Page 58 of If the Slipper Fits
She stalled a foot from the bed. How to help him without touching all that glorious skin?
Caden gave her a long, considering look. “I can manage, Anna.” He may as well have added,if you’re afraid.
She could do this. She must. The man needed her help. Any exertion might start his wound bleeding again. And besides. Thatskin.
Without warning he hoisted himself to a sitting position.
She stared, mesmerized by his rippling abdomen. Then he swayed like a drunken sailor.
“Not so fast.” She rushed forward, bolstering him upright with an arm ‘round his broad shoulders. She lay a palm across his forehead, careful to avoid his aggrieved brow, then tested the temperature against her own. Not much difference there.
He smiled, and batted his lashes at her, twice. “I’ll be right as rain, now you’re here.”
Something about his response tempted her to let him topple. “Shall we get this on you, then?”
She considered the heavy silk grasped in her fist. He leaned into her rather heavily. If she released him to wrap the thing around his shoulders, would he crumple onto the pillows, or worse, fall over the side of the bed to land in a heap on the floor?
Her gaze drifted to his now up-close, naked torso. Her heart thudded against her ribs causing the sound of her own blood to rush in her ears. With an effort of will, she focused on her task.
Mentally bracing herself, she slung the robe one-handed across the front of him, hoping to catch it with her other hand currently occupied with holding him upright. She missed.
There was nothing for it. She angled her torso across his, robe in hand, essentially wrapping her arms around him, and found her face inches from his, and her breasts pressed against his warm chest.
Her nipples tightened. A small squeak of dismay sounded in her throat at the same time Caden hissed in a breath.
She froze, afraid to move. “I hurt you. I’m so sorry.” And she was. But perhaps, hurting him had kept him from noticing the condition of her nipples.
“No.” He ground out.
“But you…”
“Just leave the damned thing.”
“Fine.” She unwound herself from him, then gaped as he sat erect with seemingly no trouble at all.
“I’m sorry. I’m a terrible patient. You didn’t hurt me. It’s just…”
Their gazes caught and held. Primal heat burned in the liquid blue of his eyes.
“You’re an enigma to me, Anna. One minute, off-putting to the point of rudeness, insisting you need no-one and nothing save beingleft alone, the next, you act as if there’s no place you’d rather be than here, by my side.”
Hands trembling, she reached for the jar of salve she’d dropped on the bed in her haste to catch him, gripping it like a lifeline. “I don’t need your help.”
She didn’t look up at his grunt of annoyance.
“Caden, I’m trying to keep you out of a situation far more complicated than you comprehend.”
“So you keep telling me,” he growled.
“As for me wanting to be here and nowhere else, you’re right there, also.” She laughed softly, less embarrassed than she ought to be. If anything, her admission left her feeling more free than she had in a long time
She opened the pot of salve, and held it to her nose. Lavender, frankincense, honey, thyme. She’d pieced together one of her mother’s recipes with another she’d found in a herbal she’d discovered in Lady Wentworth’s library, of all places. Such mixtures not only aided in healing bruises and scrapes, they had an added benefit as an aromatic tonic for nerves—she’d simply never needed them forhernerves. It worked better than she knew.
She set the jar on the side table with a click. “Are you going to say anything?”
“Yes.”
She slanted him a glance, waiting.
