“Right away, miss.”
She’d forgotten to ask Sally to wash their dirty dishes. Perhaps the cook wouldn’t notice.
Alone again, Ashley knelt on the sofa, resting her chin on her hands on the back of the sofa, and stared at Ravencroft’s profile.
What had she got herself into?
Even if he woke up in the next little while, in full possession of his faculties and typical energy level, he couldn’t leave. His shoes, coat, hat, even his shirt, were unavailable. His few remaining garments wouldn’t be clean and dry until tomorrow, if Sally could make them presentable at all. And he was much too tall and slender for her to raid Uncle Edward’s wardrobe for him.
She had spent the last decade strictly following all of society’s rules. Always properly behaved, groomed, and dressed. Always said the exact proper thing, or remained quiet. She set a good example for the students at the academy, wanting to never give Madame Zavrina cause to regret giving Ashley refuge after her parents died. She’d worked hard to keep her reputation spotless.
And now, by her own doing, she had a half-naked man asleep in her bed.
With no clothes for him to wear when he woke up.
How was she going to get him out of the house without creating a scandal?
Why, oh why, hadn’t she directed the butcher to take them to Lady Mansfield’s home? While she had no clue where Ravencroft resided and doubted she could find Lady Bedford’s home again, she’d been to Georgia’s home twice. Probably could have found it. That would have been the logical thing to do. The proper thing.
But then she’d have to explain to the butcher and Georgia and everyone else that she’d dropped to her knees in the mud to minister aid to a man she’d been formally introduced to only a week ago. And then let Ravencroft’s sister and her family take care of him.
Someone else care for him. Not her.
Footsteps approached in the hall. Ashley quickly closed the last panel of the bed curtain, after checking that Ravencroft was indeed still asleep, and opened her door. “Put it on my desk, please,” she said to the maid bearing a tray.
The maid set down the tray and withdrew a letter from her apron pocket. “This just came for you, miss.”
Ashley accepted the letter but waited until after the maid closed the door on her way out to look at it. Georgia had written to tell her how dreadfully dull her day had been, the only entertainment coming when Smokey made the cook scream by bringing her a gift of a not-quite-dead rat, one that Tuffy had tried to play with, too. She invited Ashley to go for a walk in the park tomorrow afternoon.
“After what happened on today’s walk, I’m not sure I’m up for another one so soon,” she told Ravencroft’s still form.
She freshened the compress and rested it on his face while she ate everything the maid had brought except for an orange. How had she missed those in the larder? She’d resumed her seat on the sofa with her journal and a cup of tea when Sally and Maggie returned, carrying a basket of damp clothes.
“I figured as how we can’t hang his lordship’s clothes to dry on the line in the garden,” Sally said, “but we can hang them in here on a rack by the fire.”
“Good thinking.” Ashley let them deal with the wet clothes while she scoured her journal. Had she forgotten or missed any recipes from the surgeon or Mrs. Rafferty, the school’s healer? She opened one of her trunks in the dressing room and dug out her copy of Culpeper’sThe Complete Herbal.Were there any herbs, oils, or other remedies that would help Ravencroft heal faster?
She was yawning by the time Maggie and Sally built up the fire again.
“If it’s all right with you, miss,” Sally said, “we were thinking Maggie could sleep in my room. There’s a spare cot in the room that has the trunk of uniforms. We can just move it across the hall into my room.”
“You don’t mind sharing?” Ashley glanced between the two young women.
“No, miss,” they replied, practically in unison. “I’m used to having to share a bed with other maids at my previous posts,” Sally added.
“There’s a lot for me to learn, being in this kind of household,” Maggie said. Sally nodded.
“Good thinking.” Ashley tried to hide a yawn behind her hand.
“If it’s not too impertinent to ask,” Sally said, “should we bring a cot down here to your room?” They all glanced over at the bed. As large as Ravencroft was, there was still plenty of room for someone to stretch out beside him.
“I’m going to sleep here.” Ashley patted the sofa cushion, ducking her head so they wouldn’t see her flaming cheeks. She prepared for bed, donning her flannel night rail and wrapper. When Sally would have taken the dishes with leftover food down to the kitchen, Ashley instead had her move them to the bedside table. She still hoped Ravencroft would wake up soon, and he would likely be hungry.
She gave Maggie her own tin of ointment with instructions to apply it to her bruises at least three times a day, then dismissed Sally and Maggie for the night after they fetched her an extra blanket and pillow. She made sure the bed curtain facing the fireplace was open so she could see Ravencroft if she sat up, blew out all the candles save one, and lay down on the sofa, so tired she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
* * *
David opened his eyes. At least, he thought both eyes were open. He patted his cheeks and discovered the left side of his face was puffy, his bottom lip tender to the touch. His right arm hurt like the devil, throbbing in time with every heartbeat, and his whole body felt like he’d been run over by a coach and four. He sat up anyway and swung his legs over the side of the bed, and gripped the mattress while the room spun. He was in a strange bedchamber, well-appointed from what he could see in the dim light from the fire and the lone candle on the bedside table, and apparently alone. The chamber had all the expected accoutrements in the expected places, and he quickly took care of his most pressing need. As he retied the tape on his drawers, he became aware of a pungent aroma in the room. Rosemary? Lavender? He swiped his hand over his chest—hisbarechest—and realized the scent came from himself. Someone had stripped him to his drawers and smeared something on his chest and right shoulder. The slick substance was also around his left eye and on his cheek.
