Page 11 of The Drifter's Bride
“I—I.”
“You should really be off that foot.” He put his arm around her shoulders and guided her gently back to the table. Walking to the cupboard, she heard him rummaging. He returned a few seconds later and placed an apple and a piece of dried meat in her hand. “When did you last eat?”
“Th-thank you.” Her teeth were chattering. “It was before lunch.” Thunder cracked once more, and the cabin rattled. Addison dropped the apple and it rolled across the floor. “Oh, I don’t like storms!”
“You’re safe, Miss Aland.” Lukas picked the apple off the floor and rubbed it on his wet shirt. Taking a knife from his pocket, he handed it to her. “Don’t cut yourself. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, please.” She hated the brew, but right now, she’d give anything to get warm. Placing the apple and the knife aside, she wrapped her arms back around herself and tried to stop her teeth from knocking in her head. She watched as he moved around the room, lighting several candles and soon the room was illuminated in a warm glow.
“I’ve not been here in a couple of—are you alright?” he asked, looking at her with concern on his face. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her to look at him. “You look pale.”
“I’m just freezing.”
“I am so sorry, Miss Aland. Let me get you a blanket.” He disappeared behind the quilt and returned with a knitted blanket that he wrapped around her shoulders. “Let me get a fire started and we’ll get you warmed up and talk about what we are doing to do.”
“Call me Addy.”
“Addy?”
Addison wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Hmmm. It’s what my friends call me.”
“Well, I’m mighty pleased to be your friend, Addy. Call me Lukas. I work with Weston Chapman. Let me get this fire going. I’ll find you something dry to wear, and then I can make some supper. Sound good?”
Addison nodded. It took a few minutes for him to start a fire in the iron stove and place a coffee pot on top to heat. Lukas disappeared behind the quilt once more and Addison heard him shuffling around.
Shifting in the chair, she leaned over to pull the boot off her good foot. It was difficult in the many layers of bone and corset. Now she knew why Aunt Ingrid suggested she forgo the whole Bostonian fashion while visiting. It made no sense. Women didn’t need all those layers. With a few tugs, the boot was off, and Addison gently sat it on the floor before rolling her wet stocking off and draping it over the boot.
Biting her lip, her attention turned to her other foot, and she gingerly undid the laces of her boot, cringing at the pain of each knot letting go.
“Let me do that.” Lukas’s rough voice called her attention, and she found him kneeling next to her on the wet floor. He had changed into a dry shirt and pants, but his hair was still damp against his head. Her fingers itched to press down the strands that were poking up at different angles.
“I don’t want to trouble you, and the floor is wet.”
“I wasn’t really asking for permission, so it’s no trouble.” Her pulse quickened as his fingers gently lifted her foot and placed her ankle on his knee. She swallowed hard. Where had that lump in her throat come from? “I apologize in advance, but this is probably going to hurt.” His gaze sought hers. “Why don’t you tell me how you came to be here while I work on getting this boot off?” He began tugging on the tight laces, and Addison winced.
His eyes glanced to hers, and she gave him a gentle smile before speaking.
“I arrived a week ago from Boston to visit with Aunt Ingrid. She’s my Papa’s sister. I’ll be here until fall. Or did you mean in the field?”
Lukas gave a throaty chuckle, and Addison thought she just might melt to the floor. Perhaps it was getting warmer in the small room. “I meant what happened with your horse.”
“Oh.”
“But now I know you are the Chapman’s niece. So, it makes it easier to know where to return you.” His fingers tugged on the laces again. “About the horse?”
“Oh, yes. I went for a ride. Rich told me I needed to stay between the creek and the cows, and then I got distracted picking berries along the creek. I must have wandered further than I thought, because when the thunder started, I didn’t know where I was.”
He started tugging on her boot, the leather making a sucking sound as it released her ankle. “There, it’s off.”
“Ouch,” Addison said, flexing her stockinged toes. Her white stockings were a shade of dirt-water brown. “That hurt more than I thought it would.”
“It’s only going to get worse, I’m afraid. I need to assess it and then get it propped up.” Lukas placed her boot down beside its mate. “May I feel your ankle?” Addison nodded; a slight thrill went through her as he cupped her ankle in his warm hands. “Keep talking.”
It was hard to concentrate as he flexed her foot one way and then another.
“The horse. We were on our way back when the thunder startled the horse. He reared up and then came down hard. I stayed on, but when we tried walking again, he couldn’t put weight on his foot.”
“She.”
