“No, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up. It’ll pass.” Royal took in a deep breath and let it out. “I’ll be okay.”
Lovey removed her arm but kept it near Royal’s back in case she faltered again.
Chapter Three
After a few initially wobbly steps, Lovey was pleased that the walk back to the house was uneventful. Royal was probably more frightened than she was willing to admit to a total stranger. Lovey would have been surprised if she hadn’t been, given the tumble she’d just taken. The light on the porch was still lit as Lovey pulled the screen door open and motioned for Royal to enter.
“Wait here for a minute while I turn on a light inside.” Lovey moved past Royal and flipped a switch in the kitchen. The light from the adjoining room cast a soft glow over the foyer where Royal was still standing. Lovey ushered her into the kitchen.
Royal was leaning against the sink, looking around as Lovey moved closer. Standing in front of her, Lovey found herself captivated by the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Royal’s sun-kissed skin and blond, short-cropped hair, in spots, almost bleached white, no doubt from hours in the sun, set off her eyes perfectly. Royal seemed to realize Lovey was studying her and self-consciously attempted to tuck in her unruly shirttail. The white collared shirt had marks and a few spots of blood on it now. It was loosely tucked back into tan men’s trousers, held up by suspenders. Royal’s build was slim, but not slight. Lovey thought the men’s clothes suited her slender frame well.
Somehow, knowing the stranger she’d rescued from the car was a woman, Lovey felt braver about the decision to bring her back to the house. Royal was like no one she’d ever met before. Lovey had to admit she was intrigued.
Emboldened, Lovey stepped closer still and reached to brush the hair away from Royal’s forehead to get a better look at the cut. Lovey noticed Royal flinch. She paused before actually making contact. “Is it okay if I take a look?”
They were almost the same height. Royal might have been an inch or two taller, and standing close the way they were at the moment, their eyes locked and Lovey’s heart fluttered unexpectedly. There it is again. What is that about?
Royal nodded in reply, and Lovey gently brushed the errant bit of hair away from the wound.
❖
Royal’s skin tingled from the brush of Lovey’s fingers. They were standing so close that when Royal released a soft sigh, Lovey’s bobbed, wavy hair stirred around her soft features. She’d been studying Royal with dark eyes, and the only word Royal could call forth to describe the sensation was exposed. After examining the still bleeding cut just above her eyebrow, Lovey scrunched her nose and took a step back. Lovey pushed her thick hair back from her face. Her hair was shorter than the way most of the local girls wore theirs, cropped just at her jawline, thick and full of waves. Lovey had the biggest, softest brown eyes Royal had ever seen. The sort of bottomless pools a person could get lost in. Her lips seemed to be perpetually turned up just at the corners as if she’d just heard a good joke and couldn’t wait to share it.
Her figure was slim with slight girlish curves. The dress she wore hung loosely, the waistline dropping below her hips just the way they wore them in magazines. Obviously, Lovey had landed here from some other place than the hills and hollows of Dawson County. For surely had she existed here previously, Royal most certainly would have noticed.
“Wait here. I’ll get something to clean that up and I’ll be right back. Why don’t you sit down?” Lovey motioned toward a kitchen chair as she left the room.
With Lovey no longer in her personal space, Royal slumped against the sink for a minute and exhaled. Moving slowly, she took a seat. Heels clicking on the hardwood floor signaled Lovey’s return to the kitchen. She was carrying a small box of gauze, tape, an iodine bottle, and a cloth.
Royal watched as Lovey placed the items on the table and turned toward the sink to dampen the cloth before pulling up a chair. Her movements were fluid. Royal couldn’t help but notice the pale skin of her slender arms exposed beneath the short sleeves of the blue cotton dress, and her long, tapered fingers. Lovey cupped Royal’s chin in one hand as she gently dabbed at the cut with the damp cloth in her other hand. She was so close that Royal could smell lavender on her skin. There she was again, in Royal’s space, making Royal’s ears and cheeks heat up and her heart rate increase. She was used to being the confident one in almost any situation, but clearly, Lovey was just as confident. This made Royal more than a little nervous.
Seeming satisfied that the cut was clean, Lovey reached for the iodine bottle.
“This will probably sting just a bit.” Royal nodded, and Lovey began to dab the red-brown liquid over the cut. It did sting, and Lovey tenderly blew on it after each dab. Even her breath smelled sweet, and Royal worried she was in danger of passing out, not from the injury but from the proximity of this particular caregiver.
Lovey rocked back in her chair. She’d just put a small piece of gauze over the wound and taped it in place. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.” Royal’s throat was dry and her voice cracked. “Good.”
“Water?” offered Lovey.
“Yes, please.”
“Or I may even have lemonade.”
“Even better.” Royal cleared her throat as Lovey pulled glasses from the cabinet and filled them from a pitcher near the sink. After quenching her thirst and attempting to calm her nerves, Royal shifted in her chair and looked around the house a little. She
