His tread heavy with despair, Charles left the room.
Nellie hovered in the corridor. Her lovely eyes were clouded with worry. “How is she?”
He opened his mouth, but to his distress, only a slight groan emerged. “Not well,” he managed to utter. Tears flooded his eyes. Afraid he looked like a weakling, he attempted to push past her.
Nellie put out a hand to stop him. She took his arm. “Come to my bedchamber. We can talk there.”
Chapter Twenty-One
In Nellie’s bedchamber,Charles fell into a chair and passed a hand over his eyes. The surge of love and compassion she felt for him tightened Nellie’s throat and rendered her silent. She had come to recognize the rigid control he kept over himself at such times. Her vision blurred with tears, which she quickly dashed away. She wanted to be strong for him. And she would not allow him to shut her out. The past didn’t matter. Not even her fear that he didn’t love her.
“Darling, what is it?” Finding her voice, she kneeled beside his chair and rested her head against his thigh. She refused to withhold her love from him.
His hand smoothed over her hair, his eyes dark and miserable. “Nellie,” he said softly. “I’ve missed you.So much.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” she murmured, a catch in her voice.
She climbed to her feet and held out her hand to him. “Come and lie down with me.”
“On the Sabbath?” A sensual smile lit his eyes. There was the man she’d fallen in love with. With one look, he could make her weak with wanting, but she wished now only to hold him in her arms.
She managed a tremulous smile. “I don’t recall it worrying you in the past. But I mean only to offer you comfort.”
His eyes held a gleam. “And while that is a most appealing offer, it’s best I don’t risk it.” He reached for her hand and drew her down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her, his warm breath feathering her cheek. “Nellie,” he said softly. “Just let me hold you.” She leaned into him, listening to the beat of his heart, comforted by his familiar smell and strong arms. “I want things back to the way they were when it was good between us.”
“I want that too, Charles.”
He stirred on the chair, and she could sense the tension flowing through him. “I must speak to Jason and find out about this doctor. His treatment doesn’t seem to be helping my mother.”
A knock on the door brought Nellie and Charles to their feet.
The footman carried in her dog. “Lilly wishes to know if you require her services, Your Grace.”
“Yes, tell her to come, James.”
Peter scampered across the carpet and made several unsuccessful attempts to leap onto the high bed.
“Into your basket, you rascal,” Charles ordered, half-amused by the dog’s antics. Peter merely wagged his tail.
Charles stood with a hand on the door latch. “We must talk, sweetheart. But I’ll see Jason now. They have returned from church. I heard the crunch of carriage wheels on the gravel.” He shook his head. “I give it two minutes before that dog is on your bed. He is not to be there when I am.”
“I’ll explain your feelings to Peter.”
A faint smile flickered over his lips. “We shall continue this at a later time. When you’ve changed your clothes, join us in the drawing room.”
After the door closed, Nellie curled up on the bed with her dog. “You shall have to sleep in your basket when your master is here.” She buried her face in his soft fur. “Oh, he is so worried, my heart aches for him. She must be so dreadfully ill.”
Peter whined and licked her cheek.
Nellie was sitting at her dressing table, sorting through her jewelry box, when Lilly entered.
“There was a bible reading in the servants’ hall after the meal,” Lilly called through the open dressing room door, where she was taking Nellie’s clothes out of the trunk. “Mr. Feeley read it beautifully. He has such a pleasant voice.”
Nellie paused with a gold chain necklace in her hand. “There is nothing between you and Mr. Feeley, is there, Lilly?”
Lilly appeared at the door. “I do like him, Your Grace.” Nellie turned and took note of the maid’s wide eyes and flushed cheeks. She replaced the necklace and rose from the stool. “He has a bad reputation with women. Please, please be careful, Lilly.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Lilly cast her eyes down and became intent of smoothing out the rumpled shawl she held in her hands.
