shouldn’t have done that!’ With her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright Kit self-consciously smoothed her hand down over her hip and reached for the jug of clean water she’d left on the bath side. ‘I’d better rinse off your hair and then get those warm bathtowels for you.’
After rinsing the shampoo from his hair Kit grimly adhered to her task of helping Hal get out of the bath. She was careful not to meet his eyes so he wouldn’t see that she was desperately struggling to maintain her composure. There was no hiding the fact that his naked physical form had deluged her with an uncomfortably primal awareness. That brief but inflammatory kiss he’d delivered had effectively turned her previously ‘safe’ little world upside down, and she didn’t know how she was going to right it again.
Silently helping him into his bathrobe, Kit couldn’t disguise her need to escape for a while. ‘Will you be okay for a couple of minutes while I fetch those towels?’
‘Of course. But don’t be gone too long, will you? I might start to think you’re trying to pretend that chaste little kiss we just shared didn’t happen.’
Forcing herself to meet the undoubtedly mocking glance on Hal’s face, she lifted her chin and delivered a deliberately droll reply of her own.
‘I hate to dent your ego—I really do—but I’ve already forgotten about it. My focus is entirely on your welfare, just as it should be. When I return, I’ll stay and help you dress, if you’d like? I’m aware you’ve already expended quite a bit of energy today, and you need to rest that leg.’
Hal predictably scowled. ‘I don’t need help dressing. Just bring me the towels. After that, rather than have you stay and help me, I’d prefer it if you just went and made me a hot drink.’
‘Your wish is my command.’
‘I wouldn’t push your luck if I were you.’
‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Kit murmured softly, and quickly exited the room...
She came back soon afterwards with the promised towels, then disappeared again to make his drink. Hal couldn’t help feeling a little sombre. He’d told her that rather than staying to help him he’d prefer her to go and make him a hot drink, but it was a lie. He didn’t prefer that she’d done that at all. His assertion that he didn’t want her help because he hated being so reliant on her, and also because everything about her was arousing him...almost to the point of pain.
Hefting a heavy sigh, he glared down at his inanimate broken limb with a feeling that was very close to despair. Being left with too much time on his hands in which to berate himself for creating such a horrendous situation was hardly helpful. He hated being left alone with his thoughts. He’d rather go sky-diving or climb a glacial mountain without a guide rope any day. At least when he was doing that there wasn’t any time for painful brooding—not when his attention had to be absolutely focused on the exhilarating and dangerous task in hand if he wanted to stay alive.
Breaking his leg and being forced to take time out from his usual activities had made Hal realise just how alone and fearful of the future he’d become lately. Having woken up to the fact that he’d deluded himself for too long that money, a successful career and the extreme sports he favoured were enough to keep his loneliness and sense of emptiness at bay, he was now faced with the realisation that in truth he’d been hiding from the one thing that might help counteract that...having a genuinely intimate and meaningful relationship with a woman. He’d avoided the possibility like the plague thus far, due to his dread fear of commitment. In any case, he was hardly a good bet. Aside from his restless nature, he was far too selfish and self-obsessed, and sooner or later the woman he chose would discover that and leave...just as his mother had left his father when Hal and Sam were small...
Uncomfortably ill at ease with that particular train of thought, he stood up abruptly on his good leg and reached out a hand for one of the crutches Kit had left standing against the wall close to his chair. Intent on positioning the padded rest under his arm, he lost his balance. Shockingly, he pitched forward onto the marble floor. Grunting out a furious expletive, because the force of the fall had momentarily robbed him of his breath, he stayed there for several humiliating seconds before coming to his senses and shouting for Kit.
He heard her run down the parquet corridor and for a moment couldn’t help envying her ability to do just that—to run freely without hindrance...
‘What on earth happened?’
Dropping to her haunches beside him in concern, she laid a hand gently on his back. Hal swore he could feel the warmth of her soft skin radiate through the thick towelling robe he wore.
Turning his head towards her, he grimaced. ‘What do you think happened? That I suddenly had a sudden perverse yen to lie face-down on the marble?’
Ignoring his mocking retort, Kit suddenly saw the walking aid lying on the floor beside him and realised what had happened.
‘No, but I think you must have had a perverse yen to play Superman. No one is infallible, Henry...not even you. Why didn’t you call me to come and help you stand up? That’s what I’m here for. Are you hurt?’
‘You mean apart from my pride? No. I don’t think so. Help me get to my feet, then I can check.’
Upright again, and leaning on her with his hard-muscled arm draped round her shoulders, Kit guided him back to the bathroom chair. When he was comfortably settled she dropped down to her haunches again to check his knee and the protective cast for any new signs of damage. Thankfully she couldn’t find any. She’d had the most awful fright when she saw that he’d fallen over, and she couldn’t forgive herself for allowing him to persuade her to go and make a drink rather than stay with him as she should have done. She would never make the same mistake again, she vowed.
Glancing up, she witnessed a muscle visibly flinch in the side of his lean shadowed jaw. ‘Everything looks okay but that doesn’t mean you haven’t damaged anything,’ she said. ‘Can you raise your injured leg off the floor a little for me, so that I can ascertain how much movement you’ve got?’
He did so with a rueful smile. Nothing appeared amiss, and Kit was temporarily able to relax. Rising to her feet, she resisted the sudden shocking impulse to comb his hair back from his forehead with her fingers. For goodness’ sake! He wasn’t a child! But there’d been nothing remotely maternal about her urge to touch the dark silken locks.
All the while she’d been helping him into the bath, washing his hair, then helping him out again, her senses had been taunted and aroused by his dangerously irresistible maleness and close proximity. The scent of his cologne along with the dizzying warmth of his body, seemed still to cling to her. Her very cells felt as though they’d been imbued with his essence. Not to mention the thrill of that brief kiss they’d shared...
In a bid to ground herself, she sucked in a steadying breath. ‘I saw in the diary that the nurse is calling in tomorrow. That’s good. I’ll feel more reassured when she checks you over.’
‘Worried about me, are you, Ms Blessington?’
The teasing glimmer in his compelling golden eyes reassured her that perhaps it had been only his pride that had been hurt. In any case, she wouldn’t let herself rest on her laurels.
‘Don’t take it personally. I’d be worried about anyone in my care who had fallen over—especially someone who already has a broken leg. But you can be sure that next time I won’t be so quick to believe you when you tell me you can manage on your own.
