That he asked instead of demanded had her nodding consent, since it would be wise to make sure her injury wasn’t worse than she thought. She went to move off the chair when she felt Tarass’s hand at her arm helping her and she was grateful since she felt a jab to her side.

He caught the wince in her eyes that she tried to hide, making him anxious to have a look. He turned her so that her wounded side faced the hearth, the flames casting sufficient light on her. He noticed right away a tear in her garment below her right breast, to her side, and he pressed his fingers lightly against it. She winced and pulled away, but not before he thought he felt something there.

Then he looked at his fingers. There was blood on them.

“I need to see to your side. There’s blood there,” he said.

“I will not expose myself to you,” she said, the thought unnerving that she should even be partially naked in front of him.

“You don’t have to,” he said. “I can cut the cloth around the wound to expose it enough for me to tend it.”

Her shoulders slumped in relief. “That would work.”

“It would be easier if you laid down on the bed,” he said and was glad she didn’t object when he led her there. “I’ll see to your face and leg after seeing to your side.”

“I am grateful for your help and will make sure James knows how honorably you treated me,” she said.

“For a half-brother he worries much about you and your sisters,” Tarass said as he went to the hearth to get the bucket of snow that was now warm water and place it at the side of the bed.

“My sisters and I are lucky that he is a good and honorable half-brother who continues to keep his word to our father to look after us and see us kept safe.”

Tarass moved one of the chairs to the side of the bed, sat, then took his knife and cut a piece of cloth from the blanket and draped it over the side of the bucket.

“I’m going to cut away at your garment now,” he said.

“All right,” she said, her stomach growing unsettled, not only with worry for her wound, but with having Tarass touch her in too much of a familiar way. It wasn’t right, but there was no alternative. Of course, her blindness made it all the more difficult since she couldn’t see how he looked upon her. She was completely dependent on him not only to tend her but to be truthful to her.

Tarass was as gentle as he could be and thankfully Snow didn’t wince once, but he did when he finally exposed her wound.