Page 64 of Captivating the Countess
But it was possible his grandmother’s spirit had helped him find the healing talent in his voice. Did that makehimmad?
He ordered Button to sleep in the suite’s salon so she’d be close by. Pulling up a chair beside the bed, Rain held Bell’s hand and prayed as he hadn’t in years. He prayed aloud, so his healing voice might reach her, even though he hadn’t her enhancing ability to help. When she didn’t stir, he began reciting all the idle hopes and dreams he had for someday changing his part-time medical practice to create a clinic and bring in more professionals. It wasn’t a plan he’d ever voiced.
Thinking perhaps she’d stirred, if only a little bit, Rain continued speaking in his calmest, most patient-friendly tones, talking about hoping his father might live to be a hundred. Rain had only just turned thirty-four in November. He had too many things he wanted to do on his own before he was ready to take over the stultifying tasks of his father’s home and position. He poured out all his thoughts, even some he hadn’t dare think on his own.
He knew people called him Ice King. He’d learned to be cold and efficient to counterbalance his family’s eccentricities and keep his estate running in a manner that allowed him to continue his medical practice. If he became duke, he’d turn into an automaton. And if he had to do so without the trust income, whoever he might have become would not survive at all.
If he lost Bell...
It did not bear thinking. He’d finally found a woman who grasped what he needed when even he didn’t know, a woman who matched his intelligence, and didn’t cower in his presence. He’d never find another.
He’d always thought love a complication, what was expected of him as son and brother. He was fairly sure he loved his family, or he would have killed them all at one time or another, instead of grinding his molars to nubbins.
But whatever this was he felt for Bell went well beyond accepting frailties and into a wider realm that allowed him to hope for a future where he might actually becontent,for the first time in years. Bell actually made him happy. And lustful and terrified, admittedly.
Her quiet assurance and loving acceptance had the Ice King believing in wives, children, and love instead of chains and shackles. He desperately wished to do the same for her. What would it take to make Bell happy? If he spoke those words, would she wake?
Rain hadn’t found the right promises to wake her before he dozed off in the chair, still holding her hand. A slight movement of her fingers alerted him. Heart leaping, he squeezed her hand gently.
“I’m back,” she whispered, sounding puzzled.
Rain tried not to startle her. Sitting still, stroking her palm and wrist, he merely whispered, “Thank all that is holy.” His intense relief was making him light-headed.
“Not sure your grandmother is holy,” she murmured, inexplicably. “Did I imagine it, or did I fall down the stairs?”
“My grandmother says you were pushed.” He said it questioningly, unable to believe it. He’d thought perhaps the child might have started screaming first, toppling Bell with startlement. He didn’t want to believe someone had tried to kill her.
She went quiet but her fingers around his were steady.
“I think she’s right. The light was out, so I was holding on and being very cautious. I don’t remember being startled until I felt a shove at my back. It could have been a spectral push, I suppose. Your grandmother is good at slamming doors. But I can’t imagine why a ghost or anyone else would hate me.”
“Spectral shoves were not on my list of possibilities. Thanks for that addition.” Rain straightened his stiffening back. “Just in case this is a more human problem, let’s be safe. I want to keep you here, with people I trust to watch over you. I want time to determine if anyone appears guilty or acting out of character or anything that might give me a clue.”
And he’d have to have her maid oversee all her meals from kitchen to table. Damn.
She squeezed his fingers, then removed her hand from his. “I caught Lady Pamela at cheating, and Lady Dalrymple dislikes me for reasons I don’t understand. Perhaps she learned I had Nevins removed. None of that seems reason enough to kill me.”
“I’ll start questioning in the morning,” he said with murder in mind.
She could have died.
He could have lost her forever.
Now was probably not the time to pour out his undying love and admiration. He needed time to adjust his thinking, to determine when was the best time and the best way to ask this amazing woman to marry him—in aromanticalway. There wasn’t any certainty that she’d agree. He couldn’t fail at this, so he’d plan—while casting all the castle’s reprobates into the snow.
Bell was losing badlyto the duke in a game of chess when a knock at the door of the suite sent Button scurrying to answer it. They’d worked out a system where the maid peered around the door, while the duke’s manservant stood beside it, wielding a fire iron. Per instructions, Button insisted the visitor couldn’t enter.
“Why can’t I visit my uncle? I’ve seen Rain in there. This is outrageous! How am I to know how he’s faring? He could be dead for all I know, and you’re covering it up.” Teddy’s voice rang clearly from the hall.
Lady Pamela’s was less clear but still audible. “See, I told you. Rainford is keeping something from you. And why is a maid in there and not you?”
Bell grimaced. Then she gestured at the bowl of nearly liquid oats on the table, distracting the duke from the quarrel. “It’s filled with cream and brown sugar. Eat it. You need to be plump and healthy when you walk out of here.”
His Grace grunted and gave her one of his acerbic looks, but he took a spoonful while the couple outside argued with Button. The valet finally stepped in, closed the door, and locked it.
“I wager ten minutes until Alicia arrives to see if she’s allowed in.” Bell wrote her bet on the paper they’d been using.
“It will take Teddy fifteen to find her. I’ll give it ten minutes beforeDelaheyarrives. The women will have already alerted him.” The duke scribbled his wager beside hers.
