Gillian bit back her whimpers as circulation returned to her extremities, feeling rather foolish. She should have been paying more attention to the ice and she’d ruined the duke’s day. She huddled in a ball beneath the blankets as gentle hands pressed to her brow and asked her the same questions over and over. Her toes had never been so interesting before. Everyone who came into the room seemed to inquire about them.
“A physician has been sent for,” Stapleton informed her.
Gillian glanced up and discovered the duke standing beside the bed, watching her with a grim expression.
“I’m fine,” she promised him. “I don’t need a doctor.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He turned slightly and she saw a line of servants behind him. “You may all return to your duties. Mrs. Thorpe will ring if she requires further assistance.”
The housekeeper nodded and shooed everyone away. “Very well, your grace.”
“I feared they’d never leave us alone.” He leaned forward suddenly, kissed her brow and then dug beneath the blankets for her hand. He caressed her fingers in his warmer grip and then nodded. “Your feet next.”
Gillian balked. She had no desire to come out from under the blankets yet. “They’re fine. You should be getting back to your guests. It’s not proper for you to remain.”
“Do not argue with me,” he warned. “Any familiarity between us will be forgiven under the circumstances.”
He fell to his knees beside the bed, tunneled along under the blankets, and caught her foot in his warm hand. His fingers were gentle as he caressed her skin, and then he pinched the tip of each toe in turn. “Five toes?”
“I felt them all,” she assured him.
“Now the other.”
Gillian pushed her other foot toward him and suffered another intimate inspection that revealed her toes had not suffered any loss of sensation from the terrible cold. “You see? I’m perfectly fine.”
Gillian attempted to sit up but he held her down by the shoulders. “You are to remain abed for the rest of today and tonight. Don’t you dare move!”
“You’re being silly, your grace.” Gillian got out of bed. “Movement will be good for my circulation.”
“Seeing you like that is havoc on mine,” he promised before catching her against him. He held her in silence and then snatched a blanket off the bed to wrap her in. “What am I going to do with you?”
Gillian pushed him away. “I should see to Jessica,” she began.
“She is in the next room, waiting her turn to fuss over you. I’m allowing her to retire from entertaining our guests for the rest of today and tonight.” He frowned. “I’ve never seen her so terrified.”
“As soon as I discovered I was on solid ground, I knew I would be all right.” She tightened the blanket around her, well aware of her brush with death. “It just took a little too long to get out of the water without becoming chilled.”
He drew close again. His arms were firm about her body, and so warm she sighed in pleasure. “Every moment seemed an agony for me until you were in my arms. Please, stay here tonight and rest. You don’t have to remain in bed but it would please me very much if you had no chance to become chilled.”
Nicolas’ first wife had died of an infection in her lungs in this very house not long after Jessica was born, so Gillian knew where his fears for her health came from.
“All right, if you insist,” she said, laying her hands upon his chest and patting him soothingly. “You may send Jessica in.”
Nicolas dipped his head and kissed her cheek a few times. “Thank you.”
“Try not to worry,” Gillian murmured before stretching up to kiss his lips. It was brief and tender, with no bursts of passion hard on its heels.
Nicolas helped her back into bed, placing pillows behind her back, and pulled the
blankets high up her chest so she would stay warm. His behavior was so sweet and tender. It had been a long time since she’d felt so cared for, and not even her husband had worried about her occasional illnesses the way Nicolas was doing now.
He took a few steps toward the door, and then hurried back. “I know you’ll likely scold me, but I’ll be back later tonight to see you,” he whispered.
He stole another kiss, but he was gone before Gillian could insist that such a visit wasn’t necessary or wise.
Jessica ducked into the room a moment later, scrambled across the bed and crushed Gillian in a fierce embrace. “I could have lost you.”
“I’m fine, Jessica dear. I really am.” Gillian’s eyes filled with tears. She tried to hold them back but was unequal to the task. She might put on a brave face for everyone else, but Jessica felt too much like family. The daughter she’d never had and never could. She hugged the girl fiercely and sobbed against her shoulder. When the storm of weeping had passed, Jessica tucked them both into Gillian’s bed without another word.