The Gypsy and the Widow Read Online Free Page B

you,” said the woman, “but I have no cloth here.”
    “If someone could but help me to my house, I have cloth for a bandage.” She could not but wish that Tem alone would help her.
    “Are you all right, Mother?” Nash asked in an anxious voice.
    “Yes. I just hurt my ankle a little.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Noah pat Nash on the back. Little Eleanor took one of his hands and another pretty woman took his other, stooped, and murmured soothingly to him.
    Joanna couldn’t help but notice how pretty the Gypsy women were. Which one was going to be Tem’s next wife? she wondered, feeling a stab of pain at the thought.
    Nash looked up at Tem. “Will you take care of my mother?” he asked.
    “Yes, lad, I will. You don’t need to worry about that. If your mother says you may, perhaps you would like to stay and play with the others.”
    “May I stay?” Nash asked her.
    “I will bring him back when he wishes,” said one of the pretty women.
    “Yes, darling, you may stay.”
    The rom baro said, “If you don’t need our assistance, Mrs. Daniels, we will get back to work.”
    “I only need an arm to lean on,” she lied. In truth she needed more support than that, but she wanted to be alone with Tem.
    Limping along with his arm around her, she felt the fire of desire roar into being, its flames licking at her belly. She thought perhaps his arm tightened about her. Did he share her feelings? Did the fire flare in him as well?
    About halfway to her house, Joanna said, “We must stop.”
    “The pain is bad?”
    She nodded and sank to the ground. The pain in her ankle and the heat of her desire seemed to commingle. She wanted her ankle to stop hurting, but she also wanted Tem to make love to her. It had been years since the act of love had been anything but a most unpleasant duty, mercifully very seldom required, but now she wanted this man, wanted to caress him and she wanted him to do the same to her. She wanted to kiss—
    “Your ankle?”
    “It is of no matter if I am not standing,” she lied again.
    “Have you serving women at home who could tend it for you?”
    “I have only Mrs. Peters, who has gone to market for the day.”
    “I am well acquainted with caring for injuries and sprains,” he said. “Would it be improper if I suggested that I might bind it for you?”
    “No, please, if you could I would be most grateful. But I have nothing with which to bandage it.”
    “Perhaps we could use one of you stockings if you would be willing to do so.”
    She nodded. He turned his back and she undid the tie about her knee and carefully pulled down her stocking as far as she could without the pain becoming unbearable.
    “Perhaps you can remove it for me—it is too painful where I can reach. She tucked her skirt about herself, leaving only her injured ankle and foot exposed. Tem knelt and carefully took the stocking off her foot.
    “We can use the tie to keep it in place,” he said.
    He rolled the stocking and then carefully lifted her foot and, keeping the ankle well supported on his knee, he proceeded to bandage it tightly. Finally he secured the pink tie about the wrapping.
    “Very pretty,” he said and smiled up at her.
    “Indeed,” she said. “Thank you. I believe I can stand now.”
    He nodded and helped her to her feet.
    She tried not to wince with each step as they proceeded, but it was only a little way before she could not keep a groan from escaping her lips, and she sank to the ground again.
    “If you would permit me,” he said, “you might be more comfortable if I carried you the rest of the way.”
    She nodded and said, “Yes, please,” in a small voice.
    He lifted her as though she weighed no more than a small child and she twined her arms about his neck. He looked down at her and he moved as though to kiss her—oh God, how she wanted him to do so. But he pulled back, shaking his head slightly and the moment passed. He carried her to the door of her house, which he