Of course, the notion was ridiculous.
Jonas quickly dismissed any amorous thoughts about her, since he had no intention of ever marrying and would never take Ailis on as his mistress. “Martha will remain with you this evening and throughout the night. She’ll be here to take care ofyou, so let her know if you are not feeling well or need anything. Do not be stoic. There is no need for you to suffer in silence.”
Ailis cast him a fragile smile. “You are being awfully nice.”
He chuckled. “Completely out of character for me, I know. But it is my fault that I delayed you.”
“None of us realized how quickly the roadway would turn icy. And I was rather stubborn about seeing you today when I could have waited until tomorrow or the next day.” Her smile turned impish. “But I fully meant to pester you, and would have returned every day until I wore you down.”
He gave a mock shudder and groaned. “You shall have these next few days to lay siege against me, because I must insist on your remaining at Langford Hall for now. Your uncle may be an excellent vicar, but he will be an inept nurse. It has not escaped my notice how much you take upon yourself at the vicarage. But you’ll only cause more permanent damage to yourself if you return to your duties too soon.”
This obviously worried her, as he could tell by the little nibble of her lip. “I cannot stay. How will he manage without me?”
“He’ll just have to make do until you are better, Temple. Besides, he has a housekeeper who can take on extra chores for the week or two until you are recovered.”
She tried to sit up, winced, and fell back with a breathy moan. “I cannot possibly remain here for an entire fortnight.”
“You cannot possibly return to the vicarage until you are able to move your arm. We’ll take it day by day,” he assured her. “No sense getting worked up about it. If your uncle requires more assistance, I’ll send one of my staff to help him out. How does that sound to you? Your regular housekeeper and one of my maids or footmen in addition…or I can send him both.”
“That is very generous,” she admitted. “It would ease my mind greatly.”
He shook his head. “It is the least I can do. I know I have been more insufferable than usual lately. Not that I will change, since I fear this is my nature. But I am not completely lost to honor and must insist on taking responsibility for my mistakes.”
“Is this what I am? A mistake?”
He gave her chin a gentle tweak. “A lovely mistake. It troubles me that you might have lain in the snow for hours, or worse, lain there throughout the storm and frozen to death had I not happened to be glancing out the window at the very moment you fell.”
“The angels were looking out for me,” she said earnestly, then cast him another of her delicate smiles. “See what happens when you get in their good graces? You ought to try it sometime.”
He laughed. “I am taking care of you, aren’t I? Is this not my good deed for the day?”
Taking care of the lovely Ailis.
Miss Temple of Virtue.
Gad, if all good women looked so tempting, he might not mind being more of a saint and less of a sinner. But that brought him back to the reason he had been even surlier than usual these past few weeks. He could not think of that blasted betting book opened at White’s by his own traitorous friends without steam pouring out of his ears. Now, all of London had their attention on him, declaring him another of those Silver Dukes.
This explained the surge of invitations he had been receiving lately. His own mother was threatening to come to Langford Hall with a party of her friends at Christmastide. He had a letter from her delivered just this morning that he dreaded opening. It was still sitting on his desk with its seal intact.
“I’ll leave you to rest now, Miss Temple. Martha can summon me if anything urgent comes up.”
“Such as this morning’s breakfast?” she teased, referring to her earlier bouts of nausea.
“Try not to deposit that gift in my bed.” He grinned as he folded his arms over his chest and stared down at her. To his dismay, it was so hard to draw his gaze away from Ailis. “I have a bit of work to do. But I will look in on you before retiring for the night. Martha, make certain our Miss Temple is kept warm, and give her only light fare if she gets hungry later.”
“Aye, Your Grace. I’ll take good care of the lamb.”
Jonas strode out and returned to his study, where a pile of work awaited him in addition to his mother’s letter that he still did not wish to open. Ever since his friends had anointed him the next Silver Duke, thetonhad gone into a frenzy.
Even his mother had taken up the gauntlet and was now determined to see him married. He knew what this latest letter contained, because as dowager duchess she felt above obeying his command to stay away from Langford Hall.
He cared for his family, but refused to have them and their friends descend on him like a plague of locusts for the purpose of matching him to some dimwit heiress.
All he wanted was to be left alone.
She was going to ignore him.
He sighed and set aside the document he was attempting to read, for concentrating on anything now was a useless endeavor. Between his mother’s meddling and Ailis looking beyond lovely in his bed, how could any man think straight?
