Page 44 of One Bed for the Bluestocking
The rock was even with Kit’s upper half, so Nathaniel quickly felt the length of each of his arms.There were no obvious breaks, and Kit didn’t moan in pain.Perhaps he had landed on his side and cracked a rib?
By this point, the light was all but gone, and a steady drizzle had started to fall.“Kit,” Nathaniel said urgently, shaking him.“Can you hear me?We need to get back to the shelter.”
Kit moaned but didn’t open his eyes.
Curse it all.Nat hastily stuffed his notebook into his rucksack.He started to shoulder the bag, then paused.If Kit did not regain consciousness—and every indication was that he probably would not—then Nat would have to carry him off the mountain.They had already descended the steepest part of the trail, and it wasn’t far to the shieling.Still, it would be an arduous task, and he didn’t need to be carrying any extra weight when he did it.
At the same time, the reason Kit was in this sad state was his determination to save Nat’s scientific notes.Abandoning them in the rain seemed a poor way to thank him.There was also the potential loss of Kit’s sketches, although Nat happened to know that Kit had filled at least six sketchpads.The loss of his current drawings would be unfortunate, but it was a small portion of his work.
As he turned to face Kit, his eyes fell upon a horizontal crack in the nearby cliff that formed a shelf of sorts.He hurried over and reached inside, feeling the dark space.It was bone dry and at least two feet deep.Perfect.
He grabbed his rucksack and Kit’s and brought them to the gap in the rock.It wasn’t tall enough to accommodate the rucksacks, but he removed his notebook and Kit’s sketchpad and shoved them all the way to the back of the crack.He closed their rucksacks and placed them against the cliff face, hoping it would offer a little cover from the rain.
Having done that, he stood over Kit, considering.If the young man had a rib injury, he might worsen it by throwing him over his shoulder.But he wasn’t sure he could carry Kit all that way in his arms.
Deciding he had to chance it, he gingerly pulled Kit into a sitting position.Still, the young man did not awaken.Trying not to press overly hard, he settled Kit over one shoulder, then managed to rise to his feet.
Kit was surprisingly light.Nat felt a momentary pang of guilt, recalling all the heavy supplies he had allowed him to carry up to the shieling.He wouldn’t have allowed the young man to carry so much if he had realized he was so slight.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it now.He needed to hurry back to the shieling before he lost the light entirely.
Making sure he had a good grip on Kit’s leg, he set off down the mountain.
Chapter21
Nathaniel somehow managed to make it back to the shieling in the dark.He laid Kit out on his bedroll and then made a quick fire using bricks of peat.He also lit a couple of rushlights to better see what he was doing.
Nat was growing concerned.He’d only been enrolled as a medical student for one year, but he had enough training to know that the fact that Kit had not regained consciousness was not good.He removed the leather cord that Kit used to tie back his hair and carefully palpated his scalp.He found no sign of a head wound.Which was good, but his loss of consciousness remained a mystery.
His next best guess was that Kit had cracked a rib on that large rock and had passed out due to the pain.Nat felt guilty about undressing him while he was unconscious, especially recalling how shy Kit was when it came to exposing his own body.But this was a matter of medical necessity.Nat must set aside the strange attraction that had been flaring between him and Kit for weeks and remain detached and professional.
Thus resolved, he unbuttoned Kit’s waistcoat and pulled it from around his arms.He pulled his shirt free from his trousers and unknotted the simple cravat the young man insisted upon wearing, even here in the wilds of Scotland.
When he pulled Kit’s shirt over his head, he received his first shock.Kit’s ribs were already bound with a wide strip of linen!Had he been suffering from a broken rib this whole time?No wonder the fall had affected him to such a degree.Why on earth hadn’t he said anything about it?
As he unrolled the band of linen, Nathaniel felt terrible.He had seen how Kit had struggled, packing the supplies in from the coast.If he’d had any idea that the young man was nursing an injury, he never would have…
Nat’s thoughts scrambled as the linen fell away from Kit’s body.
Breasts.Kit had?—
He was a… No, not he.She.
Kit was a woman.
Nathaniel collapsed on the bedroll with a heavy thump.It all made sense now.The attraction he had felt toward Kit.His inability to keep his hands off of him…her.The feelings he had every time they were together, that she was his other half, his soul mate.
Shewashis soul mate!Happiness swelled within him, because if she was a woman, that meant that they could marry!What he felt for Kit—if that was even her name—wasn’t condemned in the eyes of society.He could have her for his wife, and they would never be parted!
Well.He couldaskher to be his wife.She might very well refuse him.
But surely, she wouldn’t.Surely, she felt this, too.
Surely, this was meant to be.
He shook himself.She could hardly accept his proposal when she remained in a state of unconsciousness!
He reached toward her torso, then hesitated.It felt wrong to fondle her while she was insensible.And yet, he suspected that she had a broken rib.Her situation had not changed medically just because of his inadvertent discovery.
