Read Online Her Reluctant Groom by Rose Gordon - Free Book Online Page B

screen. A second later, he found what he was looking for: his navy blue dressing robe. He carried it back to her and laid it across her, covering her from her collarbone to just below her dark blonde triangle of feminine curls.
    “ Thank you,” she said uncomfortably, bringing her hands up to rest against her covered upper half.
    “ I didn’t mean to cause you embarrassment. I should have gotten that for you before removing your chemise,” he admitted with a swallow. Marcus peeled off the blood-soaked cloth stuck to her thigh and tossed it on the table beside him. Then he wiped the area clean with a fresh piece.
    Fortunately, her cut wasn't as deep as he'd thought a few minutes ago, and not too wide, either. But it wasn't just a little scratch, and it would likely leave a scar about five inches long on her thigh. He picked up the bottle of alcohol and uncorked the top. He set the stopper down and picked up a clean strip of linen, folding it into a small square. He knew from experience this was going to sting and burn in the worst way. He needed to distract her. “Can I ask you something?”
    She swallowed and nodded, still clutching onto his dressing robe as if it were a life preserver she’d been tossed while drowning in the ocean.
    He put the folded square of cloth over the top of the open alcohol bottle and turned it over to saturate the cloth. “Why were you really staying with Caroline?”
    She sucked in a breath and twisted his dressing gown between her fingers in such a way that the fabric spiraled. “I wanted to,” she answered with a shriek as he touched her cut with the cloth.
    “ Is that so?”
    She bit her lip and nodded frantically, two tears slipping out the sides of her eyes.
    He slowly ran the cloth up her cut and winced each time she flinched. “Emma, be honest with me,” he said slowly. “Does the reason you've been staying with them have anything to do with the bruise on the bottom of your left breast?”
    She gasped. “That's none of your business, Marcus,” she snapped, leaning forward to sit up and swat at his wrist with her right hand, her left hand doing its best to keep her covering from slipping. “Let go! Just leave me alone.” She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and tried to push his hand away.
    “ No,” he said calmly, shaking off her grasp. “Answer my question, Emma.”
    Her fiery eyes met his. “What makes you think that bruise has anything to do with my going to live with Caroline? Perhaps I got it today when I slipped.”
    He shook his head. “Don't lie to me. I know better. That bruise isn't new. If it was, it would be red and purple. Seeing as it’s a brown and greenish-yellow color, I'd say it's more than a week old.”
    She slapped at his wrist and tried to push his hand away again. “Get out.”
    Marcus set the cloth on her leg and put his hands on her shoulders. “Emma, stop. I only want to help you. But I can't do that if you won't tell me what happened.”
    “ I'm not going to tell you, so stop asking,” she responded evenly, keeping his gaze.
    His heart ached at hearing those words almost as much as it did when he'd first seen the bruise a few minutes ago. He wasn't the most intelligent man on the planet, but he knew how she'd gotten the bruise; he just wanted her to trust him enough to tell him. He'd do anything he could to help her. She just had to ask. “I won't ask you any more questions,” he said flatly. “Now lie still and I'll finish.”
    Emma sighed and fell back against the pillows, then relaxed her legs again for him to finish cleaning her cut with the alcohol and rub the salve on it.
    “ It's going to scar,” he told her flatly as he put a piece of gauze over the cut. He wrapped the biggest piece of clean linen he had over the gauze and around her thigh. “But not too badly, I shouldn't think.”
    “ Thank you, Marcus,” she said quietly while he was cleaning up the medical supplies.
    He turned his head around to smile at her and