“I cannot stay in the house of a strange man, particularly as I have come to learn there are very few staff here,” Ester explained.
“You can consider Molly your personal lady’s maid,” the Duke replied quickly.
“But why do you want to keep me here?” Ester knew she sounded plaintive and afraid but couldn’t hold it in any longer.
The Duke appeared imperturbable but she noticed his gloved fingers were clenched hard together. He opened his mouth to speak but seemed to think better of it. There was a moment of silence.
“You were dead, Miss Granger. I put life back into you and…”
Amazingly, his voice broke. The Duke looked away, distress clear on his face. Ester watched as he regained control. She tried to think what in those words had caused him such upset. The notion of saving her life was surely one to be proud of? Therewas something unsaid that she was missing. But then there was a lot that she was not saying. He looked back at her, eyes bright and open.
“I brought you back to life, but one cannot underestimate the effect of being in that state. I think it best you remain as my guest for… a week.”
“If your concern is for my health, then send for a physician. I am sure he will confirm that there have been no ill effects.”
“Of course. A physician has already been sent for, in fact,” the Duke said, smoothly.
Ester glanced at Molly who had taken a seat on the bed, as far away from the two as she could get. She wondered if it were true.
“When will he arrive?” Ester asked.
“…Tomorrow?” the Duke replied.
“Very well,” Ester said, “I suppose I can remain here until tomorrow.”
Something flickered across the Duke’s face. A hint of anguish? Again, Ester glanced at Molly, and this time the maid was looking back at her. Their eyes met and Ester could see sympathy there. She looked back at the Duke, confused.
“Your Grace…” she began, but he interrupted her.
“Please, Miss Granger. Would you do me the honor of using my given name?Julian. The title is one I do not care for due to some… conflict in my youth with the previous holder of that title.”
“As you wish… Julian.”
The name sounded gloriously intimate on her tongue.
Julian looked up as she said it and their eyes met. She thought for one delirious moment that he shared her delight in the speaking of that simple word. The dream came back to her then and she wondered what she would experience in her sleep tonight, now that she had seen the man up close. It was enough to make her giddy. At the same time, she wondered at his reluctance to be called by his honorific. As though he were ashamed to be a Duke. She had to remind herself that this man appeared to be trying to hold her prisoner. That he might be lying about the physician, might have some nefarious designs of his own. From nowhere came a tickle in her throat, which soon became an unbearable urge to cough.
She tried to speak but it wracked her, seizing her chest and freezing her throat. Molly stood, went to a sideboard, and then hurried over with a glass of water. The Duke had risen but seemed stuck to the spot, as though frozen by indecision. The anguish on his face was now clear to see and had deepened. Ester gulped down the water, feeling the tickle subside but not disappear completely. Molly looked desolate.
“Excuse me, Julian. I think I spoke too soon about a cold resulting from my… immersion in the lake.”
It sent a thrill of fear through her when she handed the glass back to Molly and saw tears in her eyes. Ester cleared her throat as another cough welled up. Julian turned away, running a hand through his hair like a man at the end of his tether.
“It is just a cold. Possibly a chest cold. I have had them before, I can assure you. We all have,” Ester tried to reassure the two, concerned by their reaction.
It was as though both believed she was dying. Julian turned back to her. He stepped closer and made as though to take her hand. Ester shrank away and saw the reaction on Julian’s face to that. He stepped back, hands clenching into fists at his side.
“I am so very sorry, Miss Granger…” he began.
“Please, call me… Emily, if I am to call you Julian,” Ester said.
“Emily. Please forgive me. I… I…”
Julian trailed off, turning away but immediately turning back, chin lifted.
“I have done this and I will face it. I must ask you to believe me that it was done with the best of intentions. You would have drowned. But in my haste, I was careless, and the result will now be the same.”
Molly was openly weeping, hiding her face. Ester’s fear now reached a fever pitch. She did not understand anything that was going on but these two people were behaving as though she were under a certain sentence of death.
