“Brody.” She took a ragged breath and grabbed the edge of the tub when she felt herself sway to one side. “Please go.”
Instead of budging, he crossed his arms. “I’d rather not leave you alone, but I promise upon my honor that I will refrain from looking while you tend to yourself. Will that do?”
Too weak to argue any further, she agreed and waited until he’d presented her with his back before ridding herself of the soaked padding. Moving slowly while leaning her weight against the tub, she put fresh ones in their place then wrapped the towel around herself once more.
“I’m…ready,” she said, hugging her trembling body.
Leaping back into motion, Brody retrieved a dry shirt and dropped it over her head, then pulled her arms through the sleeves.
“There.” Standing before her, he ran his hands up and down her arms with long soothing strokes. “That should do it.”
“Thank you.”
The desire she’d seen in his eyes when they’d stood in his library yesterday evening had been replaced by tender concern. His hands assessed her cheeks and her brow while searching her face with his gaze. She watched as his throat worked, straining as he swallowed.
“You’re still very warm.” The whispered words fluttered across her nose. “Come. Let’s get you to bed and we’ll see about cleaning your teeth.”
She rolled her eyes but allowed him to do as he wished. If he ever needed to seek additional work, she had no doubt he’d do well as a lady’s maid.
“How’s your stomach faring?” he asked once he’d gathered supplies. “Any nausea right now?”
She took a deep breath and expelled it slowly to test the state she was in. Her stomach seemed to have settled. “No.”
“Let me know if that changes. I’d hate to make you feel worse.” He glanced at the clock on her dresser, studying it as if with concern.
“What is it?” she asked.
He swallowed, then shook his head swiftly and forced a smile. “Nothing.”
Without adding anything further, he put some powder on a small silver brush and ran it along her teeth with light scrubbing motions. Holding a small glass bowl he’d collected from next to the wash stand, he urged her to spit, before handing her the rest of her tea.
She drank while he cleaned away the supplies. There was something so temptingly domestic about it. The night they’d just shared was so intimate, she wondered if she would ever know such closeness with anyone else.
When he returned to her bedside, he perched on the edge of the mattress. The smile he gave her was filled with such adoration, she longed to throw her arms around him and hold onto him forever.
“How are you feeling?”
“Hot and uncomfortable.”
“And your stomach?”
“I think it may have settled.”
“That’s excellent news. I’ll ask Cook to make you some toast once the doctor has been to see you. I’m sure he’ll arrive any moment but…” He tilted his head at the sound of a downstairs door opening and closing. Approaching footsteps sounded.
Brody swooped in and pressed his mouth to hers with possessive force. The kiss took no more than a second, but it certainly left her fevered brain reeling. She gasped and stared at him in wonder as he leapt away from the bed and positioned himself near the washstand. When the footman arrived with the doctor, all the two men saw was a worried host trying to make his guest comfortable by preparing a compress.
“Doctor Heartfelt,” Brody said, his voice so calm and serious, it completely clashed with Harriet’s riotous state of being. “Thank you for coming at such an early hour. I believe the ailment my guest is suffering from is due to something he ate before he arrived. Nevertheless, I thought it best to check since the fever appears to be high.”
The doctor scanned the room for a moment before approaching the bed. Wary of his studious gaze, Harriet drew her blankets all the way up to the tip of her nose. Stopping beside her, the doctor pressed his hand to her forehead. “I agree. Can you please go over the symptoms for me?”
Brody did so while Harriet closed her eyes. They were so hot and tired they hurt.
“It is worth noting,” Brody finished, “that Mr. Michaels’s sister has suffered a similar illness, from which she is now recovering.”
“And how long did her symptoms last?” asked the doctor.
“One day.”
