All About Seduction(61)

Her cheeks colored and she looked away.

“But I am not the best example of a typical villager.” He had postponed marriage to have a shot at a better life. “And even though I should relish the opportunity to learn, I won’t do well as a clerk.”

She blinked as she searched his face. “Why not?”

Looking down the staircase he had ascended, Jack wanted back down in his bed and a new dose of laudanum to ease the increasing ache of his leg. He should just answer her question, but the words were gritty in his mouth.

“I suppose we should get you back downstairs,” she said softly.

He leaned down to put his crutches on the stair below the landing, but the fall yawned before him. Caroline hurried around him and reached out to grip his nightgown.

He took the step, but felt as though one wrong move could pitch him headlong. Reversing the process of going up had seemed like a good idea in theory, but not so much in practice. The muscles in his good leg protested.

The next step, he tried to go leg first, but there was no way to lower the crutches. He brought his leg back to the second riser and stopped.

Caroline studied him and bit her lip.

“I would have thought going down would be easier than going up.”

Her eyes narrowed and she looked at the railing. He did too.

“I could summon a footman. Or perhaps you could try scooting down like a child might.”

“No. I’ll figure it out.” The last thing he wanted was to descend on his backside. He leaned one crutch against the banister and then gripped the bar as he went down the next step.

Her head nearly brushed his chest as she kept hold of the sides of his nightshirt. If he didn’t fear toppling her and sending them both crashing down to the foot of the stairs, he might have used both crutches. This way took effort but was more in his control.

She looked up and caught him watching her. She flushed and looked away. “Are you sure you’re strong enough for this now?”

“I’ll manage,” he gritted out. “If I have to I’ll slide down like a child, I’ll swallow my pride long enough to do it.”

Her lips twitched. “I would probably find that less distressing.”

“I would find it more.” He took another step.

This time her head did brush his chest, and he couldn’t resist letting go of the banister and touching her shoulder.

She jerked away as if he’d burned her.

“You could give me a little more room,” he said. “So I don’t topple you.”

“Of course.” She backed down two stairs and stared at his midsection.

He hated the gap between them. His breathing was labored with exertion and her proximity. But for his accident, he never would be this close to her. He had to stop thinking of this time with her as anything beyond an aberration. “I began working in the mill when I was five.”

Her gaze shot up.

“Only little ones can get in and sweep under the looms, otherwise the lint builds up and catches fire.”

“There has to be a better way.”

“Perhaps. Using floor traps so an adult may clean underneath would be better. I’ve long wanted to try, but devices that eliminate labor are not welcomed by my people. If you want, I can draw some diagrams, so it might be done.”

She shook her head. “You will be too busy in the office to worry about production.”

Jack sighed. “I worked ten hours a day by my eighth year.”

Her forehead crinkled.

He forced out the explanation. “I didn’t get much schooling after that. I doubt I can clerk.”

“But you insisted on helping Beth with her schoolwork.”

“Because it is important, but my mother had many children after me, and she couldn’t keep me awake long enough to learn. I can write my name, add and subtract, but I can’t do much more.”

Caroline’s forehead only rippled more. She stared at him as if he had grown horns. “But you were reading Dickens.”

“I was trying to read Dickens, but I did not make it beyond the first sentence.” Now she knew his dreams were folly and his efforts to follow along with his youngest siblings’ lessons had been halfhearted. He should have been trying harder. He knew his letters, he could read simple things, but words over five or six letters stumped him.

“Well it is a long sentence,” she said with a soft smile that didn’t erase the strain around her eyes.