Read Online My Seductive Innocent by Julie Johnstone - Free Book Online

tension. Now that Nathan’s coat was off and his blood-soaked shirt was visible, her stomach roiled with queasiness and worry.
    “You’re quite surprising,” he managed.
    Sliding her dagger from the top of his shirt to the bottom, the material parted to expose his muscular chest marred only by the blood covering his left shoulder. Her nostrils flared, and she inhaled a long, steady breath. Even wounded, she could see why a woman might lose her head over him. He was perfection, at least physically.
    Dismissing the thoughts, she reached down and grasped the brandy, then leaned closer to him. “I’m going to cleanse the wound. Are you ready?”
    “Hell no,” he muttered. “But do it anyway.”
    Underneath her thighs, the muscle of his legs tensed. Best to be quick. Without giving him warning, she tilted the bottle and poured. The amber liquor mingled with blood and ran down his arm onto the bedsheets. As she stared at the mess, she shook her head. It had been silly not to put a towel under him. She glanced at his pale face and clenched jaw, and nibbled on her lip. It was true she had read some medical books, but she was no expert. “Maybe I should do it again?” she questioned herself.
    “Not unless you’re trying to kill me,” he gritted, surprising her with his response.
    “Not quite yet. Not until we’re properly married and I’m sure I’ll get some of your vast fortune,” she jested, hoping to turn his thoughts away from the obvious pain. He gripped the sheets in his fists, his dark eyes taking on an alarming, glazed look.
    “Funny,” he said, but the word was spoken as if with great effort.
    Sophia turned toward the door. Where in heaven were the physician and Frank? Blast the devil. Blowing out a frustrated breath, she faced Nathan. “I’m going to get a rag to stop the flow of blood.”
    His eyes peeled opened, but only to slits. “You’re leaving?”
    “No.” She pressed a hand to his forehead and sucked in a sharp breath at the burning skin that met her touch.
    He nodded, closing his eyes once more. Sophia scrambled off the bed, retrieved the rag, and then rushed back to Nathan and gently pressed it over the wound. As she did, the sound of footsteps reached her, followed by several voices all talking at once.
    The door creaked behind her, and a woman’s high-pitched, nasally voice exclaimed, “He’s naked!”
    Sophia stiffened. She knew that annoying voice. “He is not naked, Mrs. Dalton. I removed his shirt to care for his wound.”
    Rotund, crooked-nosed, pock-faced Mrs. Dalton waddled up to Sophia at the same time Frank did. She gave Sophia a sharp glance with her beady gray eyes, then Mrs. Dalton stared at Nathan’s scandalously naked chest much longer than was proper. The wretched witch turned her accusing eyes on Sophia once more. “No respectable lady would have removed his shirt. And you alone in the room with him!” Mrs. Dalton shook her head as she clucked her tongue reproachfully. “You’ll be ruined when word of this gets out. Not that this isn’t expected from the likes of you.”
    Sophia speared Frank with a glare. He returned her scowl with an ear-to-ear grin. She faced Mrs. Busybody Pain-in-the-Neck Dalton. “I suppose a respectable lady would have left his shirt on and let him die?” she demanded in a seething tone.
    Nathan groaned loudly, and Sophia realized immediately she had been pressing harder on his wound in her anger. Blast Mrs. Dalton for riling her temper.
    “That’s exactly what a respectable lady would have done.”
    “Then I suppose I am not respectable, as I’m sure you always thought,” Sophia clipped and blew at a strand of hair dangling like a brown ribbon in front of her face. Defiance against all the days, months, and years of whispered words and disapproving glances she’d been forced to endure just because she was the daughter of Frank Vane rose up in her. Sophia stood tall and eyed Mrs. Dalton. “I suppose you better take off so your own