Page 8 of A Wish Upon an Earl
She stared at him, her lips parting.Did he sound irritated about that?What did he have to be angry about?He hadn’t been humiliated in front of an entire group of boys who were older.Laughed and jeered at until she’d left crying, hiding herself in a cluster of bushes.“I beg your pardon, but you’re the one who laughed at me and made me feel—” She stopped, realizing that she’d been about to spill all her feelings.Which was ridiculous.She was on the stairs, in his arms, with Drew behind them.
He winced.“About that...”
She shook her head.Perhaps it was the pain throbbing in her ankle or the way he’d touched every nerve with that suit of armor, but she simply did not wish to discuss the past.
It didn’t change anything at this point.“Not tonight,” she said, knowing full well she never wished to talk about what had happened between them.In some ways, she supposed she should thank him.That night had removed her head from the clouds and planted her feet on the ground.With Malcolm’s death, she’d needed that medicine.Bitter as it had been.
They reached the third floor, and she pointed down the hall.“Third door on the left.”
He gave a single nod, not speaking again.Making his way into the room, he headed straight for the bed.
Which was the moment she realized she’d made a terrible mistake.
This man still made her heart pound wildly in her chest.And now he’d entered her most personal sanctuary and he was about to touch her bed while touching her.
“You can stop here,” Sarah said as she tried to squirm out of his arms.Of all the men to share an intimacy…
He tightened his hold, pulling them even closer together.“Don’t be silly.You shouldn’t put any weight on that leg.I’ll set you on the bed.”
“Jack,” she huffed out on a breath.Didn’t he understand how inappropriate that was?How much it would…affect her?“Please, just stop.”
* * *
Her words made him cringe.He didn’t blame her, but Jack was fairly certain that Sarah hated him.
Why wouldn’t she?
He’d humiliated her.Hurt her.And carrying her up a few flights of stairs wouldn’t make up for any of it.
“Please,” he whispered, attempting not to sound desperate.He’d come here to apologize, but he’d moved so far in the opposite direction that it was ridiculous.“Just allow me to do this for you.”
He didn’t know how to tell her that it wasn’t until he’d destroyed their friendship that he realized how important it had become to him.There had always been something about Sarah that sparkled bright, and his world had dimmed a bit when she’d been gone from it.Actually, it had darkened a great deal.
And every time Ash spoke of his sister.How she’d gone off to a finishing school, not because she needed to but just because she wanted to make Ash’s job easier, or how she’d been throwing elaborate parties to help him make connections or…
He sighed.
They weren’t likely to be friendly again.He understood that.But of late, his mother was pushing him to marry and…what?Why he needed to make up with Sarah before he could move on and choose a bride, he’d yet to puzzle out, but there it was.When he should have been thinking about potential countesses, all he could picture was Sarah.
Did he just need an infusion of her spirit and lightness before he could settle into the doldrums of matrimony?Did he wish to have some part in the only family that had ever loved him before he started his own?Perhaps he couldn’t be trusted with a lady’s heart at all?Or mayhap he’d just missed his friend.
Whatever it was, he’d done nothing tonight but cause more damage.
She looked at him, indecision clouding her eyes.“Jack,” she whispered.“No man has been in my room.It’s…strange.”
Those words eased the pain tightening his chest.In fact, knowing he was the first made him feel a great deal lighter.“I’ll be the perfect gentleman.”He gave a wink then.Of course he’d been anything but tonight, between following her to the garden and the entire incident with the lance, but still.In this, he’d be as chaste as he possibly could.
Gently, he set her on the bed, sliding his arms out from under her as though she were made of fine china.
He heard her sigh, sinking back onto the bed.The sound trilled along his ear, making the muscles in his stomach tighten.He took a step back and then turned to her feet, reaching for the slipper on her injured leg.
But the moment his fingers brushed her foot, she pulled the foot back and let out a cry of pain.
“Sarah,” he said, his gaze snapping to hers.“What are you doing?”
She sat up, clutching at the ankle.“You surprised me, that’s all.”
She was like a skittish colt.He sat down on the foot of the bed.“I just want to take your shoe and stocking off so I can see the damage.”
