Free Slightly Sinful by Mary Balogh

bedchamber should have shocked her. But to have sat on the side of his bed, leaning over him, touching his head and then looking down into his eyes . . .
    Well, it had been remarkably unwise.
    And, of course, if she was strictly truthful with herself, she would have to admit that he was not the only one to react as he had. She had felt severely discomposed. He might be wounded and helpless, but he was still a young and good-looking man. And he positively exuded masculinity-a thought that made her cheeks grow warm.
    She stayed away from his room until the following morning when it seemed safer to go inside-it was full of people.
    The ladies had taken the night off from work, as they claimed they did once each week, and were consequently up early and in high spirits. Phyllis took Mr. Smith his breakfast and stayed for a chat. Bridget and Flossie followed twenty minutes later, armed with a clean nightshirt, clean bandages, hot water, washcloths, and towels. Geraldine took Sergeant Strickland's breakfast up to the attic. At the same time she intended to ask him if he would lend his shaving gear to Mr. Smith-they had all decided to call the mystery man by that name.
    By the time Rachel had washed the dishes and cleaned and tidied the kitchen, they were all in his room, including the sergeant. She stood just outside the doorway watching and listening.
    "I must say," Mr. Smith was saying, "that I feel five pounds lighter-no, six. The grease in my hair alone must have weighed a good pound."
    "I told you I would be as gentle as your own mother, my love," Bridget told him boldly as she folded up the towel.
    "I suppose, Bridget," he said, "you tell them all that, do you?"
    "Only the very young ones," she said. "I wouldn't tell you that under normal circumstances."
    "Actually," he said, and Rachel could see that he was smiling and enjoying himself, "my memory came back to me last night and I remembered that I am a monk. Poverty, chastity, and obedience are my guiding principles."
    "With that body?" Geraldine said in her tragedy-queen voice, setting her hands on her hips. "What a mortal waste."
    "I don't mind the obedience part," Phyllis said.
    "A gorgeous, penniless monk in a brothel," Flossie added. "It is enough to make a poor girl weep."
    "He will be more gorgeous without the scrubby beard," Geraldine said. "I went for Will's shaving gear but he insisted on coming with it."
    "A rival?" Mr. Smith said, clapping one hand over his chest. "My heart is broken."
    They were all enjoying themselves immensely, Rachel could see. They were all flirting. She wished she could be as blasé. Her friends were all dressed for morning, without cosmetics or elaborate coiffures or flashy clothes. They were all pretty women and looked much younger this way.
    "This is Sergeant William Strickland," Geraldine said. "He was wounded in battle."
    "I lost an eye, sir," the sergeant said. "I haven't quite got the hang of seeing out of only the one yet, but it will come in time."
    "Ah," Mr. Smith said, extending his right hand, "so you are the sergeant who helped Miss York save my life, are you? I am deeply indebted to you."
    The sergeant eyed the hand in obvious embarrassment and took it very briefly while at the same time delivering an awkward, bobbing bow.
    "We were asking for the loan of your razor, not for the loan of you, William," Flossie said. "You ought to be in bed."
    "Don't scold, lass," he said. "I can't lie in bed every minute of the mortal day. I would go back to my men, but the army won't have me no more on account of my eye is gone."
    "Yes, well," she said, "your men would go marching off west, you see, William, while you were marching briskly off east because they were on your blind side. You would be no good to them, would you? So you are going to slice Mr. Smith's throat instead, are you? It would be a dreadful waste of a lovely man, I must say. I could think of much better things to do with him." She bent a deliberately lascivious glance upon