“How are you feeling?” He kept his voice low as he moved toward her.
She attempted to shift on the bed and groaned. “A b-b-bit sore, I am afr-r-raid.”
He quickly set the tray down on the table next to her. “No. Don’t move. I will help you.” He wrapped his hands around her slim waist and moved her up. She wore nothing except a thin nightgown. The warmth from her soft skin heated his hands to where he felt as though they would burst into flames.
Once she was settled, he took a deep breath. “I brought you some dinner. Do you feel up to eating?”
“Had y-y-you asked me a few hours ag-g-go I would have said no. My st-st-stomach was quite upset fr-from the r-ride, but now I find I am quite hungry.”
He shook out the napkin Mrs. Fletcher had placed on the tray and tucked it under her chin. She flushed a bright red and he almost laughed at her shyness. He placed the tray on her lap.
“Have y-y-you eaten?” Her eyes wandered over the tray of thick beef soup with vegetables, bread, butter and a small tart.
“No. I will eat later.” He pulled up a chair alongside the bed and sat back, leaning his foot on his bent knee, watching her.
She picked up the bread and looked at him. “I c-c-can’t eat if you are g-g-oing to st-st-stare at me.” She grinned and took a bite of bread to counter her statement.
“Very well. I am hungry myself.” He turned to the maid at the door. “Dorothy, please fetch a tray for me from Mrs. Fletcher in the kitchen.”
The girl bobbed. “Certainly, sir.”
He turned back to see Pamela running her tongue over her lips. His male parts immediately responded. He shifted in the chair. “We have quite a bit to talk about, but I think that can wait until after we have eaten.”
Pamela nodded and swallowed a bite and wiped her mouth. “I g-g-guess what I n-n-need to know is what do I d-d-do now? I have nowhere to l-live and I still haven’t t-t-told you what else happened to m-m-me today.”
“Do not concern yourself with where you will live. I want you to concentrate on getting better and as soon as you are able, we are going to London.”
8
“L-London?” Pamela’s spoon stopped midway from the bowl of the delicious soup to her mouth.
“Yes. But before I tell you about what I’ve learned today I want to know why you spent your day getting run over by a carriage.”
Pamela gasped. “You m-a-make it sound as though I planned m-m-my day around the accident. Although, it w-w-was not an accident.”
“I think we have established that.” Nick studied her. “Tell me how that came about.”
She took a deep breath and began her tale. “Early th-this afternoon I found the d-d-door to Lizbeth’s r-room open. Since n-no one was around, I went inside—”
Loud groan from Nick.
She frowned at him. “—Th-there was a paperboard b-b-box on the floor across the r-room in front of the window. I opened the b-box and found m-m-many of Lizbeth’s things in th-there.” She shifted a bit, almost spilling the soup. “There were th-things like her hairbrush, toothbrush, h-hairpins. Things that n-no woman would leave b-behind if she m-moved.”
She stopped to take a sip of tea. “Unfortunately, Mrs. O’Leary f-f-found me th-th-there.”
“Of course, she did.” Nick nodded at Dorothy as she placed a tray of food on the table next to the bed. “What did she say?”
“She was qu-quite angry and l-let me know I h-had no right to be in that r-room.”
“Which was correct. You had no right and, based on your suspicion about that room and its inhabitants, very foolish to even be there.” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Go on.”
“Right after th-that I left to join Addie and Lottie for t-t-tea one last t-t-time at Addie’s b-bookstore since she has s-s-sold it and wanted to retrieve a few personal items from th-there.” She laid the spoon down alongside the now empty bowl and took another sip of tea.
“When I r-r-returned to my b-b-boarding house I had expected another lecture fr-from Mrs. O’Leary, but instead she was quite pl-pleasant and asked me to make a tr-trip to the gr-greengrocer to pick up things she n-n-needed for dinner.”
He frowned. “Does she usually do that?”
She shrugged. “Not many t-t-times, but I have done her a f-favor or two like that since I’ve lived th-there.”