My Laird's Love (My Laird's Castle Book 2) (20 page)

Setting the cloth aside, I sat on the bed next to James and lifted him to help him take the paracetamol. Water ran down his chin, but I saw him swallow, and I knew he had gotten the pills down.

My heart broke to see him suffering so, and I was terrified the treatment wasn’t working—less terrified though than I would have been had I not had another round of dosing for him.

Knowing that my body heat would do nothing to lower his temperature, I reluctantly lowered him to the pillow and stood over him, continuing to bathe his skin.
 

I looked over my shoulder at the hovering butler.

“You can go, Bracken. I’ll stay with him tonight. Where is Robbie?”

“The dog is in the kitchen, mistress. I willna go far but will be right outside should ye need me.”

“Oh, Bracken.” I sighed. I hated to think of the old man sitting on the floor sleeping, but I probably couldn’t dissuade him, so I let it go.

Bracken left, and I moved over to the bureau to dip the compress into the cool water. I returned to James’ side to continue bathing his burning skin. I had never felt skin so hot in my entire life, and I no longer felt confident that James would survive the typhoid fever. He seemed to be relapsing, and I didn’t know what to do to help him.
 

“James,” I whispered, wiping down his hot hands. I placed a kiss on one hand. “What’s happening? What can I do?”

It wasn’t like I could summon a tub of ice water to cool him down. I was contemplating asking poor Bracken to bring up buckets of cool water so that he and I could dunk James into a tub, when James started to tremble.

His entire body shook, and I grabbed his arms and held on tight as if I could stop the trembling. Then he arched his back and cried out.
 

“James,” I sobbed in terror, loosening my hold in case I was hurting him. “James!”

I don’t think he heard me, thankfully. My crying wasn’t helping anything, but I couldn’t stop.
 

James’ trembling worsened to the point of convulsions, and I wondered if he was having a seizure. I’d never seen one before. Panicked, I rolled him onto his side, some part of my brain remembering an article I’d read stating one should turn a person in the throes of a seizure onto his side to prevent choking.

 
Tears ran down my face as I gently held James on his side. In my terror, I wanted to scream for Bracken, but what could the old butler do? He knew less about what was happening to James than I.

“Just relax, sweetie,” I whispered, trying to control the break in my voice. “Just relax. Everything’s going to be all right.” I was sure the last words were meant for me.
 

I felt certain that James was going to die. I couldn’t bring his fever down, and I didn’t know what to do.

Chapter Sixteen

It seemed as if hours passed, but probably only twenty long, terrifying minutes elapsed before James stopped trembling. His eyelids fluttered as if he was trying to lift them but couldn’t. I leaned in to listen to his breathing. Fast and shallow, it began to slow and deepen, and I straightened to look at him. Sweat broke out on his forehead and ran down the side of his face.

The fever had broken!

I ran for a dry cloth and mopped up his face. Sweat saturated his nightshirt, and I knew I couldn’t leave him wallowing in wet clothing to grow cold. I needed Bracken’s help. I trotted to the door and opened it to find the butler lying on the floor, wrapped in a length of plaid blanket. I bent and shook his shoulder.

“Bracken! I need your help!”

Bracken jumped up immediately and swayed for a moment.

“Aye, mistress!” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Is it the master?” He followed me back into the room.

“Yes, he had a fever, but it has broken, and now he’s soaking wet. I need to change his nightshirt and his bedding. It’s all wet now.”

“I will see to the master, mistress. He willna take kindly to it if ye were to see him without clothing.”

“I’m not leaving, Bracken. I’ve seen a naked man before.”

Bracken’s eyes widened, but he acquiesced.
 

“He is a bit heavy. I will be glad of the help.”

Bracken took a nightshirt from a dresser, and together we changed a very heavy and unconscious James from his wet nightshirt into a dry one. Sick or not, I couldn’t help but admire the length of his tall, handsome body. I shook my head. Who stares at a sick naked man?
 

Between us, Bracken and I devised a way to change James’ bedding by rolling him from one side of the bed to the other as we worked. I assumed that a conscious James had been of much more help when Bracken had tended to his needs earlier.

“He
is
heavy!” I grunted as I rolled him to the far side of the bed while Bracken worked on the damp side.

“Aye, although a bit lighter at the moment, I would say.”

I looked up at Bracken and almost laughed, but refrained. I didn’t think the old man had been joking.
 

After much tussling and tugging, we finally got James and the bed changed, and Bracken left the room. I settled into the chair and dabbed at the remaining moisture in James’ hair.

He moaned occasionally, and I wanted to give him his pain medicine, but I didn’t want to wake him. He tossed and turned restlessly. After giving it some thought, I climbed into bed with James and held him in my arms. His body temperature was now cool, no longer feverish, and he seemed to settle with his head against my chest.

I must have fallen asleep holding him, because the next thing I knew a hand touched my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw a crack of daylight through the curtains and James looking up at me, his hand on my face.

“Good morning,” he said in a husky voice.

I smiled down at him, ignoring my initial reaction to jump out of the bed.

“Good morning.”

He dropped his hand and raised his head to look at me.

“I dinna ken what to think, ye here in my bed and all.” Though his face seemed drawn and gaunt, his smile still charmed me.

“Don’t think too much about it. You were moaning, and I was just trying to make you feel better. How are you this morning? Are you in pain? You had a terrible fever. I was terrified.”

“Were ye?” he asked. “For me?”

“Well, of course for you,” I said. “I don’t understand why you relapsed after starting the medication. Maybe that’s normal. I don’t know.”

James pushed himself to a sitting position next to me.

“Ye are completely compromised,” he said. “Did anyone see ye here...in the bed?”

“Bracken knows I’m in the room in my nightgown,” I said.
 

“Och!” James exclaimed. “That isna good.”

“It’s not a problem,” I said. “He came to get me when your fever started. It was hardly the time to worry about proper clothing.”

“Aye, perhaps,” James said in a dubious tone. “I worry for yer reputation, Maggie.”

“I’ll be fine! I’m much more worried about your health.” I slipped out from under the covers and reached for his pain medication. “Here, take these. I’ll give you your antibiotic after you’ve eaten breakfast.”

 
“Ye said ye were worried for my health, that ye were terrified. Am I dying then?” James asked, his dark brows knit into a frown.

“No, I don’t think so. I mean...I thought so last night, but you seem better today.”

“Good,” he said with a sweet smile. “Ye have gone to so much trouble for me. I wish yer efforts to prove fruitful.”

I smiled at him.

“I’m going to go wake Bracken and ask him to bring you something to eat, then I’m going to my room to wash up and change.”

“And rest,” James added.

“Probably not,” I said with a quick smile.

I opened the door and found the corridor empty. As I shut the door behind me, Bracken appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a tray of the usual broth. Robbie ran past him and up to the door of James’ room.

“Good morning, Bracken. I’m just going to my room to wash up and change. The laird is awake.”
 

“Aye, mistress. My missus asked me to remind ye that the girl is in the stables now and can take her medicine anytime.”

“Oh, that’s right. I’ll run down and see her when I’m dressed. Thank you, Bracken. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Bracken nodded and entered James’ room. I returned to my room, used the facility, washed up and dressed in the second of Beth’s loaner dresses in a lovely shade of forest green.

I went downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat before heading out to the stables.
 

“The girl is just outside on the kitchen steps, having her porridge,” Mrs. Bracken said in a gruff voice. Apparently, she still hadn’t forgiven Morna for bringing typhoid into the house.
 

“Oh, okay,” I said. I pulled the bottle from my bodice and withdrew a pill. Opening the door, I handed the medicine to Morna.

“Good morning, mistress,” she said, taking the pill with a chipped mug of tea. “How long will I have to take this medicine?”

“Two weeks from when we started,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine, mistress. Felt fine when I started the medicine.” She returned to her porridge.

I nodded. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
 

I left her eating and returned to the kitchen.

“The girl will see to her own plate, spoon and cup,” Mrs. Bracken said. “I will boil the lot when she is better...or throw them away. They are cracked and auld.”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

I sat down to my own porridge...in a finer bowl than Morna’s, and I watched the plump cook as she bustled around the kitchen.

“When do ye think the master will want to eat something more stout than broth?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Pretty soon, I hope. I don’t want to push him too soon. Typhoid fever is very hard on the stomach and the intestines.”

“Aye, that’s all right then,” Mrs. Bracken said. “I ken that is true enough.”

I ate in silence after that, drank down some tea and hurried back upstairs to see James. I heard a raspy voice coming from the partially opened door.

“I demand some decent porridge, Bracken. I canna tolerate another swallow of this swill!”

“Now, master, ye ken Mrs. Bracken’s broth is quite good. Mistress Scott has given instructions ye are to continue the broth until she says otherwise.”

 
I pushed open the door, strode in and came to Bracken’s rescue.

“Yes, that’s right,” I said imperiously. “You’re lucky that you’re getting bread. I’ve had Mrs. Bracken’s broth. It’s very good, as a matter of fact.”

James, holding a bowl of the maligned broth, drew in a deep breath and sighed.
 

“But how much longer must I drink this? I want something stouter to eat. I am hungry, lass! I willna get better if I canna eat something to give me strength!”

I almost smiled at the petulance in James’ voice.
 

“Yes, you will. The broth has plenty of nutrients and liquids. You need to let your stomach settle...and your intestines.”

James eyed the bowl with an expression of discontent.
 

“My gut, ye mean,” he mumbled.
 

“Aye, yer gut,” I teased. “I’m no doctor, as you know, but I do have a lot of common sense. If you have no more stomach or intestinal pain between now and tomorrow morning, I think we could try some porridge.”

“Porridge, aye,” James said. “It isna much to ask for.” His lips folded into an uncharacteristic pout.

I did smile at that.

“No, it isn’t,” I said kindly. “You do have some bread to eat with your broth, don’t you?” I eyed a small piece of brown bread sitting on a plate by the bed.

“Aye, I must count myself fortunate to have that, I suppose. The same fare as prisoners, I dinna doubt. Broth and a bit of bread.”

I sat down in the chair beside his bed, noting that at some point, Bracken had slipped out of the room.

“Oh, come now. It’s not that bad. It really is for your own good, James. I’m not doing this to be cruel.”

“I ken, lass,” James said on another sigh. “I ken I am being childish.”

“It’s hard to be sick, James. I know it.”

He looked at me, the knot in his forehead relaxing.

“Aye, I suppose ye do, Maggie. Forgive me for bawling.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, James. I understand how you feel.”

A knock on the door caught our attention, and the door opened. Bracken peeked in.

“The soldiers have returned, Mistress Scott, and they are asking to see ye and Morna. Dr. MacDougall accompanies them.”

I stiffened and threw a frightened look toward James. He slammed his bowl down on the table and pushed the covers aside as if he was going to get out of bed. I jumped up and stayed him.

“No, James, you can’t go out there. First off, you’re probably still contagious. You don’t want to infect anyone. And you’re too weak.”