reached for her hand. She ignored the gesture. His frown grew darker. “Leave us,” he said to the two men, “and find out how she got past the guards. See that no one else does, or you will answer for it.”
She heard the door close. “Now what will you do?” she demanded, determined to show no fear even though she felt very nearly petrified. This was not the Nick she knew. That smiling, witty suitor had disappeared. In his place stood this disheveled, intimidating stranger who frightened her silly.
“Please sit down, Emily,” he said.
She did not. Instead, she swiftly stepped around him, afraid of his nearness.
He must not have shaved his beard for several days and was in his shirtsleeves. Those sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing strong, sun-browned forearms. His rich dark hair fell tousled across his brow and curled over the back of his collar. That same collar stood open at his neck, revealing a glimpse of chest covered with a mat of even darker hair.
The forbidden sight perturbed Emily. Never before, even in their youth, had she seen him look so rumpled. Like an unmade bed. Thinking of Nicholas in conjunction with a bed of any kind upset her even more. For someone she disliked so wholeheartedly, he certainly could provoke some highly dangerous thoughts.
She backed against the desk, putting as much space between them as possible. Her heart galloped like a runaway horse.
His expression changed from anger to what appeared to be regret. “You should not have come here,” he told her.
Emily expelled the breath she’d been holding and rolled her eyes. “You need not worry, my lord. It is not as if I came to confront you. Even I have more sense than to hound a peer of the realm for an explanation of his actions, past or present. Get out of my way and I will trouble you no longer,” she snapped.
“Would that I could believe that. Does your husband know you’re wandering about the county, breaking into private property where you have no business?”
“My husband?” She laughed bitterly. “No, I’d reckon not, since I do not have one! Thank God for small favors,” she added.
“You…have no husband,” he demanded, as if confirming her words so there would be no mistake.
“Certainly not, and we both know the reason. But I do have a brother, and Josh will accompany me home or I shall know the reason why.”
“Because he is ill,” Nicholas told her, his voice gentler than before. “Joshua cannot leave the grounds of Bournesea, and—now that you have entered—neither can you.”
“What? You would hold us here against our will?”
“If I must, that is precisely what I will do,” he said firmly, yet not unkindly. “We fear it is blue cholera.”
The breath left her in a choked cry of alarm. Her vision wavered, her knees buckled and she grasped the desk behind her to keep from falling. Oh, God. Blue cholera? The Asian sort. Before she could right herself, he was there, his arms around her, lifting. Resisting did not even occur to her.
When he had placed her on the brocade settee, he knelt before her, his hands still on her arms. “Emily, believe me, I am so dreadfully sorry this has happened. Please forgive my bluntness in the telling. I knew no easy way to say it.”
She brushed a shaking hand over her eyes, then clamped her palm against her mouth and swallowed hard when sickness threatened.
“Breathe deeply,” he suggested. “Lie back.” Not waiting for her to comply, he pushed her into a reclining position, her head resting uncomfortably against the high, padded curve of the couch arm.
She watched as he rose and hurried to the sideboard. A moment later he returned with a snifter and put it to her lips. “Sip this. It will help,” he promised.
Consuming spirits suddenly dropped far down on her list of things to avoid. She grasped the glass and swallowed deeply. The coughing fit almost undid her. Tears rolled down her face unchecked. “Will…will Josh die?” she rasped when she was able to speak.
“No, no, of course he won’t die,” Nicholas assured her, all sympathy now. “I promise you, he won’t. He has been improving every day since we came ashore. In fact, he is keeping his liquids down and the fever is almost gone.”
She grabbed his arm with both hands. “Nick, he must have a doctor. Please—”
He smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “He has the best. Dr. Evans is quite accomplished.”
Emily sniffed, trying to think properly. “I have never heard of him.”
“He is the ship’s doctor, who has sailed with Captain Roland for years. I trust him implicitly.”
“But cholera, Nicholas?” Emily whispered. “I can scarcely believe it.”
“It has been epidemic here before,” he reminded her. “No one is safe from it.”
“Mostly in London and the crowded cities. Not anywhere near Bournesea.”
“No, but it does exist now in Lisbon, where we docked on the way home. Apparently, that’s where they contracted it.”
“In a faraway port?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“Yes, Portugal. There has been no rampant outbreak here in England recently, and this is what I am trying to avoid. Firsthand, I witnessed the devastation it caused in India. So, you see why I cannot allow you and Josh to leave. By coming here, being with your brother, you have exposed yourself to it,” he said gently. “Also, I am allowing no possibility that rumors of it will spread and cause panic.”
“But Father—”
“Shall be told, of course, when he comes looking for you. Unfortunately, I dare not send anyone out to inform him. When he comes to the gates, I shall speak with him myself from a safe distance. I know I can trust him not to reveal anything.”
“He is not well himself,” Emily said, “I can only imagine how upset he will be when I do not return home in time for supper. I neglected to tell him where I was going.”
Nicholas sighed and sat back on his heels, holding one of her hands. When had he taken it up and why had she not noticed when he did? She should pull away, but she needed comfort from any source available. Even he would do at the moment.
“Does the vicar have someone to do for him in your absence?” he asked.
Emily nodded, still so shocked by what he had told her, she could not gather her wits. Concentrating on something as mundane as the vicar’s supper seemed somehow inconsequential. Wrong.
Nick patted her hand. “I shall have my mother’s room prepared. She would approve your presence there, I think,” he said with a comforting smile.
Here was the Nick she remembered, Emily thought with relief. At least she knew he still existed inside this sun-kissed, muscled, unkempt rogue who scared her. She tightened her fingers and clasped his hand, holding fast to the only solace she could find.
Josh would be well soon. He had to recover. “What
