making an assumption, Miss Drake. There is no way I can be certain.” The surgeon shuffled through his bag and brought out a small vial. “Give this to him four times a day with water. It might bring down the fever.” He paused and then whispered to Louisa. “Your Grace, you should prepare yourself for the worse.”
EMMA REFUSED TO LEAVE Simon’s bedside for the next two nights. His fever never became high enough that he hallucinated. And yet, if he had, at least she would have been able to hear his voice. She missed the timber of his voice when he spoke to her, complimented, or even scolded her.
“Dammit!” She wiped away the tears that fell. Letting her head rest on his chest, she whispered, “You can’t leave me, Simon. I love you.”
“About damn time you said so.” His voice sounded raspy and dry and so beautiful to her.
Emma sat up and looked down at him. His eyes remained closed, but there was a slight upward turn to his lips. She shook her head. Had her imagination had taken hold of her senses?
“Simon?”
“I love you, too,” he mumbled with a smile.
“Simon!” She clasped his hand and brought it to her lips. “I love you so much, you damned fool.”
“Water.”
“Oh, of course.” Emma grabbed the glass and then lifted his neck. He drank a few sips and then turned his head away.
“How long?”
She assumed he wanted to know how long he’d been ill. “Over a week.”
“Dead?”
“No, you’re not dead, darling.”
“Park.”
Oh. “Yes, Riley shot him.”
“Riley’s a good man.”
“He’s been worried sick about you, Simon.” Emma blinked back the tears. “We all have been.”
She felt his forehead and noticed the fever was all but gone.
“I’ll survive. The devil doesn’t want me yet,” he muttered and then fell back to sleep.
Emma watched him for a few minutes to make sure he was merely sleeping before running down the marble steps and into the salon. Louisa and Charlotte sat with a book they were reading, while Harry was reading a letter. “He woke!”
“He did?” Louisa recovered first and asked, “For how long?
“Just a few minutes, but his fever is almost gone.”
“Oh, thank God!” Louisa exclaimed.
“Yay!” Charlotte jumped off Louisa’s lap and headed for the door. “I want to see Uncle Simon.”
Emma stopped Charlotte. “Not just yet, darling. He fell back to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow he’ll be awake longer.”
Harry cleared this throat. “Did he say anything important, Emma?”
“He said he loves me.”
Chapter 24
Simon improved every day, and by the fourth day, he finally decided not to wait for the physician’s approval to get out of bed. He winced as Harry helped him up. His chest still felt like it was on fire. Once on two feet, he stood there for a long moment, trying to gain his composure and fight the pain he still felt.
“Do not tell Emma I’m up yet.”
“I understand,” Harry said with a smile. “At least she is finally sleeping again.”
He grabbed the bedpost for support. “Good. Shit, I feel as weak as a baby.”
Harry laughed. “You are.”
Simon laughed and then realized how much that pained him. “Just wait until I am completely healed. We will visit Gentleman Jackson’s saloon again.”
“I have a feeling you fight far dirtier than anyone at Gentleman Jackson’s.”
“I’m quite certain I do.” He took two steps forward and grimaced. “Not sure I’ll make it there anytime soon.”
“As long as you can stand up and marry the girl.”
“I do not want her to know that I am aware of her condition,” Simon commanded. “She told me she loves me. I want that to be enough. The baby will come a little early, but it won’t be the first time.”
Simon would be eternally grateful to his brother for informing him about Emma likely being with child. Hopefully, she would never learn that Harry’s commanding him to get up and face fatherhood was what roused him out of unconsciousness. Her admission of love only increased his desire to gain his strength back.
“Walk already,” Harry ordered.
Simon took four steps and felt out of breath. “Dammit.”
“You can do it, Simon.”
He wasn’t certain about that. He’d never felt so weak in his life. “Did you talk to the Archbishop?”
“Yes, and he understood the need for me to represent you. He wasn’t pleased but agreed due to the circumstances.”
Simon winced as he took another step. “Will he keep quiet about the child?”
“Of course,” Harry said with a chuckle. “He wants that baby born on the right side of the blanket.”
Unlike he’d been. “Am I doing