Page 22 of Broken

“Giles,” he reminded her. “No, you are correct. I have not tended many bedsides. However, I am more than happy to be beside yours. Usually when I am here, I keep to my own company and rarely speak to anyone. Do you perceive the improvement in my circumstances? I have the opportunity to talk to a very pretty girl and rise before noon.”

He enjoyed caring for her very much, a surprise that left him a little giddy. Despite, or perhaps because of, her injuries, she was very easy to be near. He didn’t have to be anything but himself—a very rare experience. He leaned close to whisper into her ear. “The servants want to call a doctor to attend me.”

When Giles leaned back, she stared at him. He smiled a slow, seductive smile, one that had worked on many a pretty woman. Lilly did not smile back.

“That was poorly done of you, my lord.” Lilly’s voice wavered as she spoke. She turned her head away abruptly, only to gasp in pain.

Giles ran back over his words, puzzled. He had not said anything that should have upset her. He rose to refresh the cloth, looking out the crack in the drapes as he thought. Calling a doctor because the servants thought him mad was a joke. Had someone tried to commit her to Bedlam at some point?

He looked back to where she lay, doing her best to ignore him, and could not credit it. Her mind was too well formed for madness. No, it must have been something else.

The only other thing he had said had been a compliment. She was pretty. She mesmerized him. Lilly had done so since the first night he saw her. If she thought she was unattractive then someone must have said as much. Giles wanted to shake the person who had dared make her think so poorly of herself.

He walked back over and stood a moment gazing down at the face he could not get enough of seeing. “Lilly, look at me.”

Her eyes flickered and opened. He leaned over so she would not have to turn. “I do not lie, Lilly. You are very pretty. Trust me on this.”

She blinked tears and Giles wiped her face, taking the evidence away. He waited for the tears to stop. She finally glanced at him and smiled hesitantly. He reached out and rubbed the damp cloth across the tip of her nose, then went to fetch the bowl so he would not have to leave her side again.

Lilly stayed silent while Giles cooled her, and he had time to wonder if her family had dampened her spirit before, or after, the accident. Lady Winter was a vain woman, in his opinion, and he could credit her with attempting to quash the confidence of her daughter so she had all of the attention. Lilly was prettier, after all, and would one day outrank her. Perhaps it was done out of jealousy.

Mrs. Osprey went to bed when Lilly’s fever abated, but Giles stayed. He could tell that she was in pain from her old injuries now, and it seemed more than she could bear in silence. He had Dithers fetch a bottle of brandy from his study, and a single glass for the fiery spirit, then dismissed him.

As the house fell silent, Giles reached for the amber liquid. He poured a deep glass, holding it to her lips so she could drink. She gagged on the unfamiliar taste, but he had nothing better to offer.

When she had drunk down a full glass, she began talking with a slight slur to her words. “Of course, what I notice most of all is that no one touches me anymore. Only Papa.” She shook her head. Apparently the brandy was quick to numb her pain. “Oh, and you do. Your hands are so warm and soothing. I wish that you could keep doing that.”

“What was that, Lilly?”

“Oh, you called me Lilly again. I thought I had imagined it. You smell so good, too. Not like him. His breath smells like rotting fish. Eww. I hope he does not come here.”

As Giles touched her face and his thumb stroked her lower pouting lip, he wondered whom she meant. Perhaps a doctor? But Lord Winter sounded as if he had given up on doctors, so he could have promised no one would come near Lilly again.

Her breath puffed over his thumb and Giles, struggling not to become aroused, set the glass down on the floor. She was far too trusting, never protesting as he slid his hand to her shoulder to rub across muscles grown stiff with tension.

Lilly shifted sensuously beneath the covers and an idea came to him. One of his greatest gifts was his ability to use his hands to give pleasure. He wondered if Lilly would let him try it out on her.

Many a woman had crumbled under his skilled fingers, and offered him everything if he would just keep rubbing her back. Would it work on Lilly’s injuries and give her some relief?

When Giles rubbed just a bit harder, Lilly took in a shuddering breath and her muscles relaxed. That gave him hope. “Lilly, would you trust me?”

No sane woman would ever say yes to this question if she had plans to keep her skirts down, but he wondered what Lilly’s response would be anyway. He continued to stroke over taut muscles. She breathed deeply on each stroke.

Her breath caught. “Yes, I trust you, Giles. I probably shouldn’t, should I?”

“You are right to doubt me, but I want to try something. I want to roll you over and rub the muscles on your back and legs to see if that gives you some relief from the pain. Do you think you could bear it?” Giles gulped before he confessed the last part of his plan. “I would have to remove your nightdress to do so.”

That wasn’t strictly true, but she would enjoy the experience better without the linen rasping over her delicate skin. Lilly studied his face for quite some time before she pulled the ribbon at the neckline of her nightgown undone, and rolled away from him. She moved slowly and Giles was able to wriggle the material down. When her back was exposed to her hips, he gasped out loud.

Lord, she was thin.

Giles could easily see all the bones of her ribs and back, sharp under pale, thin skin. He gulped at the scars she bore. White, jagged lines spread over her upper back and one hip. Lilly panted loudly and so did he, but his frantic breath was not from pain.

Giles hurried to the door. It would be just his luck to have Dithers return right now.

When the door locked, he raced back to the bed, knowing he had a short amount of time to experiment on her injuries. He crawled onto the bed over her very carefully, rubbing from the base of her spine up to her shoulders in one gentle sweep. Lilly whimpered.

“Did that hurt?”