Page 92 of The Viscount's Unwanted Bride
He shifted Kate without waiting for a response. Fortunately, Margaret responded promptly despite her obvious shock. The dress was difficult to undo because of the wet laces. As Mr. Giles had said earlier, Kate hadn’t been dressed for the weather. She must have put on whatever was easiest before fleeing.
Why had she been so foolish?
Together, Margaret and Theo peeled the dress down, and then they worked on her undergarments, which were also wet, although, thankfully, less so. If she’d been soaked to the skin, the risk of catching a chill would have been higher.
When she was bare, Margaret went to get a towel. Theo dried her while Margaret carefully undid her hair so that the doctor would be able to see the head wound more easily. Finally, Theo dabbed at the wound with a clean cloth, ensuring it was free of debris and no longer bleeding before they wrapped her in the blankets.
Jane had pulled the curtains when she lit the fire, and the room was already beginning to heat. The fireplace was only small, but it would be enough to stave off the cold and damp.
As the maids cleared out, Nicholas knocked on the door before entering with a chair. He carried it over to Kate’s bedside and then sat on the one in front of the writing desk. Theo sat on the chair that Nicholas had brought in and took Kate’s hand.
His stomach was rock-hard, and his fingers were like ice as he stared at her beautiful face and waited for the doctor to arrive.
Please wake up, sweetheart. I need you.
CHAPTER 29
“...confusion, then you’ll need to…”
“...bed rest until…”
Kate struggled to make out fragments of a conversation through a blistering headache that fogged her thoughts and made it difficult to think of anything besides the pain.
“...the baby…”
Thatgot her full attention.
She opened her eyes and blinked, grateful the room was only dimly lit as the throbbing in her temples worsened.
What had happened?
Where was she?
She racked her mind, trying to remember, but it hurt too much, and she gave up. A pair of brown eyes appeared above her, set in a harsh face with lines bracketing the mouth and deep grooves between the eyebrows.
“Theo,” she whispered. “What…?”
“Oh, you’re awake.” A man hustled Theo aside and took his place.
She frowned, knowing she ought to recognize him, but she wasn’t able to place him in the moment. He lifted a candle infront of her face, and she drew back, wincing as fire seared the side of her head. “Pupils are reactive. That’s good.”
“You were in an accident.” Strong fingers wrapped around her own. Considering she could see the doctor’s hands, she had to assume these ones belonged to Theo. “You were upset with me and left in a carriage.”
A series of images flickered through her mind.
Theo in bed, his smile warm as he gazed down at her.
A man who looked so like Theo, yet had a freckle on his chin.
The truth she’d uncovered.
Her urgent need to paint as she worked through her conflicted feelings about Theo and the memory of that gnarled tree they’d passed. She’d recalled the tree only being a short distance from Blackwell Hall, and it hadn’t seemed unreasonable to take a carriage there to paint it. She’d intended to return as soon as she’d gathered herself.
She closed her eyes. Her head felt like it was splitting in two.
“Look at me,” Dr. Hanson ordered. “Now that you’re awake, we need to keep you that way for a little while to make sure there’s no underlying damage to your brain.”
Somehow, lifting her eyelids took as much energy as climbing several staircases usually would. She longed to shut them again, but she’d already made enough foolish decisions today. No matter how upset she’d been, taking a carriage out while it was snowinghadn’tbeen reasonable. She’d realized that before they’d gone far at all and had asked the driver to turn around. Unfortunately, the turn itself had caused the carriage to topple over.
