“What is it?” he growled in a low, irritated pitch Evie had rarely heard him use.
“Your father, my lord. Mrs. Reed sent me to inform you that he’s taken a turn.”
The servant stood silently, eyes wide, body tense, as if awaiting orders. But Gray said nothing. He stood frozen in front of Evie. She laid a hand against his back and felt the tautness of his muscles and the tremor rippling through him.
“His lordship will be up directly. Thank you,” Evie told the footman.
The young man departed, and Evie moved to stand in front of Gray. Only when she reached up to touch his cheek did he finally look at her.
“You should go,” she told him gently.
He wrapped his hand around hers. “Come with me?”
The words were spoken quietly, his voice rasping with emotion. Evie knew all the reasons she should refuse. Her aunt would certainly admonish her. The guests’ rumormongering would have fresh fodder. But Gray needed her. Even as the strong, golden lion of a man that he’d become, he neededher.
And she loved him too much to worry about propriety.
“Yes.”
CHAPTER8
Mrs. Reed met them on the threshold of his father’s room, and Gray sensed Evie hesitation and they approached.
“It’s all right,” he whispered as they strode toward the white-haired woman. “Mrs. Reed, how is my father?”
“I didn’t expect that fetch you quite so dramatically, my lord.” She lifted her hands, pressing her palms together. “Now, this is what I know. His Grace has a fever, and those sometimes come and go, though they often leave him a bit weaker. I trust we can bring it down overnight as we’ve done before.”
“And if you can’t?”
“Then I’ll send for his doctor, and we’ll determine whether he’s caught a chill.” She cast a glare upward as if she could see through the ceiling plaster and roof tiles to the rain pattering down on the castle’s ancient stones. “This weather often exacerbates his aches and plays havoc with his breathing. But he’s a strong man, and he’ll pull through.” She looked confident, but Gray wasn’t as familiars with the ups and downs of his father’s health and fear still gripped him.
“Perhaps we should send for the doctor now. As a precaution.”
The older woman assessed him a moment, and he suspected she wished to protest. But after another moment’s contemplation, she nodded.
“As you wish, my lord.”
“Is there anything we can do?” The feel of Evie’s arm brushing against his, her very presence, allowed his mind a measure of calm that his body didn’t feel. He felt an urgency, a compulsion, to know he’ddonesomething.
Even now, he found he wanted to prove himself to the old man.
“You could go in and see him, if you like. He was sleeping when I stepped into the hall. I give him laudanum at night, so he’ll not rouse. But your presence might do him good.”
When Gray started past her, he reached for Evie’s hand.
Mrs. Reed noticed, and one of her snowy brows winged high.
Gray didn’t care. He wanted Evie in his life, and he didn’t intend to keep anything from her.
When they stepped into the room, the heat made the camphor smell almost overwhelming. They’d fed his fireplace until the flames licked up toward the flue. It made sense that Mrs. Reed wished to keep him as warm as possible.
The nurse stood aside as Gray approached his father’s sick bed with Evie at his side.
“His color is good,” Evie whispered.
“Is it?” Gray knew next to nothing about illness and medicine. Perhaps because of his mother, he tended to avoid it.
“Indeed. And he’s breathing steadily.” She gestured toward the steady rise and fall of his father’s frail chest under the covers.
