Page 16 of The Jewels of Halstead Manor (Ladies of Devon 1)

Chapter 6

Tilly was an angel. A true, kind, generous angel. Not only had she offered to sit in with Nick when the earl was finished visiting the sickroom, the maid had left tea and a generous meal in Giulia’s room for her to eat before her nap.

Giulia woke feeling rested and warm, the heavy blankets cocooning her in comfort. She padded across the cool stone floor to the table and nibbled on the lemon tart remaining on her tray. Nick’s waking felt like such a burden lifted. Regardless of how the injuries were sustained, Giulia always felt a sense of responsibility toward her charges until they improved. It was displaced responsibility, and she recognized that, but it was a responsibility all the same. And she did not fight that which made her a better, more caring caregiver.

The moment her charges rounded the bend toward health she always felt such relief. Though with Nick, she felt it tenfold. She hadn’t realized the tension which had gathered in her shoulders over the previous weeks or the worry that had steadily grown through his consistent bouts of foggy consciousness. He had never seemed fully awake, and it was a little frightening.

And so she had chatted incessantly, some part of her hoping that if she continued a stream of conversation, at one point he might join in.

When she had looked up this morning and seen his eyes clear and vibrant, she’d known. The tension had eased from her shoulders, but it was quickly replaced with humiliation. What must he think of her? Did he recall the things she had spoken of?

Shoving the rest of the lemon tart in her mouth, she crossed to the mirror and assessed the damage done during her nap. Giulia let out a frustrated huff and started poking pins into her coronet braid to tame a few of the wilder pieces. It was not enough for her to be cursed with frizzy, unruly hair; even in the only hairstyle she had come across that would keep it all up and away from her face, it still managed to escape and shoot out in every direction.

If only she was a man, then she could crop it short.

Giulia giggled, recalling the time she had tried to do just that. When she was nine, Ames was seventeen, and he had caught her with the scissors in the washroom of their London house. She had already hacked off a good length of hair behind one ear and was curled up on the floor clutching the hair to her heaving chest, sobbing. Ames had gently pried the hair loose and soothed her before leaving. He had returned ten minutes later with Mama Jo, a woman who lived a few houses down and took Giulia in when her father was absent for days at a time. It wasn’t as if Giulia was incapable of caring for herself, but it was nice to pretend she couldn’t so Mama Jo would shoo her into the matron’s home and supply her with a fresh meal that Giulia did not have to prepare herself.

Mama Jo had taught Giulia how to do a coronet braid. It started on the side of her head—the side that, at the time, could still claim length—and moved around her head so the shorter pieces could be incorporated at the end. Now, eleven years later, she still supported the hairstyle, and the memories which accompanied it.

Brushing her hands down the front of her dove-gray dress, Giulia began the trek across the castle to Nick’s room. She had made the journey many times over the previous weeks, and with trial and error had grown able to decipher the basic layout of the castle. It appeared the west and east wings were identical to one another, only opposite. She did not have time for exploration as of yet, but there were areas of the castle that begged to be examined.

Reaching the large oak door that encased Nick’s oversized and overly masculine room, Giulia knocked. There was a muffled beckoning on the other side of the door and she tentatively opened it.

Then she thoroughly dropped her jaw.

Nick sat in the center of the room in a large tin tub. Jack, Nick’s valet, was standing above him with a bucket of water ready to dump over Nick’s soapy hair. Seeing a man shirtless was not new to her, for she had assisted in repairing cuts and bruises on bare-chested men in Dr. Hendricks’s care many times. And, she reminded herself, she had already seen Nick nearly shirtless when she had administered to his wound time and again. But the full effect was dazzling. He was broader than Ames, which in and of itself was shocking. And the muscles on his good arm as it hitched on the rim of the tub were as oversized and overly masculine as the room they were in.

Giulia reluctantly moved her gaze up to Nick’s face and promptly clamped her mouth shut. He was grinning in a smug way that made her want to grab the bucket from Jack’s hands and pour it over Nick’s face herself.

Instead, she turned her focus to Jack and smiled sweetly, doing her best to appear unaffected. “When you are finished caring for the invalid, would you mind locating me? I would like to discuss his treatment plan.”

Jack nodded. “Of course, Miss Pepper.”

Giulia turned away but Nick’s voice stopped her from closing the door. “Why wait? We can discuss it right now.”

Don’t take the bait. Don’t take the bait. “You know that is highly improper.”

Drat, I took the bait.

“Have you not been caring for me these last few weeks? I am sure this is nothing you have not already seen.” His innocent expression was a nearly believable facade. But the rascal wasn’t fooling her.

“Not in this capacity, no.”

“No? In what capacity, then, did you care for me?”

Endless hours spent watching his serene face and wondering how deep his green eyes would be when he was coherent. Countless times arranging his blankets and tucking him in. Spoon-feeding him and watching his parched lips drink spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of broth. Giulia thought of the late nights when she would tell him about her adventures abroad, and the less entertaining stories that had occurred on England’s soil.

They stared at one another for what felt like ages. It was a battle of wills and Giulia was caught in his deep green eyes while she strategized and sized up the enemy. Any man this attractive with an apparent flair for flirtation was dangerous.

She shifted her gaze to Jack, who was watching with interest. “Send for me when you are finished?”

He nodded and she left, clicking the door shut with force.

* * *

“What was that about?” Jack eyed his master with a look equal parts intrigue and hesitation.

“What do you mean?”

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