"If you didn't want to marry me you shouldn't have tried to force yourself upon me!'
He shrugged, then howled when the movement sparked pain in his shoulder. He looked quite furious as he said, "You've quite a bit of money, but do you know, I don't think you're worth it."
"Kindly tell that to your father," Caroline snapped.
"He said he'd disinherit me if I didn't marry you."
"And you couldn't stand up to him for once in your pathetic life?"
Percy growled at being called pathetic, but in his weakened condition he couldn't do much about the insult. "I could go to America," he muttered. "Surely savages have to be a better option than you."
Caroline ignored him. She and Percy had been at odds since she had come to live with the Prewitts a year and a half earlier. Percy was quite under his father's thumb, and the only time he showed any spirit was when Oliver quit the house. Unfortunately, his spirit was usually mean and small and, in Caroline's opinion, rather dull.
"I suppose I'm going to have to save you now," she grumbled. "You're certainly not worth the gallows."
"You're too kind."
Caroline shook a pillow out of its case, wadded up the cloth-the highest quality linen, she noted, probably purchased with her money-and pressed it against Percy's wound. "We have to stop the bleeding," she said.
"It appears to have slowed down," Percy admitted.
"Did the bullet go straight through?" "I don't know. Hurts like the devil, but I don't know if it's supposed to hurt more if it goes through or gets stuck in the muscle."