Or it could take longer. Tempest had already sent for the best physician in the shire. Gil would never be well again but it was possible that he might linger for months, years.
“What happened?” The confusion in her eyes mirrored what he’d felt the day he’d entered an enemy hut and found his friend, thrashing on a cot, burning with fever but alive.
“The ague.” It wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to contract it. And if caught early and treated properly, most could even survive. As long as they were young, strong, and healthy.
Gil had only one of those going for him. In the months since Luke had seen him, his friend had become a shadow of his former self.
Gil claimed he’d been starved and treated poorly by his captors.
“Don’t let him touch you.” He doubted she would, and she doubted Gil had the strength to do so but… “He’s contracted the pox.”
Her eyes widened and then a tremor ran through her small frame. “The sores.”
Luke nodded and watched as all the ramifications of Gil’s return assaulted her. His fingers itched to stroke the delicate line of her jaw but he only allowed himself to reach for her hands.
She was more beautiful now than when he’d left her. And the baby. A beautiful little girl, only she looked just like her father.
He’d expected to wait a full year, but Gil’s return changed everything. The life Luke had dreamed of went up in smoke the day his unit invaded the insurgents’ compound.
It shouldn’t have.She was his.Damnit, he was hers.
“I wouldn’t.” Her voice emerged a whisper, her eyes begging him for reassurance.
Luke squeezed both of her hands but took another step back. He hated that he felt awkward with her. He hated everything about this.Cut me open and bleed me out but not this.
“We… need to wait.”
“I know… I just.” Her voice broke.
He knew what she needed to hear, but he couldn’t bring himself to speculate. No one could possibly know. And to wish the time away seemed almost evil.
Luke smiled sadly and shook his head. “Could be months. Could be years.”
She stared at him and then swallowed hard. By all rights, she was his.
“What will you do?” Her question nearly ripped his heart in two. He turned to stare at a vase of flowers placed on a pedestal near the door.
“I’ll wait to sell out.”
She stifled what he could only imagine would have been a sob. How many times had he held her while she’d cried over Gil? Luke berated himself a thousand times for not insisting he have more evidence of his men’s deaths. He ought to have investigated, demanded remains.
If he could have saved Gil all those months ago… And then there was the matter of Gil’s numerous deceptions. They were mired in a tangled mess of lies and betrayal and all he could do was wait.
“You’ll return to the conflict?”
He couldn’t look at her. “Yes.” And then he cleared his throat. “It’s for the best.”
“I love you, Luke.”
Her words sliced right through him—because he felt the same.
Gil had always complained that Luke was given more than him in life. Luke had been born the second son ofa duke—Gil, of anearl. Gil had joked that nobody ever milorded him. And then Luke had risen to the rank of major and Gil that of captain.
But for now, Gil had Naomi. He’d fathered her child. The child’s future was all that mattered. And Naomi’s reputation.
Luke jerked his head and when he met her pleading eyes, he nearly threw caution, honor, everything to the wind in order to beg her to run away with him. They could go somewhere far away.
“I love you.” Luke fisted his hands at his side upon making the admission. He wasn’t sure what the future held. “I always will.”
