“And Laurence was injured in that skirmish too,” the duke said. “Explain how that happened.”
“A minor cut to his sword arm,” he murmured, wishing the duke would make him stop reliving battles in so much detail. “A few of the enemy boarded the Selfridge, and he and his men had to defend the ship. He made a full recovery.”
At night when he was alone, he could not banish the deaths of his enemy to allow for peaceful sleep. Sometimes not even the memory of Sally could banish them from his waking thoughts.
He had not slept after Sally had left his bed last night. He had been too full of her, too distracted by her passionate response, to settle down for the night. Her ridiculous arrangement with Ellicott infuriated him and remained a source of discomfort even now. Men in love did not willingly share their wives. Felix might have had the opportunity to keep Sally with him till dawn, but the idea that he would have done so with Ellicott’s blessing made him ill.
“Yes, so I understand.” The duke pursed his lips. “The injury to your leg, was it received before or after William’s wounding?”
“Before we had truly engaged.” He grimaced as he rubbed his leg, remembering how it had dragged toward the end of the engagement. His boot had filled with blood and his thigh had burned with sensation. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “I barely noticed it at the time, which is often the way of things during battle.”
The duke sat forward, peering hard at him. “Is something the matter, Captain?”
“No.” Felix was only burning from the inside out. He had hope
d to hide his affliction, an irregularly recurring fever he could not be cured of, but it seemed the damned fever could not be stopped or delayed enough to protect his career. There would be ample witnesses this time round unless it passed quickly—which it rarely did. There would be no hiding it unless he could get away. Once found out, the duke would tell Admiral Templeton, and then Felix would lose command of the Selfridge. After that, his fall from favor was inevitable. Rutherford would withdraw his support, and then he would be like Captain Jennings, a man with a limited future.
“You appear flushed.” The duke peered at him. “Do you find talk of war uncomfortable?”
He blinked when Rutherford’s image split into two hazy shapes, a warning of what was to come. He was about to lose control of his senses in the worst possible place. “No, of course not. If there is nothing else?”
A door opened behind him. “Luncheon is ready, my lord.”
“Ah, excellent. Shall we join the family?” The duke spoke to his daughter, and when she rose, so did Felix. However, with the fever climbing and the inevitable peak soon to follow, his balance was decidedly unsteady, and he intended to cry off from this meal.
He reached for the back of the nearest chair and stood a moment in silence while he got his bearings. Unfortunately, the world continued to tip and sway.
As if through a long tunnel, a woman’s voice called his name. “Captain Hastings?”
“Felix!” The duke’s voice was nothing more than a wavering bark until the floor pitched and hit him.
Chapter Seventeen
Felix was gone.
Sally had not caught sight of him all day even though he had been closeted with her grandfather since daybreak. Not that she was looking for him precisely, but knowing he was around made her unaccountably anxious that their paths not cross again. They would only argue, and she did not want that.
“Why so great a sigh?” Louisa asked as she took stock of the contents of the preserves pantry.
Sally glanced toward the doorway that led upstairs to the entrance hall. This area of the servant’s quarters was quiet for the moment. Most of the staff were gathered about the housekeepers door, discussing the needs of tonight’s dinner. “It is nothing.”
Her sister frowned and shifted bottles to see into the darkness of each shelf. “Are you impatient to see him?”
She snapped her head around. “Who?”
“Lord Ellicott, silly.” Louisa made a note on her papers. “Who else could I have meant?”
Who else indeed? She hadn’t thought of Ellicott all day. Upon her return from her duties on the estate, Sally had expected to dodge Felix, but avoidance had not been necessary. “Are you done?”
“Almost,” Louisa murmured, shuffling the sheets and checking each one. “I just need to run this list up to Mother and see what she has to say. We are running a little short of everything. The harvest has been slow to come in because we lack enough manpower.”
Sally bit her lip. “I should have helped.”
“You had guests to entertain,” Louisa reminded her gently with a touch to her hand. “And I would say catching a husband is more important than filling a basket with fruits. You do not have to help with everything you know.”
“I know, but I like to.” She hugged her sister quickly. “Well, do not let me hold you up. Mama will be waiting, and you know how impatient she can be to see us.”
“True.” Louisa tilted her head to one side, her expression puzzled. “Are you sure you are all right today? You seem a bit lost.”