Let Love Find You (22 page)

She felt surrounded by his warmth. He even put his chin to the top of her head to help keep her still, probably denting her little hat. The chill definitely departed! Then the warmth of the stable washed over her. She heard him send a worker after their horses, but in another few moments he entered a small office at the back, keeping the door to the stable open. Amanda saw an old desk, a couple of wooden chairs, and a narrow cot on which he gently laid her. She only groaned slightly when her leg touched the cot.

He straightened and looked down at her. He smiled slightly and ran a finger across her cheek, then showed it to her. “Dust and tears, not the best mix. Let me get some water. Don’t go anywhere.”

Was he joking? Where was she going with a broken leg? But the moment he left the room, she leaned up on one elbow and looked down at her legs, which were covered by her riding skirt and her boots. She was getting up the nerve to raise the riding skirt so she could see the damage when Devin came back in with a bucket of water. Another moment and she would have been blushing.

He set the bucket on the floor beside the cot. “I should get a cabinet for all this stuff, but there isn’t enough room in here for more furniture.”

Suddenly he was leaning over her to reach the shelf on the wall above the cot. Her eyes flared wide as the length of his body stretched across her view, but he was just getting a small towel off the shelf. Then he sat down next to her. He had barely
any room to do so, but she was still afraid to move any part of her lower body, even to make room for him.

First he untied her little hat and tossed it on his desk, then he dipped an edge of the towel into the water and began to dab at her cheeks with it. Treating her like a child again? “I can do that.”

“Be still.” He continued washing her face. “You’ll just miss something, then be annoyed at yourself later when you have a look in a mirror.”

She managed not to snort at him. He was being helpful. Even if she’d rather he not be this helpful, she shouldn’t complain. But he was taking a deuced long time wiping her face, and being so careful it almost felt as if he were caressing, rather than washing, her face. She was starting to feel she wasn’t sure what, but his undivided attention was disturbing her in some way.

To get her mind off what he was doing, she said, “What stuff?”

His eyes met hers, but he looked confused. “What?”

He was so distracted he didn’t recall what he’d just said? “You said—”

“Oh, just the stuff we keep around for the horses—liniments, tinctures, and such. Occasionally I come in and find a bottle has fallen from the shelf to the cot because the bloody shelf’s so old it’s tilted.”

Was he trying to make her laugh? “You do realize a simple nail might fix that?”

“Do I look like a carpenter?”

No, Amanda thought, you look like a man far too handsome and virile to be sitting so close to me on a bed!

“T
HERE,” DEVIN SAID MATTER-OF-FACTLY.
“All cleaned up and ready for what you’ve been dreading. I’m going to have to have a look at your leg, Amanda.”

“No, you don’t have to do anything of the sort,” she said, alarmed. “If you could fetch a doctor, I’d be much obliged.”

He raised a brow as he stood up. “When we don’t yet know if one is needed? There’s no doctor nearby that I know of. Of course, I’ll send a man to London to fetch one, but let’s see first if there’s a reason to do so. Which leg is it, your left? Actually, just sit up and point to where it hurts. Give me your hand, I’ll help you. If we’re very slow about it, it won’t hurt a’tall.”

She believed him. She’d leaned up earlier without making the pain flare up. As long as she didn’t move anything below her hips . . .

Sitting, with her legs stretched out on the cot in front of her, she was able to put her finger directly over the area on her left calf that hurt, without actually touching it.

He seemed surprised by the location. “Not the ankle?
Good, I can’t tell you how much I wasn’t looking forward to your screams if I had to pull your boot off. You probably would have frightened every horse in the stable into breaking out of their stalls.” But then he pretended to look appalled. “Just don’t tell me you wear knee-high boots!”

She glared up at him, quite aware he was exaggerating. Provoking beneficial anger again? He even smiled to prove it. But as he carefully lifted the hem of her skirt by her left leg, tugging it out from under the leg, she gasped as she felt that horrible pain again.

“Stop!” she cried.

He didn’t and soothingly said, “We haven’t even seen it yet, just another moment. . . .”

Her eyes flared when she saw her swollen calf, but she started whimpering when his fingers approached it. Even to her ears, she sounded like a wounded animal.

“Shh,” he soothed. “I think I can fix this.”

She looked horrified by the thought, remembering the last time her bones had been shoved back into place. “You’re going to make that pain worse!”

“Only briefly, then you’ll be good as new again.”

Good as new? He was spouting nonsense when she was on the edge of hysteria! She slowly shook her head at him and said in a small voice, “Now might be a good time for one of your miracles, Cupid, because this can’t be fixed without one.”

“Yes, I can see that,” he said solemnly. “Very well, one miracle coming right up.”

He went over to his desk. She heard him opening drawers, but she wasn’t watching him, she was still staring in horror at the swollen part of her leg, which she feared was proof that she’d broken a bone again.

Returning to stand beside the cot again, he handed her a glass filled nearly to the brim with a dark, amber-colored liquid. “Drink this.”

She frowned. “What sort of miracle is that?”

“One you’ll thank me for. So drink it. And straight down before you can taste it. It will steady you—and make you laugh off your fears.”

She didn’t believe a word of that and her look must have said so. Was he trying to give her horse medicine? When she still wouldn’t take the glass, he drank a little more than half of the liquid in it himself to prove it was harmless, then handed her the glass again.

She took it this time and even followed his instructions, gulped the liquid he’d left in the glass straight down. But she didn’t even have a chance to lower the glass from her lips before she was sputtering and coughing. Tears came to her eyes. Her throat was on fire!

“That was hard spirits!” she accused shrilly.

He nodded unrepentantly. “And occasionally they can work wonders—in situations like this.”

As he said that, he sat on the end of the bed. He had enough room to do so without having to put her feet in his lap. The cot was much longer than any she’d ever before seen. Designed for his long length? Good Lord, she wasn’t actually in his bed, was she?

That thought had an odd effect on her, or was it the whiskey? That foul-tasting liquid did seem to be rushing straight through her, turning her muscles to mush, leaving her limbs
too
relaxed.

“The good news is, you haven’t broken any bones.”

She felt so relieved she almost giggled, until her eyes again
landed on that swollen part of her leg. “Then what is
that
?” She pointed an accusing finger at her calf.

“My guess would be, just a muscle spasm. I’ve seen muscle spasms lay a horse low. No actual damage, but it hurts like hell. And it can be massaged away.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“If the muscle was torn, my ears would be suffering by now, because you would have been screaming all this time. So lean back, grit your teeth if you have to, and let me work out this knot, and the pain will go away with it.”

She couldn’t follow his directions completely, she was too tense over what was about to happen. She merely leaned back on her elbows and prepared to watch him and stop him if she couldn’t bear the pain. He put his hands under her calf first and slowly worked his fingers toward the inflammation. The pain was minimal. She barely felt it at first, then felt too much! But the worst of it was brief and she continued to follow his instruction and grit her teeth, continuing to hope he was right, that it would soon be gone completely.

The pain lessened, and she grew more and more relaxed as it dissipated. Before long all she felt was Devin’s fingers gently massaging her leg, and she was amazed by how nice that felt. No man had ever touched her like that before. She knew he was only doing it to help her, yet it felt so sensual she gasped more than once. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. His touch got gentler and was more of a caress now, and suddenly their eyes locked. His seemed to be aflame, they were so bright. She sucked in her breath, her belly all aflutter. What on earth had that whiskey done to her?

“Better?” he said in a deep tone.

She didn’t think she could find her voice at that moment,
it was almost as if she were transfixed. Then she felt an urge to giggle! No wonder women weren’t allowed to drink hard spirits!

Trying to shake off whatever effects had just taken control of her, she sat up again and lightly teased, “You’re not a carpenter, but a horse breeder, a matchmaker, a riding instructor,
and
a superb doctor. Anything else you could teach me that I might benefit from?”

“How are you at kissing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then we should find out.”

The moment it registered, that he was offering to show her how to go about kissing, something indescribable happened to her. Before clarity of thought might intrude, he leaned toward her and put his mouth gently to hers. This was actually her very first kiss because she’d never encouraged a man enough for him to try stealing kisses from her. Yet she’d waited in curiosity a long time to find out about it, so she wasn’t about to stop him, not yet. . . .

His hand slipped behind her neck as he leaned even closer and laid her back gently on the cot. Suddenly his chest was pressed to hers. But she didn’t want to stop him.

His lips parted, slanted across hers, urging her to open hers as well. Nothing about his kiss was tepid, and she was quickly overwhelmed by what it made her feel. A fluttering sensation was deep inside her, swirling about in an exciting way. Her breath was suspended. Then his tongue actually slipped into her mouth! She started to draw back at such an unusual sensation, but his hold tightened just enough to let her know he wasn’t done with her.

He was so close, so handsome, so exciting! She could feel so much of him—his mouth capturing hers, his strong hands
caressing her, his chest pressed against her breasts. This was her introduction to passion. Amanda couldn’t think beyond that, she could only feel, absorbing everything, marveling at so many new sensations that she didn’t even know she was capable of experiencing.

His hand moved along her cheek and neck, causing shivers to shoot down her back. The stubble on his chin seemed to be abrading her, but she didn’t care. She heard him groan, the sound seeming to reverberate through her—or was it just so thrilling to her ears that she ended up trembling all over? She couldn’t tell! So many sensations, all new, all thrilling. Even her breasts tingled, pressed so tightly to his chest.

But the wonderful moment ended abruptly, too abruptly, when Devin shot to his feet. Panting, wishing the kiss had lasted longer, she looked up at him reprovingly. If she’d been thinking at all, she wouldn’t have let her curiosity get out of hand. But then she would never have provoked him to kiss her to begin with, either. Good Lord, what had she done?!

“Stop it,” he said, seeing her blush. “That was a very strong drink I gave you to help you deal with the pain. The side effect is that it impairs your judgment, clouds your thoughts, and makes you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Now how’s that leg?”

As soon as her head stopped spinning from all that he’d said, Amanda sat up and put her feet on the floor. More gallantry on his part? Passing the blame for what had just happened between them to the drink? Well, if he didn’t want to discuss that any further, she would be grateful for that as well.

“It’s fine, as you well know. Thank you. Now I really should be going.”

She stood up, perhaps a little too fast. Her legs were so
wobbly she was surprised they didn’t crumble under her. Her hair felt as if it was in disarray. She could see a single, long lock dangling below her breast. Her cheeks and her chin felt as if they’d been abraded, and her lips felt a little swollen. Now he was standing so close that he was towering over her again, making her think of that kiss when she knew she had to put it out of her mind.

But
he
helped with that. Suddenly the brute was front and center again, saying in an adamant tone, “Don’t think your lessons are over. You’re getting back on a horse today, not to ride, but to take command of your fears. And we’ll do it the right way this time.”

She sat back on the cot abruptly. “There’s only one way and it didn’t work.”

“The first round was a blunder, but it was my blunder. I’m not going to be responsible for your not getting your heart’s desire. You
will
get back on a horse today, Mandy, like it or not.”