“Yeah. Let’s just go.” He leaned most of his weight on his brother, trying to ignore the soft press of the woman on his right.
It was slow going and mounting the front steps was sheer torture, but at last, he made it inside and down the hall to his room. At the door, he stopped, balancing on his good leg and pinning his three helpers with a glare.
“This is fine. I can take it from here.”
Matt patted him once on the shoulder, then nodded and nudged Becky down the hall. Sarah, however, wasn’t so easy to dissuade.
“I’m not leaving,” she stated. “Not until you let me have a look at your leg.”
“Please, Sarah. Just leave me alone.” He limped across the few feet to the bed and sank down on the edge, releasing a soft groan as the pressure eased.
Ignoring his words, Sarah sat down on the floor in front of him. She held his horrified gaze as she reached for the boot, silently daring him to stop her.
“Don’t,” he whispered desperately. “I don’t want you to see me this way.”
“It’s part of you,” she whispered, lightly rubbing her palm down the front of his calf. “I want to help you. Let me do this for you.”
He bowed his head, giving in, yet unable to watch the disgust that was sure to spread across her beautiful features when she saw his wasted flesh. “Go ahead.”
She pushed his pant leg up to his knee, and then her warm, gentle hands unfastened the heavy boot, letting it fall to the floor. “Oh, Luke,” she whispered. “This looks so painful.” She held up the boot, pointing at the leather lining. “This thing is barbaric. We should line it with fleece.”
“Fleece?” He’d never even thought of that; he’d just taken the pain as part of his due. While he was thinking about her idea, she began examining his stump with calm detachment.
“You’ve rubbed a terrible blister right here,” she murmured, gently circling it with the tip of her finger. “And you have some other places that are red and swollen.” She touched him as she spoke, covering every inch of his skin from the knee down, skin that hadn’t been touched in years.
Emotion stung his eyes, so he closed them, leaning back on his elbows, lost in the wonder of it.
“Am I hurting you?” Her hands stilled, and he could hear the concern in her voice.
“God, no,” he breathed. “It’s just been so long since anyone touched me there.”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his knee, kissing him tenderly. “I need to go get something. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
He nodded and then stretched out full length on the bed as he waited for her to return. Sarah Montgomery was truly a remarkable woman. She’d accepted the ugliest part of him as though it was the most natural thing in the world. He had no notion of how to express his gratitude for what she’d done for him tonight.
He lay there for a long time, listening to the house grow silent around him. He was a little surprised Matt had left him alone after the embarrassing episode outside.
Sudden realization swept over him, and he sat up, pressing his hand to his forehead. Was that the kind of man he’d become? A spoiled child who sulked in his room and expected someone to come and ask him what was wrong? Shame heated his cheeks as he thought of all the times he’d acted this way since he’d lost his foot.
And for the first time, he had a glimmer of his brother’s motives for trying to shake him out of his self-pity. He’d become a burden. Matt and Becky had their own lives to live.
His normal reaction to this sort of emotional upheaval would be to get drunk, but he’d been relying on that sort of escape far too often.
At last, Sarah returned, and he felt nothing but gratitude as she sat down at the bottom of the bed. “Hank gave me some horse liniment. It doesn’t smell very good, but it will feel wonderful. I promise.”
“You’re too good to me.”
She laughed and opened the can, filling the room with a pungent but not unpleasant smell. “I know.”
Then she rubbed the liniment on his leg with long, firm strokes. He began to relax almost immediately, the pain vanishing like snow on a warm spring day.
And his last coherent thought before he fell asleep was the realization that he’d fallen completely, irrevocably, in love with his mail-order bride.
* * * * *
SARAH CONTINUED TOrub Luke’s leg long after he’d fallen asleep. The scar tissue and pale, wasted flesh felt strange beneath her hands. But she was far from repulsed. Instead, her heart bled for the pain he’d suffered.
Earlier he’d told her that he trusted her, but she wished that trust went deep enough for him to explain how this horrible thing had happened.
