Page 91 of Stay with Me

“Stay with me, Nicholas,” she mumbled before pressing a kiss into his neck. Her lips lingered, and in fact lifted to his jaw. She kissed the scruff where his jaw ended, right near his ear.

Heat began to thrum through him... life and energy and desire. How could that be when he was dying?

He wiggled his fingers, flexed an arm, and partially lifted one of his legs. None of the pain under his arm, the tiredness, or the fever remained. How could that be? Maybe he was in heaven with Sybil. Or dreaming.

Even as he blinked to wake himself up, he turned his head slightly to see the hearth fire, the assortment of Father Fritz’s medicines strewn over the table, one of his plain cloaks hanging from the peg on the back of the door.

The scent of the smoke, the tickle of Sybil’s hair, the rumble of hunger in his gut... he was most assuredly alive. From what he could tell, the plague was gone from his body.

What had happened to bring him back from the brink of death and cure him?

Sybil’s lips found his ear, and when she gave a soft nip of his earlobe, desire flared deep inside. And in the next instant, ere he could react, she whispered again, “I love you more than I’ve ever loved any other man.”

A keen, sweet longing swelled in his chest. He was alive. And his wife loved him.

What more could he ask for?

“I love you,” she whispered again, sliding one hand over his cheek, letting her fingers glide languidly over his stubble. “And I want a lifetime to show you.”

He held his breath. He suspected her boldness came because she believed he was unconscious and dying.

At another breathy kiss against his ear, he groaned. Aloud. With pleasure.

She jerked back, her eyes rounding.

Heaven help him, but he had to kiss her now. He shifted her so that she was more squarely on top of him, and in the same movement he took possession of her mouth. One of his hands slid up her back and dug into her hair, maneuvering her for the perfect kiss.

She opened to him willingly, eagerly, until they were both feasting like two starving prisoners who’d just been set free. She didn’t hold back, wasn’t timid, was as strong in her passion as she was in everything else.

But as he slipped his hand underneath her shift, he stalled, closed his eyes, and broke the kiss. He pressed his mouth instead against her temple, kissing her hard, bringing himself under control. This wasn’t the right time to take more from her, not when he reeked of illness and death.

No, when he next kissed her and shared the bed, he would make sure he could love her properly, taking his time and showing her both tenderness and pleasure.

He was learning more every day. One sacrifice at a time was making him stronger and turning him into the kind of husband who would be able to love her unreservedly.

“You’re healed.” Her whisper held awe and joy.

He’d never felt better. It was almost as if someone had given him holy water.

With a start, he sat up, bringing her with him. She’d done it, had saved him. “Where did you get the holy water?” He rubbed both hands up her arms to her shoulders and then to her cheeks—as if at any minute she might somehow disappear and he’d find that he was in the afterlife far away from her.

She broke free of his embrace, bent over the side of the bed, then straightened with a brown bottle in hand. “I found it among Father Fritz’s medicines. I recognized the flower and theWon the bottle and suspected the holy water came from the Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham.”

He took the bottle and examined the pattern on both sides. He’d never seen it before, wouldn’t have guessed it was from Walsingham. “The shrine has healing waters too?” He’d heard of miracles happening there during bygone years but hadn’t realized they’d occurred because of the holy water the same way they had in Canterbury.

“With Father Fritz serving in a priory in Walsingham, it makes sense that he’d have a bottle of holy water from the spring of Our Lady in his possession.”

“’Tis likely he did not realize he had it.”

“Probably not.”

“And you? You are free from being ill with the plague too?” She appeared vibrant and full of life, with no signs of sickness.

“I admit, I had to take another dose. It’s a long story, and one I’ll share with you soon. But first...” She glanced toward the shutters and door before pushing up to her knees. “We might still have time to save some of the others.”

He knew what she wanted to do. She was offering to use the remaining holy water to heal everyone else in Devil’s Bend. It didn’t matter who they were or what they’d done. She wanted to help them with no thought to saving the holy water for a better occasion, for worthier people, or for those who could pay handsomely.

He couldn’t help himself. An overwhelming love drove him, so that he caught her against him, seizing her mouth once more in a kiss that contained his past, present, and future. It was unreservedly hers for the taking. Just her. That was all he would ever need to be content.

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