. “I will be back.”
After he made sure none of the other maids had a mishap on the stairs, Alex knelt down by the second step. The carpet had indeed come loose. He fingered the runner, examining the two holes on either side where the nails had been. The carpet wasn’t torn. He found one nail on the third step and the other on the fourth. Picking them up, he frowned.
How had two nails become dislodged at the same time?
…
The doctor let Alex back into Inis’s bedchamber once he’d finished examining her. In spite of the soreness seeping into her bones, she smiled at the sight of Alex. His shirt was properly buttoned now, although she thought it had been hanging open earlier. Had it been?
The doctor had given her a rather large dose of laudanum, but she thought she remembered bare flesh…Yes. Alex’s shirt had definitely been open. She remembered seeing the broad expanse of muscled chest and the hard ridges of his belly. Sweet Mary. It had been a beautiful sight.
He looked disheveled now, his dark hair mussed as though he’d run his fingers thorough it in different directions, and a day’s growth of beard shadowed his jaw.
“It is a miracle she didn’t break half her bones instead of just spraining an ankle,” Dr. Baxter said to Alex. “Although, after the incident with the spider bite, I am thinking she may be accident prone.”
Inis glared at him, or at least she tried to. She was beginning to feel a bit woozy. “I am nae. I doona have accidents. I—”
“Now, now,” the doctor said soothingly, “it does seem that you have been one lucky lady.”
“’Tis nae luck so much as belief,” Inis muttered.
