A warmth that he had never experienced swept through him, replacing the terror that had risen when he saw the cobra.
Sterling had never comforted a child before and acted on instinct by holding her close and patting her back. Only then did he notice Caroline beside him, frightfully pale, tears in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”
It was not necessary to thank him because anyone would have done exactly what he had if they had come across Livia. He justhappened to be the first person who saw her.
*
It took sometime but Livia finally fell asleep. Caroline could only hope that she did not have nightmares and that because she was a child, might forget this incident.
Caroline had praised her over and over for being brave and remembering the lessons she had been told and even though her daughter calmed, Caroline’s hands still shook.
It had taken everything in her being not to run to her daughter or call out. Instincts to save Livia were in opposition to what needed to be done in that situation. Instead, she stood helpless while Sterling gently called out instructions and Livia slowly obeyed. Caroline was certain that she did not breathe until Livia was in Sterling’s arms.
Thank goodness it had been Sterling who came across Livia because Caroline was not so certain she wouldn’t have panicked and thus put her daughter in worse danger, just as Lady Wyndham had feared when she kept telling Caroline to be calm.
She wanted to thank him again, but the later it grew, and when he didn’t come, Caroline assumed that he would not. Therefore, she started to prepare for bed when there was a quiet tap on her door. When she opened, she found a concerned Sterling on her doorstep but he was looking behind her as if he anticipated to find someone else there.
“How is Livia?” he finally asked.
“She is finally asleep.” Caroline stepped back and opened the door further so that he could enter.
“I hope that she does not suffer nightmares.”
“I fear that may be me,” she responded honestly. “Thank you. I do not know what…”
“It did not,” he cut her off.
“We have told her what to do since she was a…” Caroline offered a dry chuckle. “I was going to say child, which she still is, but one never knows if a child truly listens or even remembers.”
“She listened,” he reminded her. “She also followed instructions.”
This had been the most terrifying day of her life.
Sterling reached out and took her hands in his. “You are trembling.”
She had been since she’d stepped out on the terrace and saw her five-year-old daughter slowly backing away from a cobra and had been unable to help her.
“Do you have brandy? If not, I can return to the house and bring some back.”
“We do,” she murmured, pulling away and going to the sideboard in the dining room to retrieve a bottle and two glasses. When she returned, Sterling took them from her and poured.
“Thank you,” she offered when he handed her a glass.
She took a sip and closed her eyes and welcomed the burn down the back of her throat then warmth in her stomach before she looked at Sterling.
“I wish you would have told me what my mother was about.”
Caroline sank down onto the bed, thankful to have something else to think about. “To tell you the truth, I did not know what to do. When she asked me to assist, I did not know you, but I knew your mother and she asked it of me.”
He stared at her not saying anything and she waited to see if he was angry with her even though he had not been upset with his mother.
“I understand,” he finally said. “At least you did not lie to me when I asked.”
“I did not tell you anything,” she reminded him. There was much that she wasn’t telling him.
“No. You held my mother’s confidence, which I respect, but youlet me know that my suspicions were correct when you could have lied to me.”
