Page 21 of The Earl's Inconvenient Houseguest

‘Do I strike you as the sort who will faint at the sight of a naked man?’ If anything, Sophie was more the sort who revelled in the sight of one, as her body’s scandalous reaction to Lord Hockley’s bare chest at his bedchamber window last week was testament. She had always thoroughly enjoyed one—although Ned didn’t know that. Thankfully, nobody here beyond her aunt knew that Miss Sophie Gilbert, the outwardly prim and dusty spinster on the shelf, was no stranger to the pleasures of the flesh.

‘He’s crotchety too.’ Ned shrugged, his expression bewildered. ‘But to give him credit, a lot less crotchety than I would be in his position.’ The gruff farmer huffed out a sigh. ‘It’s going to be difficult to hate the bastard after tonight, isn’t it?’

‘He saved my aunt’s life.’ Something for which she would be indebted to him for ever, even if Aunt Jemima did not pull through. ‘He could have left her. Saved himself.’

‘Yet it never occurred to him.’ Ned huffed again. ‘If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, watched him throw himself over her while the roof collapsed, I’d never have believed it. Then there’s his brother...’ He stared towards the staircase, brows furrowed. ‘Who knew he had a brother?’

Sophie had, but it hadn’t felt right to share that with anyone. Not when Lord Hockley was so protective of Archie. Even as they had carried him indoors in agony, he had masked it for his sibling’s sake. Reassuring the young man that all was well and that he would be as ‘right as ninepence’ in no time.

She followed Ned into the bedchamber, then stood awkwardly on the threshold while the doctor listened to his patient’s chest. Lord Hockley was semi-reclined, propped on several plump pillows in the centre of the bed. His eyes were squeezed closed in pain and his teeth were clenched, but he made no sound as Dr Able prodded and probed around his distended, twisted shoulder. Somebody had cleansed the worst of the soot from his body, but even under the warm candlelight, Lord Hockley’s complexion was pale.

As if he sensed her, his eyes opened. ‘How is your aunt?’

That those were his first words said a great deal about the sort of man he was deep down. ‘Sleeping.’ Sophie’s gaze flicked towards the physician’s briefly to gauge how much he had revealed, and the doctor subtly shook his head, his eyes pleading with her not to say anything to upset his patient before his own ordeal was done. ‘We’ll have a better idea of her condition in the morning.’ If she survived what was left of the night. ‘I cannot thank you enough for saving her.’

He seemed uncomfortable as he brushed that away. ‘And Archie?’

‘Is in good spirits and keen to be helpful. He just went to help your cook make you some tea.’

‘Is the house still filled with strangers?’ The concern for his brother was written all over his handsome face.

She shook her head. ‘Walpole sent them all bar Ned away, so calmness has resumed downstairs.’

‘Good.’ He exhaled, then coughed, wincing as he sank back on the pillows. ‘Sorry about your cottage. Ned here tells me it is gone.’ She could tell he felt bad for not being able to save that too.

‘They are only walls, my lord. Everything I care about came out alive.’ At least for now they still were. She edged a little closer to the bed and tried to smile despite having nothing to smile about. ‘I should also thank you for saving Socrates too.’

His fingers went to the long cut on his cheek. ‘As you can see, your ungrateful cat already thanked me in his own special way.’ The sentence came out a little slurred and he frowned. ‘And clearly the laudanum that was forced upon me is finally working. On my tongue at least although my blasted shoulder still hurts like the devil.’

‘With such a small dose it’ll barely take the edge off.’ Dr Able’s gaze locked with hers and he rolled his eyes as if getting any of the drug into his stubborn patient’s body had been a battle. ‘As I have repeatedly said, I could give you more and you would feel practically nothing. Resetting a shoulder is a nasty business.’

‘I prefer to be lucid.’

‘I doubt you’ll think that once we begin.’

‘Can somebody ensure that my brother remains downstairs until it is done?’ Two deep blue eyes stared at her directly. ‘I don’t want him any more distressed by tonight than he already is.’

‘I have already made sure that he is occupied for the duration.’

‘Thank you.’ His obvious relief was palpable. ‘He took our father’s death badly and it is still too fresh in his memory for him not to panic that I am on the cusp of following suit.’

Walpole arrived with a footman and a very sturdy table from the kitchen. With Ned’s help they manoeuvred it into the bedchamber. Sophie was about to leave to check on her aunt when the doctor caught her arm and pulled her to one side just before the door. ‘He seems to trust you far more than he does me, either that or his gentlemanly politeness prevents him from refusing a woman.’ Despite his whisper, his tone was frustrated. ‘Perhaps before you leave you could convince him to accept more laudanum before I begin?’

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