difficult that must be.”
“I know you do. Lady Susanna told me about your work here in the city and why you do it. Most nobles would simply run up debts and let the devil take the hindmost.”
James ignored that. He knew it was true. “I need to send word to my employer. He’ll want to find a replacement.”
“Done, sir. Your lady asked me to discover your former address and settle matters with your landlord, so I did.”
“My tools and things? Where are they?”
“Here, of course. Everything but your clothing is crated and stored safely. I took it upon myself to ask the innkeep where you had been working and went to the construction site. Mr. Greaves sent his regrets that you were injured and produced a letter of recommendation and a cheque for the balance of your pay for the work accomplished. He bade me tell you that he will be hard-pressed to find another so skilled, but for you not to worry.”
For a moment, James was so overwhelmed he couldn’t speak. Then he shook his head. “’Tis good of you to go to so much trouble—”
Snively backed to the door. “No trouble at all, sir. It is common knowledge now, what you did for the earl. He has been quite generous to us during his visits to Edinburgh and is a particular favorite of the Royal Arms staff. I was glad to do whatever I could for you. You will let me know if there is anything else you need?”
James nodded. He felt humbled and not a little chagrined. He wished he were a wealthy man like Earl Eastonby so he could reward Thomas Snively properly. He found he didn’t much like being beholden, yet he would dislike it even more if he had to ask Susanna for funds. “I’ll owe you, Mr. Snively,” he said.
“It’s Tom, sir. And I shall hold you to the debt if you don’t mind. For starters, you might write a letter of commendation on my behalf to the concierge. I’m due a raise in pay and that might clinch it.”
“Good as done, Tom,” James promised. He trusted a man who understood obligation and the need to repay a good deed. “I want to thank you, too, for getting me through three days of fever.”
The footman threw back his head and laughed. “That was no fever, sir. A bit perhaps, but not enough to lay you low.”
“Nay?” James rubbed his aching head with the fingers of one hand. He realized then that the wound itself was barely sore, but the devil’s own cymbals were still clanging rhythmically inside his skull. “Then why do you think I was out for the count?”
Thomas explained. “Had I discovered before last evening that her ladyship was pouring liquor down your throat with an invalid-feeder to kill your pain, I would have dissuaded her sooner. If you’ll pardon the expression, sir, you’ve been drunk as a lord for three days.”
Chapter Five
“Susanna!”
She had just seen Thomas Snively out of the suite with an order for their evening meal and was about to rejoin the patient. The angry bellow from his room made her jump clear off the floor.
He must be still perturbed about the restraints. With an eye-rolling sigh, she trudged across the sitting room, snatching up the half-empty bottle of Scotch whisky as she went. She should have ordered more. This would hardly last through the night.
Her hair was falling down around her face, the chignon sagging to her nape in back. She hadn’t found time to give it a wash or more than a hasty brushing since before her wedding. Though she had left the room when Thomas had come to see to his needs every few hours, she had been afraid to stay away longer than absolutely necessary. Her father had made it very clear that her husband was her responsibility. And if the man died she would never be able to forgive herself.
She blew a frizzled strand out of one eye, took a deep breath and pushed the door open. “Yes? What is it?”
She could clearly see he was fuming about something.
He blinked slowly, hard, and his teeth were clenched, just as they had been when he had ordered her from the room. Susanna knew she should gather her patience and consider the fact that he was wounded and likely in great pain. But whatever nurturing instincts she possessed were worn exceedingly thin at the moment.
“What the devil do you think you’re doing with that?” he growled, pointing at the bottle she dangled at her side.
She held it up and looked at the clear, amber liquid that had provided relief from his troubles, that had granted him sleep, that dulled the edges of a man’s consciousness or eradicated it completely.
Obviously it had cured the worst of his ills. At the moment he certainly appeared hearty enough to give her a rousing set down. Damned if she would stand for that after all she had done for him.
Suddenly the three days she had just spent with her husband took their toll. With a determined movement of her free hand, she pulled out the cork with a pop, put the bottle to her mouth and drank as much as she could stand without stopping. Unable to breathe for the burning in her throat and chest, she plunked the whisky on the table by his bed and stalked out.
“Wait!” he called. “Where—”
She didn’t wait to hear the rest of his question. Instead, she marched directly to her bedroom and into the bathing chamber. The water would be cold, of course, sitting there unused after having been brought up by the maids the day before yesterday.
Susanna stripped off her blouse and skirt, kicked off her shoes and tore at her stockings. She tossed her clothing this way and that, then climbed into the large tub and sat down with a splash.
Even the liquor-induced languor didn’t prevent her screech. God in heaven, it was freezing!
She dunked her head under the water, raking the few hairpins out with her fingers. Not since she’d fallen in the mud when she was six had she ever felt this dirty, this unkempt, this ugly. Beggars on the street were cleaner than she was. On the ledge beside the tub she found soap, sweet-scented chamomile, her favorite. In moments, she was covered head to toe in lather and scrubbing herself to a fare thee well.
She could hear him calling her again, sounding almost frantic, but she refused to hurry. If he was well enough to stand for a few moments, he was well enough to remain alone for a few more. Anyone who could yell that loudly was surely in no danger of expiring.
“Ungrateful wretch,” she mumbled as she pushed suds out of the way so she could dunk her hair in clearer water to rinse it. Only when she felt clean did she abandon her icy bath and climb out. She wished for a maid to hold a warmed towel for her, but that was a thing of the past. Father had refused to hire one when they came here and she doubted she would have another where she was going.
“Independent woman?” he had questioned in that imperial earl voice of his. “Let us see how independent you really are.” He had not even brought his valet with him, probably to illustrate to her that men were of stronger constitution and better able to do for themselves.
To be fair, his valet Barnes was unable to make the trip, old and feeble as he was. And Minette, her own personal maid, had taken a position with Lady Bloom immediately after Susanna’s fall from societal grace.
“I could not care less,” she muttered. “Tending oneself
