Page 84 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
Hugo, who said he loved her?
She tried again to respond.This time, a strangled mewl emerged from her throat.
“Athene?”he choked out.
It took every ounce of energy she had and it hurt like the very devil, but she managed to squeeze his hand.Or at least her fingers fluttered in his hold.
“Athene?”His voice rang with hope.“You’re back?”
Moving her fingers had been torture.Lifting her eyelids was worse.
She struggled to make sense of what she saw.She lay in a bed in an unfamiliar room, and Hugo clutched her hand to his cheek.He looked stricken.And were those tears in his eyes?
Athene had never seen Hugo cry.He was such an indomitable force, she hadn’t imagined that he could.
But as her vision sharpened, she couldn’t mistake the moisture on his cheeks.And the skin beneath her palm was damp and sticky with salt.
He was crying over her.She couldn’t endure it.She made another of those incoherent sounds that seemed to be all she could do.This time it expressed protest.
“Don’t go away again.”Hugo pressed his lips to her fingers.“I’ll fetch the doctor.”
Athene was desperate to hear him tell her again that he loved her, but the darkness reached out and she couldn’t fight it.She tried to cling to his hand, but she’d used all her strength.
He kissed her fingers again then rose and strode through a doorway.She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, a man she didn’t know held her wrist to take her pulse.
“She’s awake, thank God,” another man said.
Athene frowned.She recognized that voice, too.Miles?What on earth was he doing here?She’d assumed that she’d never see him again.
Hugo stood beside her brother, looking drawn and overwrought.His hair was a mess and dense stubble covered his cheeks.But the blue gaze that fastened on her face was bright.That was a good sign.Perhaps she wasn’t going to die after all.
“I’ll bleed her again,” the man said.She guessed he was a doctor.“Then give her laudanum to see she sleeps.”
Athene mustered another wordless protest.She didn’t want to sleep.She wanted to hear Hugo say that he loved her.And she wanted to know how he’d found Miles.Because surely he had.There was no other explanation for her brother’s presence.
Hugo, God bless him, must have registered her distress.“No, don’t bleed her.She’s too weak as it is.And she’s better awake than lost in a haze of opium.”
The doctor straightened and reacted with injured pride.“Sir Hugo, may I point out that you have no medical expertise?”
“I’ve tended hundreds of sick sheep.Athene needs rest and quiet to regain her strength.”
If Athene had been capable of laughter, she’d have giggled at Hugo likening her to his sheep.Although she’d long ago recognized that he loved his flocks.She thought that he might love her, too.Or at least she’d heard him say that he did.Dear Lord, don’t let that memory be nothing but a feverish dream.
“My lord, you cannot approve of an amateur taking over the lady’s care,” the doctor said in a huffy tone.
“I agree with Sir Hugo,” Miles said.“At least in the short term.Let’s see if my sister improves.”
Good for Miles.Having come back to consciousness, Athene didn’t want to return to the darkness.She’d ventured too close to sinking into darkness forever.
“I insist you note my objections,” the doctor said.
Hugo took the seat that he’d occupied when she awoke.It was a wordless statement that he intended to prevail, and so true to the man she loved.The doctor had already lost the argument, whether he knew it or not.That same doggedness had brought Athene to Hugo’s bed, when she’d been set on pursuing her solitary path.Once he made his mind up, he was immovable.
Hugo took her hand again.“Object all you like, Dr.Marsh.”
She tried to squeeze his hand but she was fading.Despite wanting to stay awake, she drifted back into the night.
***
