“Amelia,” Sam said. “Don’t cry.”
“What am I supposed to do? Tell me what you need me to do to help you.”
“Aunt Ruth and Nelson should come.”
Amelia shook her head. “Anything but that.”
Sam laughed with a hitch of pain. Amelia squeezed her eyes tighter. She couldn’t bear this. She would not survive if he didn’t.
Amelia sucked in a breath and opened her eyes. “You can’t die. I won’t allow it.”
“Lia, we all die. We know that better than most.”
It was painfully true. First, their mother had died during their birth, and then their father had passed away when they were twelve. Sam had born all the responsibility, assisted by their guardian and fraternal uncle, Roger Clark, who had passed just last year.
“But not you, Sam. Please live. For me. We’ve always been together. You can’t go anywhere without me, least of all...”
He smiled weakly. “Lia... your stubbornness will not win this time.”
“Don’t say that. You underestimate me.”
The doctor cleared his throat. “I’ve done all I can. There is medicine to keep his lordship comfortable. Send for me when—”
Amelia cut him off with a glare.
“Thank you, Doctor Bradley,” Mr. Blakewood said.
Amelia had almost forgotten about him. He was so quiet.
“You may leave as well,” she said to Mr. Blakewood. “I want to be alone with my brother.”
She could feel his reluctance, but all he replied was, “I’ll see the doctor out.”
“Thank you.” Amelia waited until the door closed behind the two men.
“You’ve got an ally in Blakewood,” her bother said. “He can protect you. He’s almost as stubborn as you are.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “He loathes me. And there is no reason for him to be here without you.”
“Amelia, consider . . . you could marry him.”
Her chest turned cold at the hopelessness in his voice. “Don’t.”
“If I ask him to, he’ll marry you.”
“Stop. You don’t need to worry about me. I have my own money and house. I don’t have to marry at all if I don’t wish to.” A sharp pain rose in her throat, and she had to swallow before speaking. “How did this happen? How did you... get so hurt?” The abnormal blue shade of his lips terrified her, but she remained strong, keeping her tears at bay so she could speak to him longer.
“I landed on a rock. It felt like I took a cannon ball to the side.”
“But you’re talking to me. Surely, you’ll be all right in time. You just need to heal. The doctor is wrong.” Or was it wrong to keep him talking? Was she taxing him further?
“I’ve got some broken ribs, and he suspects I’m bleeding inside my body.”
“You’re supposed to do that. The blood belongs inside.”
He half-smiled. “In my veins, yes, but not in other places.”
Amelia swallowed. His hand was so cold in hers. She didn’t know what a deceased person looked like—she hadn’t been allowed to see her father or her uncle—but she could well imagine it looking like this. Sam’s color was all wrong. It was as if all his life had already been leeched out of him, and she was talking to his ghost.
