Chin high, he ignored the disapproving stares of his staff, as well as Mrs Murray’s rather pointed use of the cleaver on a joint of beef as he passed, and went straight for Rebecca’s quarters. He let himself into her office, but hesitated before the door to her bedroom.
Deciding he would only eventually return at some point later in the day, having wasted countless more hours pretending to work, he knocked on the door.
‘Come in,’ came her voice, fainter than usual, but a welcome sound. ‘Oh, my lord.’
Liam felt his heart soar for the tiniest moment when he saw her there, propped up against the headboard, a smile on her face, and a healthy glow in her cheeks. Though he could tell she was weakened, she seemed well on the path to recovery.
‘Good morning, Miss Merrickson,’ he said once he’d closed the door again. ‘Welcome back to the land of the living.’
‘I... Th-thank you, my lord,’ she stammered, and Liam might have sworn she blushed slightly. Perhaps to hide just that, she set about rearranging her dressing gown and blankets. ‘To what do I owe such a visit?’
‘I thought you might be in need of somedivertissement,’ he said after a moment, with the faint impression of a smile. The realisation that she remembered nothing of what he’d done was both a relief and also, deep down, something of a disappointment. ‘I brought a selection of books for you.’
‘Thank you, that is very kind. However, I fear as much as I wish to, my mind is still not at its best. I’m not sure I will make any sense of whatever you’ve brought me.’
‘I have for you today some Austen, as well asThe Antiquary—and, more for your amusement than anything else,Nightmare Abbey,’ Liam said, staring at the books’ spines. He caught a smile and the beginnings of a laugh out of the corner of his eye and grinned. ‘Perhaps later. I shall leave them here for you.’
Liam was acutely aware of her eyes following him as he went to place the books on her bedside table, though he tried his best not to think about them.
Or her.
Or how he wanted nothing more than to stay in this room.
‘Thank you, my lord,’ she said softly.
It was then that Liam made the mistake of looking at her again. Sure enough, she was staring up at him, those dark brown eyes of hers soft and inviting. Despite the toll the illness had taken, she glowed, as though she had been reborn from the trial and returned to him, renewed.
Returned to me. What a preposterous notion.
‘Well, I should leave you, then, Miss Merrickson,’ he said abruptly, turning back towards the door.
Halfway there, he stopped again and sighed. Why was he making this such an ordeal? Were they not friends? Could he not offer her comfort and company as she had?
‘Unless, that is, well, if you cannot read... That is, shall I read to you for a while?’
Turning back, Liam found Rebecca wearing an unreadable expression, halfway between consternation and curiosity.
She cocked her head, studying him for a long moment, before a smile broke. ‘You are not busy, then? Or perhaps you are using me as an excuse to get away?’
‘And if I am?’
‘I do enjoy Walter Scott...’
‘The Antiquaryit is, then,’ Liam said, unable to stop grinning as he sat himself in the chair beside her again, and opened her selected book.
They sat there all day together.
Trays of food were brought in and out, Rebecca drifted off to sleep now and then, and Liam occasionally took to reading whilst walking about.
But nothing truly interrupted them as they lost themselves to the words, letting themselves drift together into another world, for a little while, at least.
Night fell, the candles burned to nearly nothing, and Rebecca fell fast asleep to the sound of Liam’s voice.
He watched her for a moment, watched the rise and fall of her breast, the peace in her face, and the way the shadows danced around her with the flicker of the dying candlelight. He felt the pull he had that first time—a pull which seemed even stronger now.
He told himself he should not return again. And yet, even as he blew out the candles and made his way from her rooms, he knew that tomorrow he would return. And the day after. Until she was fully herself again. For he could not resist the temptation, the lure of her company.
For a short while he could bend the rules. So he would, and damn the consequences.
