“You’re still delirious from the fever, I see.”
Joseph chuckled softly. “Perhaps. Or perhaps I am simply tired.”
“Then rest.” She stood, happy she could do something to distract herself from his words. She fluffed his pillow then put her hands on his shoulders to urge him to lie down. To her surprise, he didn’t put up a fight.
Instead, he laid on his back, eyes drifting close. Before she could pull back, he caught her wrist. “Stay with me,” he murmured. “Just a short while longer.”
She shouldn’t. She was already in dangerous territory already. Being here was a mistake. He'd set a clear boundary with her so that she did not break the one rule he’d instated upon theirmarriage, and here she was stepping over it. There was to be nothing between them, she reminded herself. Nothing but a marriage between consenting adults who each stood something to gain from it. She couldn’t forget that. But she sat all the same. She didn’t pull her wrist away from his grip. She simply watched as he fell asleep and waited until his grip loosened. Only then did she leave the room, unable to shake the feeling that she had left something important in the palm of his hands.
CHAPTER 15
The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was that it was… noisy. Joseph hardly had a chance to register the fact that the pounding in his head was gone, and it didn’t feel as if he had one foot in the grave any longer. Though he supposed with all the shouting in the room, it was quite likely that he simply couldn’t focus on anything else.
“No, no, no, absolutely not! Honestly, Ava, I am beginning to think that you say such things just because you want to get a rise out of me.”
“Now, why would I want to do that? I see no value in angering you, Maisie.”
“Then why would you say such a thing? Surely, you don’t think to be the truth?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
A soft chuckle sounded next to him. Slowly, Joseph turned his head to face the sound and locked eyes Catriona. She paused her embroidery, blinking in surprise at him before a slow smile stretched across her face.
“Good afternoon, Joseph,” she greeted. “Glad to see you’re finally awake.”
“He’s awake?” Footsteps sounded before Ava and Maisie appeared next to Catriona. Ava’s smile was the broadest of the three ladies. “Good day, Your Grace! How nice of you to finally join us. We were starting to get worried, you know.”
“How do you feel?” Maisie asked.
That was one question he wasn’t sure how to answer.
First of all, they were in his bedchamber. Joseph knew he should be upset at that fact, at that blatant lack of privacy. Especially seeing how comfortable they’d gotten in such a short amount of time. But perhaps because he was still recovering and still tired, he felt no irritation. If anything, it was a little refreshing to be woken up to the sound of bickering.
And then there was Catriona who, despite her soft smile, had clearly been worrying about him. He saw it in the dark rims around her eyes, as if she had stayed up all night caring for him. He saw it in the slouch of her shoulders and the relief written across her face.
He wanted to reach out to her, but she was on the other side of the bed. He supposed that was a good thing considering the fact that he didn’t know what exactly he meant to do.
“Now, now, don’t crowd him,” came another voice. Lord Heaton came into view, standing on Joseph’s side of the bed. He leaned close, studying his face. “You look better, Your Grace. You seemed to have lost your grey pallor.”
Joseph sat up, rubbing his hand down his face. “Why are you all here?” he asked at last.
“Why do you think?” Ava, seemingly no longer worried, pranced over to the chaise lounge under the window. “We came to see how you were faring. After yesterday, we were worried sick, you know.”
“It was rather alarming,” Maisie said as she joined her sister. “I was quite panicked. Had Cat not been there, I would not have been much help.”
“Understandable,” Joseph muttered. He was not quite back to his full strength, he realized. Perhaps that was why he was taking this better than he’d expected. He was not used to being surrounded by so many people. For too long, it had only been him and Dorothea. “But why are you here? In my bedchamber?”
The three sisters looked between each other then at their uncle then back at him. Catriona spoke next. “Never mind that,” she said. She put down her embroidery and made her way aroundto his side. “How are you feeling, Joseph? Your fever came back during the night, but it seems to have broken.”
“You cared for me throughout the night?”
She lifted one shoulder nonchalantly, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. Joseph knew that was exactly what she’d done.
Before he could say anything, Lord Heaton was there, moving Catriona out of the way. He observed Joseph with a serious frown. “On second thought, your eyes look a little dull. It may because you’ve just woken up, but it could also be a sign of dehydration. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
“You act as if you’re a practicing physician,” Ava drawled from behind him.
“Please don’t mind him, Your Grace,” Maisie said. “Uncle Frederic think he knows everything.”
