The pain in his chest—fear of losing her, fear of how he might function without Juliet at his side—rose to his throat. “Stay with me.” Never leave me. “Don’t think of the cold. Think about what you want as your prize now you have won the wager.”
A weak smile touched her lips, and his heart ached at the sight. “I did? But how? Rufus is like a disobedient child who doesn’t do a thing I say.”
“Rufus may be a disobedient child, but he loves you.”
She smiled again, closed her eyes and curled into his chest.
Devlin pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “No one loves you as much as I do.”
Juliet was dreaming, dreaming of lying on a picnic blanket on the lawn, the sun beating down, Devlin leaning over her, all dark and handsome. He kissed her deeply, with a passion that stole her breath. Happiness flowed from her toes to the tips of her fingers, warming her body, soothing her soul.
The image faded and then she felt something wet against her cheek.
Her eyes shot open.
The large figure sprawled beside her in bed was not her husband.
“Rufus.” She couldn’t help but giggle. “You’re not supposed to be here. Who let you in?”
“I did.” Devlin’s voice drifted over her, soft and smooth and caressing. “We fought for the coveted position on the bed. Rufus won.”
Devlin sat in the chair beside her. A lock of ebony hair hung over his brow. The dark shadows across his jaw and the creases in his shirt told her he’d been there for some time.
“Rufus won?” She doubted that.
“I let him win. He deserves a reward for leading me to the icehouse, for leading me to you.” A smile touched his lips, but she could hear the distress in his voice.
“I’m thankful you came when you did. Lord, I’ve never felt so cold.”
She could not remember much after leaving the chamber. A flurry of activity. The doctor forcing her to swallow a vile-tasting liquid. Devlin pacing the floor in her bedchamber. Devlin insisting that she drink the tisane. Devlin drawing the coverlet up to her chin and kissing her goodnight.
“Dr Hughes said you should rest for a day or two. That we’re to contact him at the first signs of a chill or fever.”
She saw it then, the look of terror swimming in his eyes, the cracks in the dam struggling to keep a wealth of emotion at bay.
>
“I feel perfectly fine.”
“Still, it is wise to heed his words.”
Juliet nodded, and that seemed to bring him some comfort. “What time is it?”
Devlin shrugged. “The clock chimed three the last time I heard.”
The faint hum of activity downstairs and the slivers of daylight streaming in through the curtains told her she had slept for a whole day. She glanced around the dreary room, suddenly recalled she lay in the bed where Charlotte Drake took her last breath. The image of Mrs Barbary looming over the bed made her heart skip a beat.
“What happened to Mrs Barbary?” She had a faint recollection of her falling into the water channel.
Devlin lowered his gaze and shook his head. “The magistrate and the coroner have been this morning. We’ve had to leave her in the icehouse until the jury attends later today. The inquest is tomorrow.”
Inquest? How were they to explain the nature of the woman’s death? “There is something I must tell you, about the letters, about Mrs Barbary’s involvement.” She tried to sit up.
“I know.” Devlin leant forward and placed a comforting hand on her arm. “You told me last night while I lay with you on the bed. At first, I thought you were delirious but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.”
“My grandmother was your grandmother’s maid.”
“Yes,” he said in a hushed voice. “And I hope that wherever she is, she takes comfort from the fact that her granddaughter is an angel here on earth. That her granddaughter is the mistress of Blackwater and will see to it that her children treat others with the love and respect they deserve.”