Night Storm Read Online Free

for the fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead, he appeared in control and unfazed by the short walk.
    “Rest a moment. I’ll lock up out front and get a light.” She used the distraction of routine tasks to force her nerves into a manageable jitter. After lighting a candle, she retrieved her medical bag and Mrs. Cates’s laudanum. She carried both into the treatment chamber, then lit the two lamps inside the room.
    He shifted on the edge of the high bed and pain streaked across the well-defined planes of his handsome face. Bloody, bruised, and achingly, hauntingly the same, but different somehow. His hair was the same deep rich brown, though he wore it longer now. Long enough for the tips to curl slightly. Long enough to run her fingers through the length.
    Gone was the lean young man she’d fallen in love with. Even in his disheveled state, she could see his shoulders were wider, his jaw stronger, his arms and legs thicker. The one thing that hadn’t changed was his eyes. A breathtaking blue flecked with iridescent silver.
    “Besides the bruise on your cheekbone, what kind of wound did you sustain to your leg and shoulder?”
    “Gunshot to the shoulder. Knife wound to the thigh.”
    Despite her best attempt to block all emotion, a twinge of anxiety clenched her heart. “Good God, Cameron, what mess have you involved yourself with?” She shook her head. “Never mind. It’s none of my concern.” She moved his black, wide-brimmed hat to a nearby trunk. “With the extent of your injuries, you should be seeing a surgeon, not an apothecary. If you cannot make it to Dr. Hollingsworth, perhaps he will consent to coming here to tend to your wounds.”
    Putting her hands on his bare flesh would be a torture she might not recover from. She was hoping he didn’t recall that part of her apprenticeship dealt specifically with wound care.
    “Bollocks,” he said. “You’re more accomplished than any physician or surgeon in London.”
    “You should find a better source of information. I assure you I have no such credentials.” She measured several drops of laudanum into a glass and filled it with water. “Drink this.”
    He took the glass and drank, but never removed his sharp gaze from hers. “I don’t have a source where you’re concerned.”
    An uncomfortable silence fell over the chamber. Charlotte wondered what he meant by his cryptic remark, then scolded herself for caring. She turned away. “Do you understand that in order for me to care for your wounds you’ll need to remove a good portion of your clothing?”
    “I assumed as much.” His voice held neither distaste nor longing. It was a simple matter-of-fact statement.
    “I’m going to start with your coat and shirt. I cannot guarantee there won’t be pain, even with the laudanum.”
    “Understood.”
    She set to unbuttoning his coat, an action she’d performed countless times before in the course of her duties. On most of those occasions, her patients were unconscious or near enough. Only on a few rare instances had she been forced to unclothe a gentleman while he looked on. As before, she found the situation unnerving, but never more so than tonight. Knowing the gaze that followed her every move belonged to Cameron Adair made her work through the process with lightning speed.
    Moving behind him, she kneeled on the bed to grab the collar and lapel on his good side and helped him free his arm. She did the same with his injured arm, taking greater care. After placing the coat on a peg, she untied the simple knot on his cravat.
    “You look tired,” he said quietly. “Long day?”
    Charlotte considered not answering him. The last thing she wanted to do was become friendly with Cameron. She recalled all too acutely what it had felt like when he had walked away, and she was not keen to experience that again. She settled for a simple, “Yes.”
    “Another patient tonight?”
    She slipped the cravat from around his neck, noting the warm damp patches