Jaxon set down the food and handed her the dress. “I told her you needed it all. I hope she didn’t forget anything.”
“I wouldn’t know if she did,” Charlie laughed.
“Run upstairs and put them on.”
She got as far as the doorway when it occurred to her she might need help. She turned mid-step, but froze when she saw Jaxon holding his leg and grimacing with his eyes closed.
“Jaxon!”
He tried to straighten up and hide his expression.
“What happened?”
“My foot hung in the stirrup when I was dismounting. It’s that old injury. I’ll be fine in a minute. Maybe some willow bark tea might be in order—after you’ve tried on the dress.”
“Do you want to do this down here or go upstairs?”
“Do what?”
“I want to look at your leg, see what we’re working with here.”
He brushed her concern aside. “There’s nothing to see, but the old injury. What hurts now are the muscles around it.”
“Jaxon, I’m not going to argue with you about this. You are going to take off your pants and let me see your leg. Your only choice is whether we do it upstairs in your room or down here.”
“God, you’re bossy.”
“It’s a trait my father cultivated in me,” she said tartly. “Now drop your pants.”
“Vixen.” Jaxon put his hand on her arm and cast a seductive at her.
“Stop trying to distract me. Drop ‘em.”
When Charlie put her hands on her hips with the stubborn and determined look on her face, he knew there was no point in arguing. It was going to be like the willow bark tea incident. She was not going to quit until she wore him down. “Let’s go upstairs. I don’t trust my family to abide by my wishes to wait a few days to meet you.”
“Do you want me to help you?”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Fine. You go upstairs and take your pants off. I’m going to the galley to heat up some water for a bath for you to soak in. The warm water will soothe those muscles. Holy cow, I’ve never seen a bathtub that big before. How much water will that thing hold?”
“You’ll need every big pan in there. And more. Let me help you.”
“No, I’ll do this. Where do you keep your flint?"
“In a box on the mantle.”
Charlie was nearly out of the door when she stopped. “Where’s the galley?”
“The kitchen is down the hall and through the dining room. The woodpile’s behind the house.”
“The scuttlebutt?”
He smiled at her wondering if she was intentionally using nautical terms or if she didn’t know the difference. “I have an indoor pump in my kitchen. You’ll see it.”
She smiled back at him. “Fancy.”
It was slow going for Charlie in the kitchen. Although her father had made sure she knew how to build a fire, it was something she rarely had to do. When she emerged to retrieve the doctor’s bag for the willow bark, she noticed Jaxon had gone upstairs. She quickly boiled enough tea for them both to have a cup since she was suffering a headache as a result of her recent encounter with Grayson and the decanter of Scotch.
“Sorry it took so long,” she said when she got upstairs with the tea. “It was my first time in a house kitchen.”
“Hangover?” he asked noticing she had her own cup of the bitter brew.
“I don’t think I like Scotch much.”
In unison, they threw back the tea and gulped it down as quickly as possible.
“You’re still dressed.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Sure about what?”
“Seeing my leg. It’s pretty ugly.”
“We’re going to be married in a month. There’s not a square inch on your body I do not intend to become personally acquainted with,” she said casting a coy smile at him.
He gave her a small kiss on the cheek. “You keep talking like that and I’ll be embarrassing both of us.”
“You mean you’ll get hard?”
“Charlie! I can’t believe you said that, much less know that.”
She shrugged. “Men don’t curtail their speech when amongst themselves. I’ve heard it all—and seen it all. It was the only thing my father could not control.”
Jaxon thought about what it must have been like for her growing up. If the crew had known she was female, they would have made some effort to shield her, but they weren’t given that opportunity. Seaman thought little of nudity—they were crammed into the forecastle with no privacy at all. Even bodily functions were most often taken care of in full view, over the side of the ship. She would have been exposed to naked men her whole life. What was probably traumatic to her at first, undoubtedly seemed quite commonplace for her now. It made him a bit melancholy to think she wouldn’t learn about the male body in their marriage bed.