‘Here you are, wife.’ Sebastian held out a cup of steaming hot tea. ‘Drink up.’
‘Thank you.’ Henrietta lifted a hand and then sneezed.
‘Maybe I’ll just hold on to it for now.’ He sat down on the edge of the bed with a smile. ‘Just tell me when you’re ready for a sip.’
‘Thank you. Atishoo! Oh, dear... I’m sorry.’
‘What for?’
‘Because this is our wedding night and I... I... Atishoo!’
He gave her a pointed look. ‘Are you feigning sickness?’
‘What?’ She opened her eyes wide. ‘No!’
‘Exactly. So don’t apologise. If anyone should say sorry it’s me, for dragging you halfway across the country in the cold.’
‘You weren’t to know I’d get sick and it was for a good reason.’
‘Yes, but the truth is I’ve always been impulsive. Once I decide on something, I like to do it as soon as possible.’
‘Oh.’ She felt a vague sense of alarm. She wasn’t sure she liked to be thought of as an impulse, though hopefully that was only an expression...although her head felt much too hazy to think about it now. ‘Can I have some of that tea?’
‘With pleasure.’ He passed the cup over carefully. ‘You’re still a bit pale. How does your head feel?’
‘Like the time I drank the last of the port in the pantry.’
‘What?’ He looked at her in disbelief. ‘You said you poured it away! I thought it must have been because of your brother.’
‘No-o.’ She screwed up her lips with embarrassment. ‘Nancy and I drank it after she had a bad argument with her mother. It happens quite often, I’m afraid.’
‘You amaze me.’
‘No, it’s not like that. I think a lot of Nancy’s anger is because of her mother. She doesn’t usually drink because of her stepfather, but...well, that night she said she needed to drown her sorrows and I wanted to support her. What? Why are you smiling?’
‘It’s just unexpected, that’s all.’
‘Never again.’ She shuddered and drank her tea in a few swallows. ‘This is much nicer. I didn’t realise I was so thirsty.’
‘Anything else I can get you?’ He put the cup aside.
‘I’m a little chilly.’
‘Then come here.’ He shuffled up the bed, swinging his legs up and reaching an arm around her shoulders before drawing her head back against his chest.
She closed her eyes instinctively. It felt lovely, blissful even, to be lying so close, encircled in his arms. As if she were exactly where she wanted to be.
‘This is nice.’ He pressed a kiss on to the top of her head.
‘Mmm.’
‘Now get some more rest,’ he murmured into her ear, his breath warming her neck and making her skin tingle. ‘I’ll be here when you wake up.’
‘A bull escaped, trampling several gardens including that of Lord and Lady Pewter. This reporter has it on good authority that a row of prize-winning hydrangeas...’
Henrietta rolled on to her side, surprised to find herself dreaming of escaped bulls and crushed flowerbeds. Only it wasn’t a dream, she realised gradually, more of a voice.
She opened her eyes to find her husband—bizarre as it still seemed to call him that—sitting beside her with one leg draped casually over the other, reading aloud from a local newspaper.
‘Sebastian?’
‘Ah.’ He lowered the paper and smiled. ‘And how’s the patient today?’
‘Much better.’ She smiled back, pushing herself up on to her elbows as she realised it was true. She felt considerably better than she had when she’d last closed her eyes.
‘Here.’ He tossed the paper aside and leaned forward, rearranging the pillows before helping her sit up against them. ‘Let me help.’
‘I can manage.’
‘You need to build your strength back up. You’ve barely eaten for two days.’
‘Two days?’
‘Since you got into this bed, yes.’
‘You mean I’ve been lying here for two days?’
‘Yes.’ He chuckled tenderly. ‘You did seem a bit confused.’
She opened her eyes wider, looking at him properly. He had two days’ worth of stubble on his chin, enough to qualify as a beard, and his eyes were circled with shadows, making them look even darker than usual. Now that she thought of it, she had a vague memory of drifting in and out of consciousness. There had been someone else in the room occasionally, but Sebastian had always been there, speaking to her in reassuring tones as she’d tossed and turned. When she’d been shivering, his arms had been around her. When she’d been burning up, he’d pulled the covers away and dabbed at her forehead with a damp cloth. When she’d been neither, well...he’d been there then, too.
‘Have you been here the whole time?’ she asked even though she already knew the answer.
He winked. ‘I’m thinking of a new career as a nurse. The doctor thinks I show a lot of promise.’
‘I agree. What else did the doctor say?’
‘That it was a fever exacerbated by nervous exhaustion.’ He leaned over, brushing the backs of his fingers across her cheek and beneath her jaw until his hand cradled the side of her face. ‘So no more worrying. Doctor’s orders. Your husband’s, too.’
‘I’ll do my best.’ She smiled and lifted her hand to cover his, trapping it against her skin. ‘I didn’t dream it all, then? We really are married?’
‘We really are. Notice the ring. It was my mother’s.’
‘Oh!’ She gasped in surprise, holding her other hand out to study it. ‘Why didn’t you tell me at the blacksmith’s?’
‘I thought you’d appreciate the gesture more when you weren’t about to collapse.’
‘I can’t believe that she gave you her wedding ring...’
‘Actually she gave you her wedding ring. She said she knew you’d take care of it.’
‘It’s beautiful. I don’t know what to say.’
‘You said yes. That’s enough.’
He smiled into her eyes, his own darkening almost to black before he cleared his throat huskily.
‘I apologise for the reading material. There wasn’t much else, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s all right.’ Her own throat felt somewhat dry, too. ‘The bull was captured, I presume?’
‘Yes, though at the cost of several prize-winning hydrangeas.’
‘Oh, dear.’ She started to laugh and then let out a shocked shriek.
‘What?’ Sebastian looked panicked. ‘What’s wrong?’
She pointed across the room to a mirror sitting on top of a dresser. ‘I just saw my reflection!’
‘Your...?’ He practically sagged with relief. ‘And?’
‘I look terrible!’
‘Actually, you’re looking much better.’
‘What?’ Shock turned to horror. ‘How bad did I look before?’
‘Not bad, just...sick.’
‘Swollen?’
‘A little. That reminds me. May I?’ He slid his hands around her throat, prodding gently. ‘Good. You can hardly feel any swelling today and you’re definitely not green any longer.’
‘Green?’ Any pleasure she might have found in his touch evaporated instantly.
‘It’s perfectly normal when you’re sick.’
‘Yes, but...’ She stiffened. ‘Wait, if you’ve been nursing me, what about my...’ she closed her eyes, reluctant to even voice the thought aloud ‘...needs?’
‘Ah.’ He drew his hands away, rubbing one of them over his bristly-looking chin. ‘To be honest, you were sweating so much that you didn’t have many of those.’
‘None?’
‘Well, some...’ He made a show of picking up the newspaper and folding it neatly. ‘But nothing to concern yourself about.’
‘Oh!’ She flung herself over, burying her face in her pillow.
‘Henrietta.’ He laid a hand on her back. ‘I’ve seen and dealt with much worse, believe me. Eight hundred men on one ship, some of them seasick...’
‘I’m not a sailor!’
‘True.’ His hand moved in a slow circle over her back, rubbing gently. ‘But you know, one of the advantages of not marrying a gentleman is that we’re not so squeamish. I wouldn’t have left you even if the doctor had brought a nurse. I wanted to take care of you. Besides, maybe this is a good thing?’
‘How?’
‘You were afraid of me seeing you as just a pretty face, weren’t you?’
‘That doesn’t mean I wanted you to see me sweating, swollen and...green!’ She groaned and pressed her face deeper into the pillow. ‘Never mind anything to do with a chamber pot!’
‘It doesn’t make me look at you any differently.’
‘How can it not?’
‘Because I don’t care about things like that. You were sick and you needed my help so I gave it.’ She felt the bed shift as he lay down beside her. ‘You’re still as beautiful now as the first day I saw you.’
‘Liar!’
‘I was referring to inner beauty. That never dims, not according to the poets anyway.’
‘Oh...’ She twisted her head to one side. ‘Maybe I’m more vain than I realised.’
‘I won’t tell anyone.’
She sniffed. ‘In that case, do you think maybe myself and my inner beauty could have a bath?’
‘I think that could be arranged.’ He pressed his lips lightly against hers before leaping up and heading for the door. ‘Then you need to eat. It’s about time we had our wedding breakfast.’