room?” he asked softly.
“He can stay,” Cynthia croaked. “I was going to show him my bosom anyway.”
Alexander covered his fire-red face with one hand.
“She’s jesting,” he assured the doctor.
“You slid down on skis a second time.” She gave Alexander a wobbly smile. “I promised you’d earn something.”
“Whereas you,” said the doctor, “took an arrow for your efforts. Fortunately, the trajectory was impeded by your thick coat and so many layers. The arrowhead came out cleanly, and the torn flesh will only require a few stitches.”
Arrowhead.
Torn flesh.
Alexander dropped his head between his knees and tried to breathe.
Cynthia’s tremulous voice sounded amused. “Is the big strong duke afraid of a little bit of blood?”
“I never was before,” he mumbled. “But when it’s you...”
“A funny phenomenon that happens all of the time,” said the doctor with a chuckle. “Nurses who tend horrific battle wounds discover they cannot withstand the tiniest cut on their child’s finger, all because it’s someone they love.”
All because of someone they love.
“No,” Alexander rasped. “Dukes are not ruled by romantic emotions. Mayhap I’ve just turned into a coward.”
Cynthia Louise closed her eyes.
“Mayhap you have,” replied the doctor cryptically. “Will you ring for boiling water and fresh towels? I have needle and thread in my satchel.”
Needle and thread.
Alexander sprang up from the dressing stool and dashed to the wall to tug the bell pull.
It was answered immediately.
“Your Grace?”
“Boiling water,” Alexander barked. “Fresh towels.” He suddenly remembered Max. “And... a hot bath and clean blankets.”
The maids nodded and bobbed and scurried away.
He approached the bed with caution.
Doctor Quinney was holding a thick square of gauze to the wound, hiding it momentarily from sight.
Alexander lifted the wet, shivering lump of fur from the middle of the bed.
“Max is sorry, too,” Cynthia said. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”
“I’m going to give him a bath,” Alexander said gruffly. “And then perhaps Doctor Quinney can glance over him once he’s finished attending you.”
A knock sounded at the door.
When Alexander answered, maids poured in with fresh towels and boiling water for the doctor, followed by a pair of footmen carrying a hot bath for Max. Another maid hurried in behind them bearing soap and blankets.
“Thank you,” Alexander said before shooing them all back out.
Attending Max would give him something else to concentrate on besides Doctor Quinney’s needle in Cynthia’s arm.
“The duchess is upset,” she said.
“Don’t talk to me while he’s sewing you,” he answered.
Barely a heartbeat passed before she spoke again.
“I’ll tell her you weren’t with me.”
“Doctor Quinney can hear you conspiring.” Alexander gently soaped Max’s fur in the warm water. “And everyone saw you with me. As my mother pointed out, you were in my arms.”
“But I didn’t begin that way. Everyone saw that, too. I’ll say you rescued me while I was out with Gertie. They’ll have no problem believing me a terrible chaperone. Today needn’t interfere with your plans of finding a respectable bride.”
He ground his teeth.
She was right. He needed a respectable bride. His duties to his title and his mother and his future heirs had not changed.
But what he wanted was someone like Cynthia Louise.
“No,” he said. “You were brave and heroic and I’m not going to hide that.”
“And foolhardy?” she said timidly.
“And foolhardy,” he agreed. “I am still going to throttle you.”
“No throttling,” said the doctor. “Those stitches must remain clean and safe for a fortnight.”
“And then I can throttle her?” Alexander said with amusement.
“By then, you won’t remember you wanted to.” The doctor crossed the room and held out his hands for the puppy. “Let me see this fellow.”
Alexander placed the blanket-clad puppy in the doctor’s arms and hurried to Cynthia’s side.
“You were going to show me your bosom?” he whispered.
“No,” she whispered back. “It was an empty bribe to lure you down the hill.”
“You didn’t tell me the bribe,” he pointed out. “I don’t think it was empty at all. I think there was a bosom in my future, until that blasted puppy ruined the moment.”
She batted her eyelashes. “You’ll never know.”
Yes. That was exactly the problem.
Now he’d never know.
“Well, your puppy is bruised and sore,” announced the doctor, “but he’ll be fine. As for you, young lady, I’m leaving a few drops of laudanum in a small bottle on the table. Keep the wound clean and dry, and only take the laudanum if you must. If you return home before the wound has healed, please have a doctor attend to the stitches.”
She nodded.
Alexander stood. “Thank you, Doctor Quinney. I’ll see that you’re well