“Where, Miss? In this room?”
Fable didn’t answer.
“No, Miss,” Edith told her. “I didn’t see him.”
Suddenly Fable was overcome with loneliness. Oh, she’d experienced it before, plenty of times. But this time was especially painful. Benjamin West was a man she could have loved passionately, madly. But she was poor–and poor wasn’t a good thing to be. So much that a father reached across the grave to make certain his son never married beneath him.
Fable had been poor all her life. It never hurt as much as it did now. He’d never be with her. Even if he defied his father’s last wish, his sister wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace.
He went and brought her in from the rain. It didn’t mean anything except what she already knew. He was a good guy. He was staying away now, wasn’t he? She sighed with frustration. How long before she was well enough to leave?
She asked Edith to ask the physician, who informed the duke of her question. He finally showed up by her bed when night settled over Colchester and she woke from a fevered dream of being in her bed with him, safe in his arms.
He wasn’t in her bed, but standing by it. Light from the hearth-fire and the many candles surrounding them provided Fable a clear view of him.
When he saw her eyes open, he let out a sigh. Then, “How are you feeling?”
She might be delusional but the quiet gentleness in his voice was missing, leaving his question cold.
“I think I’ll live.”
He was silent for a moment, then, “What do you mean by asking the physician how long before you’re well enough to leave?”
“Listen, Your Grace, you’ve done enough for me. I need to be going.”
“Going where? I don’t want you going off alone again at the mercy of someone unpleasant.”
She froze as an icy fissure ran up her spine, to her head, bringing back the memory of being followed in the pouring rain–and the time-traveler’s voice.
You call for the duke. Do you know him?
Why would he ask that of all questions? Didheknow the duke? She set her gaze on Ben’s face. “I heard his voice.”
“Who,” he asked.
“The one who brought me here. The time-traveler. That night in the rain…he was following me and then he asked me if I knew you.”
“You saw him the night you left?” His voice quavered a little and the blood drained from his face.
“Yes.”
“I thought I saw…something. When I reached you, you were alone.”
She nodded her head. “He was there before you. He may have still been there when you arrived. It was almost impossible to see him in the rain. Otherwise, if he had more time, he would have probably tied me to his horse and taken me to Ipswich. Why else would he have followed me here?”
He stood over the bed, grinding his jaw and balling his hands into fists at his sides. “I should have come for you sooner. I shouldn’t have let you go.”
She remembered his words before she left. “Your Grace, I know you don’t want to have to concern yourself with me.”
He grimaced as if her words pained him. “I misspoke. Forgive me.”
She nodded easily, but then shook her head. “You’re not responsible for me.”
“I said I would protect you.”
“Well, I release you from that obligation.”
“I can’t be released from it,” he told her. “Though, I can’t promise how long until I’m called back to fight for the king.It’s what I have been waiting for. It’s what I need.”
