“No need for you to go any farther. I’m sure you’d like to find your own bed. We can manage the rest of the way on our own.”
“Nonsense,” she replied simply as she continued to light the way up the next flight of stairs.
They were met at the door to Claire’s bedroom by her nurse, who stood wringing her hands as she gave a flustered curtsy. “My lady, I didn’t expect you to be...I mean, I’m so sorry you’ve been disturbed...I would’ve managed the child, but Mr. Hale insists I fetch him whenever she wakes.”
“It’s quite all right,” Katherine assured as Hale swept past them into the room.
He gently lowered the sleeping child to her bed before placing a kiss to her blonde curls and tucking the bedcovers up beneath her chin. It should have appeared odd to see the large brute of a man taking such care with the small child, but it didn’t. It looked right and lovely.
Passing by the nurse on his way out, he instructed firmly, “If she wakes again, let me know.”
The woman glanced nervously to Katherine before giving a nod. “Yes, sir.”
Hale and Katherine made their way back downstairs in silence. Stopping at his bedroom door, Hale turned to face her. Katherine stopped as well and lifted her candle. Unfortunately, the small movement caused a twinge of pain through her shoulder. It wasn’t much, but due to the tightness and soreness that had settled into her muscles while spending so many hours bent over her desk, her entire body tensed in reaction.
“What’s the matter?” A note of concern lowered his voice.
“Nothing.” She lifted a hand to rub at the back of her neck. “I’m fine.”
A heavy frown of displeasure darkened his face. “I know the look of pain in a body when I see it. You’re not bloody fine. And where the hell is your sling?”
“I left it in my room. It’s been nearly two weeks since the injury. I need to start moving my arm more if I’m ever going to use it again.”
“It’s too soon.”
“It’s not,” she argued, tipping her head back to glare up at him as he towered over her.
The simple cotton of his shirt did nothing to keep his heat and scent from surrounding her, soaking into her. And why did she find the smell of him so enticing? Purely male. She breathed deep on instinct, taking more of him into her body.
Still frowning, he took the candleholder from her and set it on the hall table beside his bedroom door. “Turn around.” The word slid from his lips like a heavy, gravelly hiss, allowing no dissent.
Katherine turned. It seemed the safer option in the midst of her sudden, heated physical reaction. Though if she’d known what he intended next, she likely would have risked arguing further. She may have even embraced a moment of cowardice and fled.
But then his large, warm hands fell to her shoulders, gently pressing down. Subtly commanding her muscles to soften.
Instead, her spine stiffened even more as she turned her head and tried to look over her shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”
“Relax, dove,” he murmured in a graveled tone.
She nearly gave a snort at the unlikelihood of that happening while his hands were on her, but then he began to circle his wide thumbs into the muscles bracketing her upper spine. Her head tipped forward as a sigh passed through her parted lips.
It was odd to have someone show such concern for her well-being. Even if it was in Hale’s gruff, domineering manner. From the time she’d been a small child, she’d taken care of herself. And then Frederick. Their father had occasionally inquired after their studies and other domestic needs, but he’d never taken much interest in their happiness or comfort. A few servants might have cared more than others, but not enough to break protocol. And though Katherine had vague memories of being embraced by her mother, it had been so long ago.
In truth, the lack of such consideration had never really bothered her. It was difficult to feel the loss of something she’d barely known. Besides, she’d had Frederick’s well-being to focus on.
So, when Hale began to touch her with the sole purpose of easing her discomfort, she wasn’t quite sure how to respond. But as he continued to work out the tension in her muscles, Katherine slowly submitted to the expert attention of his fingers. Her eyes closed and her breath evened. The man was truly magic with his hands. He seemed to know exactly where to add more pressure and where to ease up. He even took some time lifting and rolling and manipulating her injured shoulder, eventually issuing a low sound in his throat before moving on to her lower spine.
It felt wonderful. Bone-melting. Calming.
“Freddie’s worried about you.” His words seemed to come out nowhere.
“Worried?” Her chin came up and her brow furrowed as the momentary haze of contentment dissipated in an instant. “What? Why? He has no reason to worry.” She was the one who was supposed to worry.
His smoothed his hands up her back, forcing a re-release of her sudden tension. “He knows you close yourself in your study every day, obsessively searching for answers that might not exist.”
“I’m not obsess—”
“Aren’t you?” he interrupted as he worked his fingers up the back of her neck.
Her chin dropped toward her chest as shocks of pleasure spread up the back of her scalp and down her spine. “You do realize the threat to my brother is still out there,” she muttered.
“I’m aware,” he said gravely. “It’s the reason I’m here, isn’t it?”
With a rough sigh, he turned her around to face him again.
Tipping her head back, she frowned into his stern features, noting the odd glint in his gaze.
“There is only so much you can do,” he stated softly. “The house and grounds are secure. The footmen are coming along. Newton and the two men he recruited are taking turns watching the house from
