All About Seduction(30)

She wrapped her hands under his knee and gingerly lifted his injured leg onto the bed. Aware that Mrs. Burns was near, Caroline surreptitiously slid her palm from his knee to the inside of his thigh and deliberately brushed his flesh with her thumb before reaching to pull the covers over him. Her insides coiled and tightened, leaving her feeling not quite herself.

He screwed his eyes shut, his hands fisting in the covers.

Disappointment burned in her, and she turned to thank and dismiss the housekeeper.

Jack was probably in too much pain to even notice what she did, and her thoughts were running rampant on what kind of lovers the men in her house were. There must be men who made congress enjoyable enough for a woman to want to be with them. Was Jack that sort of man?

He would never think of so much as kissing her. He was just a millworker, and she was the owner’s wife. Their stations were eons apart. Probably the only reason she could tolerate touching Jack Applegate was because she was completely safe from advances from him.





Chapter 6



“Begging your pardon, ma’am, but will Mr. Broadhurst be in today?” asked Mr. Smythe.

Caroline looked up from her husband’s desk in the mill office. “He won’t be in. What do you need?”

“He’ll need to take a look at these contracts for next year’s cotton.”

“Bring them here. I’ll look at them.”

“Perhaps I should take them up to the house.” Mr. Smythe shifted from one foot to another.

“My husband has guests and will not be working while they are here. I can take care of whatever needs done and I will inform him of the details.”

The shipping clerk still looked uncertain. Caroline sighed. She pushed back from the desk and stood. “My husband is not a young man. Who do you think you will answer to when he is too infirm to work?”

“Why does he have guests? He never has entertained gents like this before.” Mr. Smythe’s face looked monkeyish in his confusion.

Caroline cast about for an explanation that would make sense. The only thing that popped into her head was Tremont suggesting that Robert might have wanted her to influence gentlemen to help in his petition to get an earldom—a petition she knew nothing about. “Mr. Broadhurst is hoping these gentlemen can influence the crown. He is hoping to be knighted.”

The lie wasn’t totally preposterous. Silently she begged forgiveness as she watched Mr. Smythe’s face work through the information.

“Of course it won’t happen right away, but one must court the right favor,” said Caroline. Mr. Broadhurst would do better to build a hospital or college if he wanted a knighthood, but Mr. Smythe was unlikely to know that.

A commotion at the door brought her out of the office.

Mr. Whitton and Lord Tremont carried a groaning Lord Langley into the office. “Send for a carriage,” shouted one of the men.

“Where is a doctor?”

A gamesman was trying to retrieve the guns from all the sportsmen.

“What happened?” asked Caroline.

“Stepped in a hole and turned his ankle.”

She moved past the confused clerks to where Lord Langley sat on one of the chairs. One of the men was removing his boot.

“I need ice and a tot of whiskey,” said Lord Langley. “I think I shall die.”

When the boot and stocking were removed, Caroline could see no indication of a serious injury, just a bit of swelling. Nonetheless, she sent a clerk for the doctor and another to have the carriage brought around. The sooner she got them out of her office, the sooner work could resume.

“I have sent for the physician. In the meantime we should get Lord Langley to the house where he might be comfortable.”

But lest she be thought a poor hostess, she accompanied the group and made sure Langley was settled in his room with his leg iced and propped on pillows.

When the doctor arrived, he carefully manipulated Langley’s ankle and pronounced it a sprain. But no one would have known it was such a minor injury, given the way Lord Langley moaned and demanded the servants fetch this and that.

What struck her was Jack’s stoic reserve compared to the loud complaints of Lord Langley. But she seemed the only one perturbed as the gentlemen shook their heads over poor Langley’s condition. Finally, she got the men back out the door to resume their hunting and convinced Lord Langley to take a bit of laudanum.

But the last thing she wanted to do was split her time between two sickrooms, especially when one of the patients wasn’t really that injured. Although, splitting her time became a moot point, as Langley demanded all her attention until the laudanum and whiskey made him sleep.