Read Online More than a Mistress/No Man's Mistress by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online

Duke of Tresham’s temper, Jane discovered early the next morning. The physician had arrived and she was summoned from her breakfast in the kitchen to the duke’s bedchamber.
    â€œYou have taken your time,” he said by way of greeting when she entered the room after tapping on his door less than a minute after the summons. “I suppose you were busy eating me out of house and home.”
    â€œI had finished my breakfast, thank you, your grace,” she said. “Good morning, Dr. Raikes.”
    â€œGood morning, ma’am.” The physician inclined his head politely to her.
    â€œTake that monstrosity off!”
the duke commanded, pointing at Jane’s cap. “If I set eyes on it again, I shall personally carve it into very thin ribbons.”
    Jane removed her cap, folded it neatly, and put it into the pocket of her dress.
    Her employer had turned his attention to the doctor.
    â€œIt was Miss Ingleby who changed the bandage,” he said, apparently in answer to a question that had been asked before her arrival, “and cleansed the wound.”
    â€œYou did an admirable job, ma’am,” the doctor said. “There is no sign of infection or putrefaction. You have had some experience in tending the ailing, have you?”
    â€œYes, a little, sir,” Jane admitted.
    â€œShe spooned purges into all the damned orphans when they overate, I daresay,” the duke muttered irritably. “And I am not
ailing
. I have a hole in my leg. I believe exercise would do it more good than coddling. I intend to exercise it.”
    Dr. Raikes looked horrified. “With all due respect, your grace,” he said, “I must advise strongly against it. There are damaged muscles and tendons to heal before they are put to even the gentlest use.”
    The duke swore at him.
    â€œI believe you owe Dr. Raikes an apology,” Jane told him. “He is merely giving you his professional opinion, for which you summoned him and are paying him. There was no call for such rudeness.”
    Both men looked at her in sheer astonishment as she folded her hands at her waist. And then she jumped in alarm as his grace threw his head back on the pillow and roared with laughter.
    â€œI do believe, Raikes,” he said, “that a splinter from the bullet in my leg must have flown up and lodged in my brain. Can you believe that I have suffered this for a whole day without putting an end to it?”
    Dr. Raikes clearly did not. “I am sure, ma’am,” he said hastily, “that his grace owes me no apology. One understands that his injury has severely frustrated him.”
    She could not for the life of her leave it alone. “That is no excuse for speaking abusively,” she said. “Especially to subordinates.”
    â€œRaikes,” the duke said testily, “if I could go down on bended knee in humble sorrow at my words, I would perhaps do so. But I may not so exert myself, may I?”
    â€œNo indeed, your grace.” The doctor, who had finished rebandaging the duke’s leg, looked considerably flustered.
    It was all her fault, of course, Jane thought. It came of having grown up in an enlightened home, in which servants had invariably been treated as if they were people and in which courtesy to others had been an ingrained virtue. She really must learn to curb her tongue if she was to have this chance of earning three weeks’ salary to take with her into the unknown beyond it.
    The Duke of Tresham submitted to being carried downstairs, though not before he had dismissed Jane and instructed her to stay out of his sight until he summoned her. The summons came half an hour later. He was in the drawing room on the first floor today, reclining on a sofa.
    â€œMy head appears to have returned to its normal size this morning,” he told her. “You will be pleased to learn that you will not be much called upon to use any of your considerable resources