Page 98 of Rescued from Betrayal
He slipped his other arm under her knees and stood. Thankfully the maid had already turned back the covers or it would have been quite an awkward ordeal getting Melior into bed. But when he laid her down, she clung to his neck.
“Don’t… leave.”
“I am not going anywhere, Mel. Let me cover you with the blanket and take off my boots.”
She released him, and he pulled the thick blankets over her. After removing his boots, he did not bother finding a nightshirt, choosing instead to undo the top button of his shirt and crawl in beside her.
Melior curled into him, and for the first time he allowed himself to hold her, reasoning that the situation was different and she had turned to him first. Unlike the racking sobs from earlier, she now wept quietly.
“I am sorry,” she whispered.
“Do not apologize. You have been through so much hurt of late, and none of it is your fault.”
She flinched and he wondered if the gentle circles he’d been tracing on her back might have irritated her in some way. Thankfully though, her crying seemed to have ceased.
She lay quietly for a moment and he leaned back to look at her. Melior’s eyes were closed, her cheek resting on his arm, but she was not sleeping. Instead her face contorted in pain.
“Has your headache returned?”
She began to shake her head, then nodded. Sitting up, she used his crushed cravat to blow her nose. When she finished, she set it on the bedside table and laid down, facing away from him.
He wanted to reach out and hold her again, but he’d made a promise not to touch her without her permission. So instead he rose and blew out the candles.
Once back in bed, he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
Watching Melior had twisted his gut and pulled at his heart much the same way he’d suffered watching his mother after his father and Mary died in the influenza epidemic. Both had borne disappointments in life that were unfair and unfortunately completely out of his control. It made a man feel helpless. But at least in Melior’s case he could do something.
From now on he would protect her from her wretch of a mother and the friend that seemed determined to destroy anyone who got in the way of her matrimonial schemes.
“Nathaniel,” Melior whispered.
“Yes?”
“Will you hold me until I fall asleep?”
He rolled to his side and pulled her close. “Most definitely, love.”
Chapter 33
The next morning when Melior woke, she found herself snuggled up to Nathaniel’s side, but instead of quickly moving away as usual, she let herself enjoy the moment. She watched his chest rise and fall, the movements calming in its steadiness.
How could he be so good to her? He’d not once become short with her tears, nor had he refused her request for comfort. The gentleness with which he’d held her while she’d dozed off still warmed her heart. But most of all he’d called her love. Did he truly mean it?
Then a familiar voice in her head declared she did not deserve his love. Odd how that little voice sounded like her mother. In truth, most of her negative thoughts carried the same cadence as she’d been used to hearing from her mother’s lips.
The moment ruined, she pulled away and rose to start her day. Most of her hair had come unbound during the night so she set to brushing it out again.
The day stretched out, long and terrifying. Should she tell Nathaniel about her part in the scheme against Lord Caraway? She’d tried to last night before the words were swallowed up in a sob. Perhaps if it came from her lips he’d be less disgusted by her. Maybe even more forgiving.
“I do love the way your hair gleams in the morning light.”
She spun on her chair to see Nathaniel laying on his side, his head propped on his hand.
“Did you know,” he said, “that when the sun hits it like that, there is a glint of something almost purple in your dark tresses?”
No one had ever mentioned such a thing to her before. The thought made her smile. “Perhaps I should suggest John add it to our painting.”
“I like that idea.”
