“Stop arguing over me.” Sam whispered.
Blakewood held her gaze and nodded toward the hall. Amelia shook her head.
“Please,” Blakewood said.
Her brother’s breath rattled.
“Petrov? Come and wait with Lord Alston. I’ll only be one moment. I’ll be right outside. Try to offer him water.”
Petrov glanced between her and Mr. Blakewood.
Amelia led the way, chin firm. In the hall, she turned to face him. “Make it quick.”
“He made it known what his final wishes are.”
Her stomach trembled, and her skin was both cold and hot. “If you even mention marriage, so help me, I will do you bodily harm.”
His jaw clenched. “Be reasonable. It’s better to be prepared for the worst outcome than to try to make decisions later. We don’t have to marry—”
“Correct. I’ve spent years fighting off my cousin’s advances and his mother’s machinations to take hold of my inheritance, and I won’t be convinced to give it up now. I don’t need to be cared for like a child. I don’t need a husband to rule my life.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t need support in one way or another. He told me about your aunt and Nelson. Let me help.”
“He is not dead, and if you let me see to my brother, hewill not die.”
“Are you going to make a miracle? I saw him fall. I could hear his body breaking. He hasn’t long. Don’t make his last moment fraught with... contention.”
“Or what, you’ll put him down like you did his horse?” Amelia said in the kind of irrational anger that could only come from fear. She regretted it instantly.
His jaw flexed and he shook his head, and then he strode away, muttering.
Amelia wasted not a moment more on him—perhaps she would try to apologize later—and returned to her brother’s side. Petrov was wiping a damp cloth over Sam’s parted lips.
“He is too weak to take water,” Petrov said.
“Tomorrow will be better,” Amelia said.
Petrov’s lips tightened in response.
For the remainder of the evening, Amelia and Petrov kept watch over her brother. Amelia savored every breath, noting the seconds that passed to minutes and hours. Her hope grew as her energy waned. Petrov bid her sleep and said he would keep watch. Amelia promised to try for a half hour, and then he could rest. She managed only to lay back in her chair with her eyes closed, aware of every sound and movement, including that ofMr. Blakewood as he returned and took a chair by the hearth. Holding his vigil, just as they were.
She knew better than to try to make him leave. He was as immovable as she was.
Chapter Two
Graham woke witha start, the first streaks of dawn piercing the lace curtains of Alston’s room. He shot to his feet, twisting toward the bed. Lady Amelia looked up, her pale-blonde hair in disarray and her blue eyes streaming with tears, but she smiled at him. He took it like a punch to the gut, his breath catching painfully. Sheneversmiled at him, not since the fateful night of her come-out when they shared their first and only dance.
That was the night Graham had realized that Lady Amelia had the ability to stir something hungry and wild inside him. He’d been fighting the urge ever since, pretending to be unaffected by her presence, burying his feelings behind a façade of cool disinterest that he knew she misread as dislike. But what could he do? Alston could never know that Graham wanted her in this way. In truth, the strength of his longing troubled him, made him feel unlike himself. And it was that, as much as anything, that kept him silent.
However, he was only a man, and yearning still lingered. If she sighed, he heard it; if she chewed her fingernail, he saw it; if she dozed off over her embroidery, he knew it. She was never still unless she slept. These were the stolen moments that he pocketed under Alston’s nose. He hoarded them like treasure.
In the bed, Alston lay still, deathly pale but breathing. Graham scrubbed a hand over his bristled face. He dared not speak. He would not interfere with whatever magic was afoot that kept Alston alive. Petrov entered with a tray of steaming hot tea and toast.
The poor valet had deep pouches of exhaustion under his eyes, but he was plainly brimming with hope. Graham took a cup of tea from Petrov. He walked over to Lady Amelia and offered it to her. An olive branch. She wiped a tear from her cheek and accepted it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Are you hungry?”
