Summer's Distant Heart - Laura Landon Page 0,36
the same emotions as she had the day Jannie took her last breath. It was an emotional tempest that was difficult to explain.
She took a damp cloth from the bedside table and wiped the perspiration from Hunter’s face. Then, she sat back down beside him and held his hand, refusing to let him go.
“You can…go to…bed,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’ll be…fine.”
“Oh,” Lia said in surprise. “Oh, Hunt. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She tried to stop the tears from rushing down her cheeks but she couldn’t. It was as if the river of tears that had been dammed up were suddenly released.
“You…didn’t.”
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Something…cool and…wet.”
Lia rose and poured some fresh water into a glass and held it to his lips. “Not too much,” she said, taking the glass away from him.
“Where’s…George?”
“Frannie has him upstairs. She fed him and put him to bed.”
“You…trust…her now?”
“More than ever!” The relief was apparent on her face. “Miles is keeping watch in case your father sent more men to harm the babe, or to prevent Frannie from falling into another trap. She’s promised to come straight to us with even the smallest concern and I believe her.”
“We need to…talk, Lia.”
“I know, Hunt. But not now. You’re too weak. You need to sleep. You need to heal. We can talk tomorrow.”
“Yes,” he whispered, then fell into a laudanum-induced sleep.
She sat at his bedside and held his hand while he slept. As the minutes crept by she began to understand that this was no ordinary compassion that she felt for the man. This was love. How it had happened she couldn’t say. Perhaps it had begun in that initial electric moment that had passed between them the first time he’d touched her.
Whatever its origin, she knew without a doubt that it was love, and that she loved him more than she had believed it was possible to love anyone. She loved him with her whole heart and soul.
Tears ran down her cheeks when she thought of what was ahead for them. There was Hunt’s father to deal with, and Lia couldn’t think of any way out of the mess they were in as long as his father remained in the picture.
And she couldn’t think of any way they could eliminate his father and live with themselves after it was over.
. . . .
Hunter healed slowly. His entire body ached for days as he fought to conquer the pain caused by the lead ball that had penetrated to a dangerous depth.
He was actually grateful that Miles stayed around. He took over when Hunter couldn’t even manage to get out of bed. He watched the babe and made Lia rest when she stayed up night and day keeping watch over the babe, calming Frannie, and caring for the Earl of Atherton.
Disjointed thoughts of having children with Lia peppered his drug-laced dreams. He wondered what it would be like to have a child with her. He wondered what it would be like to have a family filling the halls of Rainwood Place. A need deep inside him ached to find that out, ached to have children of his own. With her.
“Are you awake?” she asked entering the room. She carried a tray laden enticingly with small meat and cheese sandwiches.
“Yes, I’m awake. And starving.”
“Then you will love what I’ve brought with me.”
She set the tray down beside him on the bed, then poured him a glass of water.
“I think I would like something stronger than water. Ale, perhaps?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Or maybe a glass of brandy.”
She smiled and poured him a glass of brandy from a decanter he kept on the highboy.
Hunter took a sip, then leaned against the headboard and sighed with pleasure. “Oh, Lia. That tasted good.” He reached for one of the sandwiches and devoured it in two bites. “And so does this. I can’t believe how hungry I am.”
“You’re getting better, Hunt. Much better.”
“Yes, I am.”
Hunter finished the plate of sandwiches, then drank the brandy. When he finished the first glass, she filled it partially for a second time.
“Do you feel up to talking about your father?”
Hunter paused. He had known this day would come. He had known the time would come when they would have to discuss how to handle his father. He was surprised his father had waited this long before sending more men to finish what the last ones had failed at.
“We can’t put it off any longer, can we?”
She shook her head.
“Would you call Miles? I want to get