Page 56 of A Lady's Dangerous Secret
“I’m Captain Hughes. Your sister was shot in the garden.”
James looked back at Lottie lying there with the blood-soaked petticoat fabric. Servants dashed in and out of the room with items. A pile of linens suddenly appeared by the settee with alcohol. James stepped around Arthur and secured more fabric on her arm.
The Duke approached the settee. “What do you think you’re doing?” came his imperious voice.
“I’m an officer. I know how to handle gunshot wounds. The bleeding needs to be stopped.”
“We need to talk once you’re done,” the Duke ordered. James held pressure over Lottie’s upper arm. Once she was stabilized,they could talk as much asHis Gracewanted. James had some questions of his own. He pushed firmly until finally the bleeding slowed, which felt like ages.
“Help me shift her so we can see if there are any more injuries,” James barked in his best officer voice. Now was not the time for formalities, and he did not care if he was speaking to a nob. The Duke and Arthur turned Lottie, while James held fabric over the wound.
He scanned her body. “I don’t see anything else. You can ease her down.” Surprisingly, the Duke and her brother lowered Lottie without a word.
She moaned from the movement.
An additional voice arose behind James. “I’m Dr. Stone, what’s happened?”
James turned to see a man similar in age to himself peering down at them.
“You’re the doctor?”
“I served in the war. I know a thing or two about bullet wounds,” Dr. Stone tartly replied.
James moved aside for the doctor, who carefully unwrapped the bandages.
“She’s lucky the bullet just grazed her arm.” The doctor’s voice softened. “You did a good job stopping the bleeding. Soldier?”
“Captain in the Royal Navy.”
The doctor nodded then rifled through his bag. “I need to clean the wound and stitch it up.” He pulled out a bottle of laudanum and eased some into Lottie’s mouth. Dr. Stone then instructed the men to hold her. He handed a piece of leather to James for her to bite.
“I can hold it,” Arthur said. “I’m her brother.”
“No, I’ll do it,” the Duke demanded in his most aristocratic voice. “We were to announce our betrothal today.”
“I don’t care who holds it, it just needs to be done. Now!” the doctor ordered the bickering men.
James, who was still holding the leather, eased Lottie’s mouth open and placed it between her teeth. The intrusion caused her eyes to flicker. Dr. Stone poured alcohol onto a piece of linen.
“Keep her still,” he instructed. The Duke and her brother positioned themselves while James manned the leather. The doctor wiped down Lottie’s bloody arm with the linen.
When the alcohol touched her wound, her eyes flew open, and she tried to sit up from the pain. His Grace and Arthur held her down, and James kept the leather in place.
“Shouldn’t the laudanum be working?” James growled.
“Shortly,” Dr. Stone answered. He poured more alcohol onto the linen.
“If you touch her again before the laudanum takes effect you will answer to me,” James threatened.
The doctor eyed James. “Captain, the wound needs to be cleaned quickly. I don’t tell you how to do your job, so don’t tell me how to do mine. Hold her still. The laudanum should be working soon,” Dr. Stone commanded.
Before James could speak the Duke cut in, “Be quick about it.”
Dr. Stone cleaned the arm once again. Lottie winced but did not bolt upright. Her teeth ground into the leather.
After the doctor finished, he threaded a needle. James waited with bated breath while the doctor inserted the needle into her skin. Lottie did not react, and James realized the tension in her body was gone. Her mouth had also become slack.
He let out a sigh of relief and removed the leather from her mouth while the doctor continued stitching. The Duke and Charlotte’s brother left their positions but hovered around the settee throughout the entire procedure.
