"He'll be here in a moment." Gabriel stood to ease out of his coat. She stripped it from him and promptly pushed him back down again, then busily set about unlacing his cuffs.
Gabriel twisted his lips to hide a grin. How far would she go if he let her?
"Are you in pain?"
Hurriedly straightening his lips, he shook his head. "No." He searched her face, drowned in her eyes, in the concern that filled them, the love that gave it birth. "No." He reached out and closed one hand over hers. "Thea, I'm all right."
Frowning, she shook off his hand and slapped a palm to his forehead. "I hope you don't develop a fever."
Gabriel dragged in a breath. "Thea-"
Chance rushed in, balancing a bowl of water on his wrists, a towel over one arm, cloths balanced upon it, with a pot of salve clutched in his other hand. "Is this all you wanted, mum?"
"Indeed." Alathea nodded approvingly. "Just bring that table nearer. And the lamp, too."
"Oooh! Lot of blood there." Chance moved the table closer. He glanced at Alathea. "Perhaps you'll want some brandy, mum? To clean the wound?"
"An excellent idea!" She lifted her head. "Is there any here?" Her glance fell on the decanter on the dresser.
Gabriel stiffened. "No! That's-"
"Perfect!" Alathea enthused. "Bring it here."
"Thea…" Horrified, Gabriel watched Chance dart to the dresser and bring back the decanter filled with superbly aged French brandy. "I really don't need-
"Do be quiet." Alathea stared into his eyes, peering into one, then the other. "I keep worrying you'll start raving any minute. Please-just let Chance and me fix this. Then you can rest. All right?"
He looked into her eyes-she was perfectly serious. Gabriel bit his tongue, glanced at Chance, then nodded.
For the next fifteen minutes, he suffered their combined ministrations. He'd forgotten that Chance had reason to want to repay him with kindness. Sitting silent on his bed, he was smothered by kindness, by concern, by love. It was pleasant, even if he felt a fraud.
With Chance's help, Alathea stripped off his shirt, then gently tended his wound, apparently unaffected by the sight of his bare chest. Gabriel itched to change that, but… Chance was still in the room. Alathea lovingly cleansed the long cut, then bathed it.
He kept his gaze glued to her hair. Despite all she'd gone through, the three blooms were still firmly in place, his declarati
on acknowledged. He wasn't about to remove them, not intentionally. Not until he'd had their promise converted into words. Multiple times. While she fussed over his arm, he fell to rehearsing all that was to come, and how best to wring from her the words he wanted to hear without disturbing those blooms.
Leaving his arm to dry, she straightened and stepped closer, the warmth of her breasts bare inches from his face. He tried not to breathe while she investigated the bump on his head.
"It's the size of a duck egg," she pronounced, suitably horrified.
Gabriel shut his eyes as she probed, and tried not to groan. The cool cloth she laid upon the bump helped, easing the dull ache in his head. There was only one remedy for the ache in his groin. When she finally turned her attention to binding up his arm, Gabriel caught Chance's eye. It took a moment for Chance to understand his message. When he did, he looked shocked, but when Gabriel scowled, he hurriedly collected the cloths, towels, and bowl and eased himself out of the door.
The click of the latch coincided with Alathea's benedictory pat to the knot she'd tied in the bandage around his arm. 'There." She lifted her gaze to his face. "Now you can rest."
"Not yet." Gabriel clamped his hands about her waist and took her with him as he fell back on the bed. Her surprised yelp was smothered as he rolled, shifting them further onto the cushioned expanse, simultaneously trapping her beneath him.
"Be careful of your arm!"
"My arm is perfectly fine."
She stilled beneath him. "What do you mean, it's 'fine'?"
"Just that. I did try to tell you. It's only a surface cut-I'm not likely to die from it."
She scowled at him. "I thought it was serious."
"I know." Bending his head, he nibbled at her lips. "That did become apparent."