“Get me a pair of breeches out of the drawer over there,” Aidan demanded, pointing to the dresser in the corner of the room.
Petal did as instruction. When she returned to the bed, Aidan threw the covers back and began to tug his breeches on. She gasped and felt her cheeks heat, and spun around. But not before she had witnessed far more than she should have done.
“Don’t you go anywhere,” Aidan ordered darkly, keeping one eye on her.
Petal dutifully froze. “What do you want me to do?” she asked nervously.
“Help me,” he said calmly but firmly.
Petal daren’t turn around. She knew her embarrassment was there for the world to see. After what she had just caught sight of, she didn’t think she would ever be able to look him in the eye again.
“Hurry, woman,” he ordered sharply, ignoring the tell-tale frisson of excitement that shivered through him.
Petal hurriedly took up position by his side. Her heart thumped heavily as he slid a long, muscular arm across her shoulders.
“I can go and get Rollo if you would like?” she offered desperately.
“I don’t want Rollo, or Edwards, to know about this. Just help me.”
“I am going to get into awful trouble if anything happens to you,” she replied.
He didn’t seem to hear her warning, or decided to ignore it, because he slid awkwardly onto his feet and leaned heavily on her while he teetered precariously on unsteady legs.
Petal had no choice but to brace herself against his side and take as much of his weight as she could. She slid an arm around the hard muscles of his back, inwardly shocked that she was not only touching him but had her hands on his bared flesh. She began to silently pray that neither Rollo nor Edwards would walk in on them.
“I am going to have a heck of a lot of explaining to do if Rollo appears right now,” she grumbled warningly.
Aidan grinned at her. “I am the master here,” he assured her.
“Remember that when he is scolding me, and if you end up flat on your face.”
Her free arm waved around the room helplessly. She wasn’t sure what to do with it. The alternative was to touch the manly expanse of hairy chest mere inches from her nose, and she daren’t do that. She couldn’t. It was bad enough that she was pressed intimately against his side.
“You won’t get into trouble. Why does nobody see that I am a fully grown man who is perfectly capable of making his own decisions? It was my legs damaged in that carriage accident, not my head. I am fully compos mentis.”
Petal sighed and tried hard to ignore the coarse bristles that rippled with the muscles of his chest when he breathed or talked, and could form no argument with him He was indeed a man. From the top of his head to the tip of his toes he positively reeked of masculinity.
Oh Lord! The man is Adonis.
She sighed with feminine appreciation. Her wayward thoughts elicited a shiver that swept down her spine and erased any lingering doubts she had about whether to help him or not. She shook her head in disbelief, and began to pray that she would have the strength to walk away afterwards.
“I should have listened to my father, and stayed at the farm,” she grumbled as she helped him to his feet. “Have you stood at all since you were released from London?”
Aidan grinned and laughed at her grumpiness. It felt strange to laugh. He realised he hadn’t done so for a long time, and it made his smile widen. It was clear that she thought he was nuts, but at least she was game enough to at least try to help him. If he was honest, he wasn’t entirely sure it was the right thing to do, but he was going to do it anyway.
“I didn’t get released from London,” he chided ruefully. “It is not a prison, you know.”
“The Tower of London is there,” she replied cheekily.
“Yes, but I wasn’t in the Tower of London.” He laughed again. “And no, I haven’t done this before, but I should have. Everyone seems to cosset and fuss over me to the point that I am going to scream if I don’t get some of my old life back. This is step one of my recovery.”
He liked the fact that she had lost some of her usual stiff wariness as they talked. Even grumpy, he got a chance to see her, the person, begin to emerge. He found her endearing.
“Are you going to go back to London when you are fully recovered?”
She knew she shouldn’t be asking, but he didn’t seem to give a farthing for strictures. It was impossible to try to remain dutiful and remember her place when her shoulder was wedged beneath his armpit, and his hip was pressing into hers so intimately.
“No. London is far behind me and can stay there,” he replied fervently. “I just need to get up and about, but Edwards doesn’t seem to want me to have that kind of independence.”