Page 65 of Someone to Watch Over Me
“I’ll be quite well after a good rest,” she assured him.
Cannon’s comment caused Grant to frown in worry. “I should send for Linley,” he said. “He should have a look at you, after what you’ve been through.”
“Again?” Victoria shook her head instantly. “I certainly don’t need to see a doctor twice in one day.Youcan go see Dr. Linley if you’re so desirous of his company. I want to go home.”
“Home it is,” he said softly, guiding her from the office.
Mrs. Dobson stepped into the hallway to observe the pair’s departure. When she glanced back at Ross, the housekeeper wore a pleased, slightly bemused expression. “Well,” she remarked, “it seems our Mr. Morgan has finally fallen in love.”
“And fallen hard,” Ross added wryly. “Poor bastard.”
An affectionate smile brightened Mrs. Dobson’s plump face. “Someday, sir, a little slip of a thing may yet reduce you to the state our poor Mr. Morgan is in.”
“I’ll slit my own throat first,” he replied calmly. “In the meanwhile, I want a jug of coffee.”
The housekeeper looked outraged at the suggestion. “At this hour? I won’t hear of it. What you need is rest, and plenty of it, not some brew that will shred your nerves to ribbons…”
Sighing, Cannon returned to his desk and endured the lecture that ensued.
Seventeen
Upon returning to King Street, Victoria was greeted by a worried Mrs. Buttons and a tearful Mary, both of whom were astonished by the news that Keyes had intended to do her harm.
“You should have told me, miss!” the housekeeper exclaimed. “If you had, I should have done whatever was necessary to help you.”
“I’m sorry,” Victoria replied with a wan smile. “With the sudden shock of my memory returning, and my fear of Mr. Keyes, I’m afraid I lost my head.” She did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings by admitting that she hadn’t been certain of whether she could trust the servants to take her side against a Bow Street Runner. “And in any case,” she added, “everything has turned out well, thanks to Mr. Morgan.”
“I suppose we’ll get another ha’penny novel out of this,” Mrs. Buttons said. “More exciting adventures of the Bow Street legend, Mr. Morgan.”
“The Bow Street lummox, more like,” Grant muttered. “The entire situation was my fault. I had originally wanted Flagstad to guard Victoria—I should never have agreed to let Keyes do it.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Victoria protested. “No one suspected him—not even Sir Ross.”
Grant scowled in reply, obviously not accepting her defense of him. Gently he lifted a hand to her forehead and brushed back a straggling tendril of hair. “Mrs. Buttons,” he said, still staring at Victoria, “I believe Miss Devane requires a bath. And perhaps some warm milk with brandy.”
“Oh, yes,” Victoria said, shivering in pleasure at the thought of soaking in hot soapy water.
“We’ll take excellent care of her, Mr. Morgan,” the housekeeper assured him, and gestured to the housemaid standing nearby. “Mary, you and the girls fill a bath for Miss Devane, and then fill a separate one in the guest room for Mr. Morgan.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mary said eagerly, disappearing on swift feet.
Grant’s tone was soft as he spoke to Victoria. “Shall I carry you upstairs?”
Smiling, Victoria shook her head. She was so enmeshed in the tender warmth of his gaze that she was barely aware of the housekeeper leaving them. “Will you come to me after your bath?” she asked.
His face was expressionless, but his mouth was soft as he leaned closer and pressed a kiss to her temple. “No,” he murmured so quietly that she could barely hear him.
Surprised, she drew back a few inches. “You won’t?”
“You’ve endured enough for one day—you don’t need a great rutting brute in your bed tonight.”
Unable to restrain herself, Victoria reached out and hugged herself against his hard chest. “What if I want him there?”
“You need to sleep,” he said firmly.
“Sleep is a waste of time.”
A reluctant laugh rumbled in his throat, and slowly his arms came around her. She felt him breathe into the locks of hair above her ear. “That proves how exhausted you are. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
