Lily and the Duke (Sex and the Season 1)

Daniel hugged Lily’s hand to his chest. “I can’t stand the thought of her being in pain.”

“She’s strong. She’ll be all right. Here, I’ll show you how to give her the medicine, and you can give her another dose in six hours.” Lucy sat down beside Lily and felt on her forehead. “She’s warm. I’m afraid the fever is starting. Let’s give her the medication, and then I’ll show you how to cool her.”

Lucy took a packet of powdered morphine and lifted Lily’s head from the pillow. With her other hand, she opened Lily’s mouth, poured the powder on her tongue, and held a glass of water to her lips. “Come on, sweetheart, take a drink,” she said. Lily’s head shook slightly and her eyes remained closed, but Lucy managed to pour some water down her throat. “Daniel, call for some ice. We need to cool her.”

“Shouldn’t we get Blake?”

“I think we can handle this. But if you’d feel better, I’ll summon him.”

“No, I’m sure he’s exhausted. I’ll get the ice.” He quickly rang for a servant and dispatched the order. When the ice arrived, Lucy crushed some in a cup and gave it to Daniel.

“Hold her head up and feed her some ice chips, one by one. They’ll melt quickly in her mouth because she’s so hot.”

Daniel did as he was told, while Lucy dropped some ice in a basin of cool water. She dipped a cloth in, wrung it out, and placed it on Lily’s forehead.

“Daniel, I need to undress her. We need to cool her body.” Lucy uncovered Lily and began to unbutton the nightdress that covered her. “If you’d rather…”

“No, I’ll stay. I want to take care of her.”

“What would the earl say?”

“I don’t care. I’m the one who will care for her. I want to. I need to.”

“All right, dear. It’s the middle of the night anyway. Who will know?”

Lucy removed the nightgown. Lily’s naked body was covered in a soft gleam of perspiration. Daniel frowned at the purple-and-blue bruises marring her beautiful arms and legs.

“The contusions are quite normal considering the fall she took,” Lucy said. “She’s lucky she didn’t break any bones.”

Her comment did little to ease Daniel’s worry. Lucy brought another cloth soaked in ice water and smoothed it over Lily’s parched body.

“The fever will go up and down, Daniel. That’s the course of it. When she’s hot like this, she needs to be cooled. When she shivers with fever chills, you need to cover her and warm her.”

“Yes. All right. Let me.” He took the cloth from Lucy, moistened it the ice water once more, and continued moving it over Lily’s body in long strokes. He rewet the cloth frequently, as her body seemed to heat the cloth all the way to his hand in no time at all.

Lucy touched her lips to Lily’s forehead. “She’s a bit cooler now. Give her a few more ice pieces. If you’d like to get some sleep, I’ll sit with her for the rest of the night.”

“No. I’m not leaving her.”

“All right, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“You know where I am if you need me. She’s likely to go into chills soon. Wrap her in blankets, hold her, anything that seems to comfort her, all right?”

“Yes.”

“Good night.”

“Good night, Aunt Lucy. Thank you.”

Daniel didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. As Lucy had predicted, Lily began to shiver within a couple of hours. Daniel wrapped her in blankets and held her in his arms, speaking soothing words to her, hoping she could hear him.

“I love you,” he said softly. “I love you, Lily.”

Her body trembled against his, her eyes closed. He held her as close as he could, trying to transfer his body heat to her, kissing her temples, loving her, willing her to come back to him. When the chills finally subsided, he laid her back on the bed and tried to feed her some water, most of which dribbled down her chin. “Come on, love, just a little,” he said, “for me.”

In another hour she was burning again, so he fed her pieces of ice and cooled her as Lucy had shown him. Dawn broke, and at the hour of seven, he gave her another dose of morphine. Soon after, Dr. Blake came in.