To Have and to Hold (10 page)

“Come on now,
you must drink some.”
 
Isobel’s drowsy
gaze locked with his beseeching look as she felt something being held against
her lips.
 
Instinctively, she opened her
mouth and swallowed the warm concoction, coughing violently as it settled
harshly upon her cold and empty stomach.
 
It tasted slightly salty and warm but other than that Isobel had no idea
what he had just given her.
 
She tried
desperately to move her head away but found herself held more firmly against
the solid wall of his chest, his face mere inches from her
own.
 
Once
again, something
was placed against her lips.
 
“Please
now, come on you must drink this.”
 
His
richly masculine voice held a stern tone of authority that even Isobel couldn’t
ignore.
 
She frowned, wondering what she
had done to incur his wrath.
 

Isobel tried
desperately to plead with him with her eyes but couldn’t find the strength to
keep her gaze locked upon his.
 
Instinctively, she allowed him to feed her the strange concoction until
exhaustion overtook her, and she once again slipped into the darkness.

“That’s more
than we have been able to get down her since yesterday sir,” Mrs Holcombe
murmured as she settled the blankets and sheets once more around the prone
woman lying before them.

“It’s not enough
though,” Dominic murmured eyeing Isobel’s pale face against the white cotton
pillow.
 
“She needs more if she is going
to survive.”
 
Frustration seethed within
him at the sheer helplessness of the situation.
 
Although she was drinking the broth Cook had made her, there had been no
improvement in her condition since the day she had arrived and that was nearly
three days ago now.

“I’ll sit with
her for a while,” Dominic murmured as he sank into the chair beside the
bed.
 
Ignoring the women as they
collected various items from around the room before eventually leaving, he
picked up Isobel’s limp hand.
 
The long
tapered fingers were calloused and marked. He wondered what she had endured
during her time away.
 
Slowly, he trailed
the sharp protrusion of the bones of her fingers, following the blue veins
upwards towards her wrist.
  
No Lady
should have been put into the position she had.
 
Nobody, male or female should ever feel so desperate in their situation
that life on the streets was the only way out.
 

Carefully
lifting her hand into his, he slid his fingers between hers, holding her hand
to his, palm to palm.
 
Placing a soft
kiss upon the back, he placed their entwined hands back on the bed before
him.
 
Gently, he lay his head down next
to them and allowed exhaustion to claim him.

She was
alive.
 
Now all he had to do was keep her
that way.

CHAPTER FOUR

Isobel became
aware of softness beneath her fingertips.
 
The softest, fine silk captured her fingers in its gentle snare and
tickled.
 
All of her senses locked onto
the feeling as she slowly moved her fingers, feeling it swirl and shimmer in
response.
 

“Isobel?”
Suddenly, the
silk was gone causing Isobel to break out of her revere.
 
Isobel slowly dragged her eyes open,
astonished at the sheer effort such a small movement could take.

“Dominic?”
 
Isobel swallowed harshly at the scratchy
burning in her throat.
 
“What?
Where?”
 
She tried to
pick her head up off the pillow only to find what scant energy she had
evaporated like a puff of smoke.
 
Her
chest ached, and breathing seemed such hard work.

“You are at
Tavistock
Hall my darling,” Dominic murmured softly,
offering her a small smile of reassurance.
 
Quickly, he rose and tugged on the bell pull beside the bed.
 
“You are perfectly safe now.”
 
Fighting to hide the sheer relief that surged
through him, he carefully eased her off the pillows and held a cup of water to
her lips, pleased when she drank greedily.
   

“Safe?”
 
Isobel croaked hoarsely, wincing as the
throbbing headache increased in strength.
 
“Why does my head hurt so?”
 
Her
throat felt raw and hot.
 

“Because you
haven’t eaten enough and are quite poorly,” Dominic murmured his voice sterner
with stark memory of the last few hours.
 
“You must eat and rest if you are to get well again.”
 

Isobel eyed the
room around them.
 
Entirely masculine in
design the dark oak panelling gleamed in the firelight.
 
Decorated in reds, browns and
golds
it was simple in design yet bespoke of an understated
wealth.
 
Isobel frowned as she eyed the
heavy marbled fireplace and solid furniture adorning the walls of the clearly
masculine room.

“Do you have any
idea how worried we have been for you?”
 
His eyes scanned her pale features, tenderly tracing each new curve and
hollow.
 
Even with her hair cut
unfashionably short, with her startling blue eyes she had an ensnaring beauty
about her that made him wonder how she had succeeded in fooling anyone into
thinking she was a boy.

“Worried?”
 
Isobel murmured wearily as she reluctantly
drew her gaze back to his.
 
She had so
many questions to ask.
 
So many things
she wanted to say but couldn’t form the words.
 
Suddenly, she realised where she was.
 
“I should not be here, I must leave at once.”
 
She gritted her teeth and tried desperately
to raise herself from the bed only to have Dominic immediately push her back
down again, a fierce glint of reproach in his eye.

“You are not
going anywhere.”
 
His voice was
firm.
 
“Where would you expect to go
anyway?”
 
He was curious and determined
she wouldn’t be leaving the bed.

“I don’t know,”
she whispered feeling tears beginning to well.
 
“But I cannot stay.”
 
Misery
swamped her.
 
It was so wonderful to be
so close to the man who was now burned into her very soul, but the joy was
marred by the pain of being so close to someone who could never be hers.
 

“Why
not?”
 
Dominic murmured, gently sitting down on the
armchair beside the bed.
 
Tenderly, he
smoothed a few stray strands of hair away from her face, pleased when she
didn’t flinch under his touch.
 
He
frowned at her clear distress.
 
Quickly,
he scanned the room, looking for anything amiss that would upset her so.
 
Moments ago she had been quite relaxed.
 
Muddled but at ease.
 
Now she seemed so uncomfortable Dominic
wouldn’t have been surprised if she had jumped out of bed and ran around the
room.
 

“How long have I
been here?”
 
Isobel looked towards the
window.
 
A fine blanket of snow covered
what she could see of the ground outside.
 
The last Isobel could remember, it had been windy and raining, certainly
too wet for snow to settle.

“You have been
here for a week now.”
  
Dominic replied
smiling softly at her startled gasp.
 
“And it has been a very eventful and difficult week I can tell
you.”
 
He chided softly as he watched her
guilty start.
 

“I’m sorry,”
Isobel murmured once again trying to get out of the bed.
  
“I’ve imposed on your good nature long
enough.
 
I must leave.”
 
She tried desperately not to show just how
weak she was and wondered how she would manage to get out of bed.

“My
good nature!”
 
Dominic began to frown, not sure where she
was heading.
 
“What do you expect me to
do Isobel?
 
Leave you out in the
cold?”
 

“I don’t want to
cause you any more inconvenience.”

“Inconvenience?”
 
Dominic lurched to his feet and stood beside
the bed feeling his temper rise.
 
“What
do you mean inconvenience?
 
You are not
some bloody vague relation happening by.”

“I’m sorry I
don’t mean to anger you.
 
I just don’t
want to cause you any problems given our past....”
 
Isobel glanced around the room at a loss to
find the right words.
 
“...association.”
 
She ended
weakly and watched nervously as his temper rose.

“Association?”
 
Dominic shook his head in stunned surprise
knowing he sounded dense by keep repeating her sentences.
 
“We were lovers Isobel!”
 
He hated to be so blunt, but they couldn’t
hide the fact that they had been far more than mere ‘associates.”
 
He felt irked that she could so blithely put
him into that category.

“I just don’t
want to make things awkward for you.
 
Your wife wouldn’t like me being here.”
 
Using every ounce of courage within her, she ignored his bristling anger
and continued on.
 
Dropping her gaze to
the coverlet across her knees, she began to pluck randomly at the soft material
as she continued.
 
“I am sorry for any
discontent my presence here has already caused.
 
Please if you could get my clothes I shall leave forthwith.”
 
She once again tried to roll over to stand
only to find herself firmly grasped by the shoulders and pushed backwards until
she was lying upon the bed.
 
Reluctantly,
she gave in with a deep sigh and flopped down upon the sheets exhausted.

“My
what?”
 
Dominic’s voice was deadly as his gaze
captured and held hers.
 
He stood beside
the bed, anger clearly evident on the harshness of his features as he glared at
her.
 
His voice softened menacingly.
 
Everything within the lavishly decorated room
seemed to pause.
 
No sound could be heard
other than the wheezing rattle in her chest as she breathed and fought down the
rising wave of panic that immediately sapped her courage.

“Y-your
wife.”
 
Isobel replied trying hard but failing to
keep the quiver of hurt from her voice.
 
She knew she should be angry but couldn’t seem to find a way through the
hurt that flowed through her veins like molten lava.

“My
wife.”
 
Dominic replied dully as he stared at her, a
growing lump of dread forming in his chest.
 
“Who told you I had a wife Isobel?”
  
He tried to keep his tone light against the anger building within.
 
Already he knew the answer but needed to hear
it from her lips.
 
His heart jolted when
she replied.

“Aunt
Elspeth.”
 

“Elspeth?”
 
His voice echoed incredulously.
 
“Are you sure?”