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Nick settled in the chair, rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands, leaning his forehead upon them.
Alternately he prayed, cursed, promised and threatened all manner of things. He both vehemently beseeched and ordered the Almighty to allow her to survive, knowing all the while that what would be, would be.
Nicholas had been in dire straits more times than he could count, but never in his entire life had he ever felt so helpless as he did now.
Chapter Five
“Nicholas?” Emily shook his shoulder gently. He remained sound asleep, sprawled in the overstuffed chair beside the hearth, long legs straight out, spine contoured to fit the cushions.
His fine wedding clothes were rumpled and she could see that he had not shaved. When he did not wake, she dared to smooth the tousled dark hair away from his brow, allowing herself the small contact he would never know about.
When she had first opened her eyes this morning, she immediately recalled how Nick and the doctor had hovered over her, concerned that she had contracted the disease everyone so feared.
They had frightened her, as well, with their worry. Still muzzy from all that weeping, with her head aching and her stomach clenching from lack of food, she had thought they might be correct and that she could be dying. However, now she felt entirely too well to be suffering anything other than the residual effects of that dose of laudanum.
“Nick, wake up. You cannot possibly be comfortable here,” she persisted, shaking him again.
He suddenly bolted upright, wearing a look of confusion. Then his gaze landed on her. “What…what are you doing up?”
Before she could respond, he swept her off her feet, carried her to the bed and deposited her there. He snatched the covers up to her chin and reached for the cup on the bedside table.
Ignoring her sputtering protests, he put the container to her lips. She had to either drink or drown, so she drank. In all honesty, she treasured the fact that he cared whether she was ill.
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