Candlelit Christmas Kisses

‘The doctor said we must keep him warm.’

‘There is a difference between warm and boiling hot,’ Selina said in a calm, practical tone. ‘I have found with fevers that it is best to keep the patient cool. However, someone must sit with him at all times, because he must not be allowed to turn icy cold. It may mean taking blankets off and sponging him with cool water—and then, later, he may need to be covered over again. I shall do what I can for him now. I suggest you leave us. Take time to eat and rest, Henry. We shall share the nursing between us—and Jane will make us a jug of her tisane, which is nicer on the tongue and of as much help as the doctor’s medicine, I think.’

‘Your mama’s maid’s tisane? Yes, he swallowed that earlier and seemed better for at least half an hour. Then the fever returned and seemed more intense.’

‘I daresay the fever will wane and then return several times,’ Selina replied, while fetching cool water from the washstand. ‘They always seem to be so much worse at night, I find. Please go and take some rest for yourself. I have eaten, and I will have a cold supper later.’

‘Thank you. I am most grateful for your help—and Robert will be too when he recovers … if …’

Selina turned and saw that Henry was in great distress. ‘Oh, you poor man. You care for him so much, do you not?’

‘He is my brother and my saviour and my friend.’

‘As you are his, I imagine,’ Selina said, and nodded. ‘I cannot tell you that he is not very ill, for he is—but I have seen fevers like this before, and they are not always fatal. If one is devoted in one’s nursing, the outcome can be a complete recovery.’

‘What should we have done had you not been here?’ Henry smiled at her and went out, leaving her to continue her work alone.

When the door had closed behind him, Selina pulled the bedcovers right back. The Earl was completely naked, and for a moment she felt heat suffuse her cheeks, but she placed a cloth over his private parts and began her task. Another cloth was dipped in cool water and wrung out. She began to bathe his chest, arms, shoulders and his long legs, not forgetting his rather beautiful feet. Her papa’s feet had not been so perfectly shaped, but then every part of this man’s body was glorious—and she should not be thinking such naughty things when the poor darling was so ill.

Selina had been the one to nurse her father when he was ill, just before that last fatal trip to London. She’d sometimes thought that if she had not nursed him so devotedly, he might not have gone off to the card tables and ruined them, but that was a wicked thought and she banished it firmly. Her mother had mentioned the possibility more than once.

‘If he’d died of his fever, Selina, you and the girls would have been so much better off. I have so little to leave you.’

‘Hush, Mama, you do not mean it,’ Selina had soothed her. Of course Mama had not meant it, but the fact remained that Papa’s reckless last fling had ruined their lives.

‘Juanita …’

A sobbing cry from Moorcroft’s lips brought Selina’s thoughts back to the moment. She had finished her bathing and drying and covered him with a sheet and a thin blanket. She placed a hand on his forehead. He was thankfully a little cooler.

‘Please … do not die … I cannot bear it … I don’t want to punish you but I have to … Forgive me …’

‘Hush, dearest one,’ Selina said, and bent over him. She hesitated, then bent to brush her lips over his cheek. ‘I am here. I do not know what troubles you, but you must rest. You are safe now. I shall not let you die. I promise you will be better soon.’

She felt him relax under her soothing hand. His hands unclenched and he lay back with a sigh.

‘That’s it, my brave hero,’ she said, and kissed his lips lightly. ‘You’ve suffered so much, but I shan’t let you die. You must live—think of my poor sisters. If you were selfish enough to die, they would be so miserable—and poor Henry would be heartbroken. Surely you cannot be so selfish as to inflict such pain on us at Christmas?’

‘Mama …’ Robert murmured, and a smile touched his mouth. ‘Do not scold me, Mama. I did not mean to let the boar in with the sows …’

Selina smiled as she realised that her scolding tone had taken him back to his childhood. That was good, for it meant he dwelt in a time before he had known so much suffering and pain.

‘Well, I shall scold you, you foolish man,’ she said. ‘If you do not take your medicine and get better soon, you will find me a hard taskmaster.’

‘I’ll be good, Mama,’ he said, and she saw that he had drifted into a peaceful sleep.

‘You must not worry too much, Henry,’ Amy said as they ate a rather solemn supper in the smaller dining parlour. ‘Selina is the best nurse you could find. The doctor said that Mama would have died years before she did had my sister not cared for her so lovingly.’

‘Yes, I could see she was quite capable,’ Henry said, and a slightly wicked smile lit his eyes. ‘Robert has been ill many times, Miss Amy. He is actually very strong—but difficult as a patient. I’ve sometimes had to use force to get him to swallow his medicine.’

‘I thought you told Selina …’ Amy stopped and stared at him, understanding dawning in her eyes. ‘You pretended he was worse than he is—didn’t you?’

‘No such thing. When I spoke to her, I was truly concerned, but she has already worked her magic,’ Henry said.

‘I think she enjoys looking after him. It might be the very thing for them both.’

‘ Now what are you thinking, Miss Amy?’

‘Only that they are both lonely people—would you not say so?’

‘Robert needs to be loved and brought back from the shadows,’ Henry said, and looked thoughtful. ‘They have haunted him for too long. I do not have the right to tell you the whole story, Amy—but he has suffered as no man should.’

‘Yes, you can see it in his eyes sometimes,’ Amy agreed. She paused, then, ‘I think you have also suffered, sir.’

‘I almost died on the field of battle, and after in the surgeon’s tent. Robert saved my life, and my scars have ceased to cause me pain. I have accepted that I am ugly, and I can live with it. I have discovered that it means little to true friends.’

‘No—how could it?’ Amy said, and smiled at him in a most beguiling manner. ‘All it means is that you are a very brave man, sir. I think I should not like to go to war and see the things you and the earl have seen.’

‘I thank God for it that you have not,’ Henry replied, looking grim. ‘War is no place for ladies, Amy. Even those who have the courage to follow the drum run terrible risks—and if they die, their deaths are more terrible to bear than all the rest. The cruelty of some men shames us all—and Robert more than most, since he was their captain.’

‘Is that what happened to the earl?’ Amy shook her head. ‘No, do not tell me. I am not a complete innocent, Henry. I can imagine the things that might happen to a woman who finds herself caught up in war. I think people do terrible things when they are seized by bloodlust.’

‘And what do you know of such things?’ His eyes had begun to sparkle again. ‘Don’t tell me—Millie read a book about the Vikings and their berserker madness, did she not?’

‘Yes, of course. My sister and I are both very interested in history, which is why we were excited to come here to live. The books Millie reads are far beyond her years, and not at all suitable for a very young lady. You would think she would have nightmares, but not a bit of it. She adores reading about the most awful things, and she is wonderful at telling ghost stories at Christmas. If the earl is better, we may be in for a treat, because I’m certain she will be inspired by the Yule log.’

‘Your sister is wise beyond her years—indeed, you are a remarkable family. Each one of you is unique and quite outstanding.’

‘Selina could have devoted her life to the sick in another life,’ Amy said. ‘And Millie should be a professor of history at a university if she were a man—and what should I be? I lack my sisters’ talents, I think …’

‘In my opinion you lack nothing,’ Henry said. ‘But I shall not tell you what I think, for you will blush and tell me I am flattering you.’

Amy laughed. ‘You are the one blushing, Henry, and I am a wretch to tease you when your friend is so very ill.’

‘No, no—do not apologise. Your laughter has eased me, and despite a little exaggeration to your sister, the fact remains. Robert does have a nasty fever—and such fevers have been known to kill even strong men.’

‘Not when my sister is in charge,’ Amy said confidently. ‘She has such plans for Christmas, because she is determined to make up to us for all the sadness we have endured these past months. I am certain she will bully the poor man into getting well. Selina can be a very dragon when she likes, you know.’

‘And there was me thinking she was an angel,’ Henry said, and laughed softly.

‘Oh, she is that too,’ Amy said, with the affection that never lay far from the surface. ‘But do not make the mistake of thinking she is as mild and gentle as she appears. The earl will discover that when she says “swallow your medicine”, he will swallow if he knows what is good for him.’

Henry laughed. ‘I almost pity him,’ he said. ‘Yet again I think it may be exactly what he needs to bring him back from the shadows.’

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