Page 32 of Captivating the Earl (Lords and Ladies in Love 5)

Lizzie might have objected to his highhandedness if she didn’t feel so very terrible. Right now all she wanted was a soft bed, darkness, and a cloth soaked in lavender.

The driver returned and opened the door. “My lord, there is a room already prepared. The innkeeper’s wife will show you when you are ready.”

Hawk shifted forward with Lizzie in his arms. He stood and twisted so he could back out of the coach. He walked slowly, for which she was grateful. But more pressing now than her headache was the nausea. She needed to get to a chamber pot. And soon.

“My lord, I have the room all prepared. If you will follow me.” The innkeeper’s wife led them up the stairs while Lizzie fought to keep her last meal down.

Hawk carried her to the bed and laid her gently down. “My lord, may I speak with the innkeeper’s wife?” Lizzie continued to swallow, but it was becoming harder by the minute to keep her stomach from rebelling.

“Certainly.” He slid his hands out from under her and moved toward the door. “Please assist my wife in undressing. I will send for a doctor.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Lizzie was too sick to worry about them staying at another inn as husband and wife. Right now with the pain she was enduring, the last thing she cared about was being ruined.

“My lady, may I help you with your clothing?”

Lizzie rolled onto her side and whispered, “What I need more than anything right now is a chamber pot. I am about to vomit.”

In one swift movement, the innkeeper’s wife tugged a chamber pot from underneath the bed just in time for Lizzie to make use of it.

Chapter Fourteen

For the second day in a row, Hawk had presented them to an innkeeper as husband and wife. If anyone discovered this subterfuge, Lizzie would never get past the scandal. And he would be forced to ask her to marry him.

That thought did not bring the panic it would have only a few weeks before. Either the fresh air of the country had affected his mind, or being wedded to Lizzie was not an unpleasant idea.

Duty to his title demanded he take a wife at some point and fill his nursery, but he’d decided after he buried his sister that he would marry someone for whom he felt only mild affection and respect. No great love for him. It hurt too much when someone you loved died. It occurred to him that Lizzie would not be a wife he could easily label “affection only.”

So far, they’d been lucky, and hadn’t encountered anyone who would carry tales back to London. Although that was a serious problem, right now he needed to find a physician to look at Lizzie. He was a bit concerned. She’d been quite pale and seemed to be in a great deal of pain.

He lingered in the private dining room, nursing a glass of brandy as he waited for the village physician to arrive. Hawk had never suffered from headaches, but several people of his acquaintance had a penchant for miserable ones. Unfortunately, from what he’d just witnessed, Lizzie fell into that category.

“My lord, the physician has arrived, and I sent him upstairs to your wife.” The innkeeper wiped his hands on a cloth as he entered the room. “Did your lordship wish tea, or a meal, perhaps?”

“I will take a luncheon once the physician has left.” Hawk was torn between going upstairs with the physician or not. He didn’t want to invade Lizzie’s privacy, but he was also concerned for her health. Remembering her recent fall, he decided to venture upstairs to at least make sure the physician knew of that event.

The door stood open, and the physician leaned over Lizzie in the bed, chatting with her. Someone had helped her out of her clothes and dressed her in nightclothes. The window drapes had been drawn, and a lone candle burned on the small table next to her bed.

He looked up as Hawk entered. “Oh, good afternoon, my lord. I was just asking your wife about her health. She says she has a rather nasty headache.”

“Did her ladyship tell you about the toss she took from her horse a few days ago?”

“No.” The physician studied Lizzie. “Did you suffer an injury, my lady?”

“Yes. She was knocked unconscious and was treated with bed rest.” Hawk ignored the narrowing of Lizzie’s eyes at him answering for her. He shrugged. No matter. While she was under his protection, he would act on her behalf. He would not fail someone in his care again.

“I see.” The physician picked up her hand and placed his fingertips to her inner wrist. He waited for about a minute, then dropped her hand. “Did you have these headaches before your fall?”

“Yes. Not to this extent, however.”

The physician looked at Hawk. “I suggest your wife submit to bloodletting.”

“No!” Both Hawk and Lizzie answered at the same time.

The physician stepped back from the bed, his body stiff. “That is my professional opinion, my lord.”

Lizzie closed her eyes and turned her head away from the man.