A double entendre he doubted that Davy would understand, considering he and Lisette were talking in French and all the crew aboard the sloop were English. A fact Lisette had not yet remarked upon but which he was sure, with her quickness of mind, she must be well aware of and would no doubt question him on once they were safely on English soil.
‘Perhaps you should reserve judgement, Monsieur le Comte, until after you have been attended by a physician and he is certain there is no need to have the leg amputated?’ she retorted sweetly.
The little chat continued to flex her newly discovered claws, Christian acknowledged appreciatively as he settled back more comfortably against the pillows. ‘It is unkind of you to punish me in that way, Lisette, even teasingly.’
She glanced up at him. ‘If your wound does not become inflamed and full of pus, then it will not be because of anything you have done to prevent it!’
Ah, the lovely Lisette was still put out because he had chosen to ignore her words of caution the night before. ‘It is not attractive in a woman to bear a grudge, Lisette,’ he responded drily.
‘And it is not attractive in a man to behave so tête de cochon,’ she came back pertly.
Christian chuckled softly at hearing himself described as being ‘pig-headed’. He preferred to think of himself as determined or strong-willed, but obviously Lisette saw it differently. ‘I promise you that once we are back on English soil I will do everything within my power to facilitate my complete recovery.’ He placed a hand over his heart as part of that pledge.
‘Indeed.’ Lisette eyed him mockingly as she finished cleansing his wound, believing in that moment that this man’s arrogance alone was enough to prevent the wound from becoming inflamed.
He grinned at her unabashedly. ‘I feel better already just knowing I will very soon be stepping off this constantly rocking boat onto terra firma!’
‘I doubt you will be “stepping” anywhere with any degree of comfort or balance.’ She began to apply the clean bandage. ‘As I also doubt that you will be well enough for several more days to continue the journey on to London.’
Christian had already thought of that and, much as it irked him to admit it, he knew that a long journey by coach was not something he could contemplate right now. It would have to be enough, for the moment, that he was back in England. The delay would necessitate that he, and consequently Lisette, must tarry for a day or so in one of Portsmouth’s more comfortable inns. An inn Christian had frequented many times before on his illicit travels to and from France, and of a kind only found away from the dockside. But there was no reason, whilst he languished there, that he could not send word to Aubrey Maystone, and the other Dangerous Dukes, of his safe return.
A frown creased his brow at the thought of Maystone’s reaction to news of Lisette’s presence in England. The last thing he wanted was for the other man to come to Portsmouth and take charge of the situation—of Lisette—whilst Christian was too incapacitated to stop him or defend her. No, perhaps he would wait awhile longer before apprising Maystone of the fact he was now back in England.
‘Am I causing you discomfort?’ Lisette prompted with concern as she saw the frown on Christian’s brow.
‘No more than usual,’ he drawled as that frown lifted, lavender eyes now glittering with devilment.
The warmth in Lisette’s cheeks seemed to have become a permanent fixture, and she glanced at Christian impatiently, knowing he meant to deliberately disarm her. That he was actually enjoying himself now at her expense.
Obviously, he was feeling slightly better, in temper as well as in physical comfort.
‘Pity,’ she snapped as she tightened and secured the bandage and saw him wince before she stepped away from the bunk bed. ‘I will leave Davy to help you dress now, whilst I go to my own cabin and prepare for when we disembark.’
Christian’s disappointed gaze followed her as she crossed the cabin before leaving; he was becoming too accustomed, he realised, to like and appreciate too much these scintillating conversations with Lisette.
‘Ya ward’s a pretty one, me lord.’
That scowl once again creased Christian’s brow at Davy’s shyly voiced praise for Lisette; indeed, if he was not careful, those lines between his eyes would be there to stay! Brought about, he had no doubt, by the advent of Lisette into his life.
And what was this nonsense of Lisette being his ‘ward’?
An assumption by the crew, in view of their separate cabins? Or something that Lisette had told them in an effort to maintain some of the proprieties?
It made a certain sense, if he considered it. His absence and incapacity below decks would have placed Lisette in a vulnerable position aboard the sloop inhabited only by men, and consequently she had perhaps considered it to be the wisest explanation for their travelling to England alone together. It was rather enterprising of her, in fact, and perhaps something Christian should have thought of himself.