The Scoundrel's Secret Siren by du Bois Daphne

Author:du Bois, Daphne
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Daphne du Bois
Published: 2013-09-20T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Lord Winbourne got worse in the night – feverish and shivering. Doing her best to break the fever, Lorelei sat up at his bedside applying a cool cloth to his burning skin. If his fever did not break by morning, she would be forced call for a physician, regardless of Winbourne’s opinion of country doctors – or, indeed, her own.

She had dispatched a brief note to Eloise. Lady Gilmont, though a woman of high spirits, was sensible, and Lorelei felt that they might just need an ally at the house, as well as a clean shirt for Winbourne.

It rained all of the following day and Lorelei held vigil at his bedside, waiting for the fever to break. It gave her an opportunity to think more on what she had learnt about the man and his disappointment.

Winbourne did not appear as a man who had been callously discarded. Surely such treatment would have diminished him somewhat, but perhaps his distant manner and cool humour were exactly the hallmarks of disappointment. Perhaps, Lorelei thought with a stab of sorrow, the arrogance was just a means of masking the pain which still tormented him after all these years.

It would certainly explain the fact that he seemed genuinely close to nobody at all, though Lady Gilmont came nearest that mark, possibly because she was his youngest sister and so very lively. And it would explain why he never revealed the whole of himself to any one person.

She hardly dared move from his side lest he call for her, though Mrs Avery had come upstairs again to insist she rest and had even taken Lorelei’s place next to the patient.

“I pray you will forgive an old woman her curiosity, Miss Lindon,” Mrs Avery said, when Lorelei came back less than an hour later, “but I see you must love his lordship very much, to sit with him thus. He is a very fortunate man.”

Lorelei was duly astonished. Did the lady still suspect them of elopement? Her face pinked instantly. “Oh, no, Mrs Avery, you are mistaken. He is only a friend. It is just as I have told you: I am merely a guest of Lady Gilmont. I happened upon him quite by accident.”

“Ah, of course, miss.” With a knowing smile, the woman left her in the room. Lorelei took her seat again, and found that she was suddenly very disconcerted. What utter nonsense. Love Lord Winbourne! They would not suit at all – he was much too icy, devious and spoilt.

She shivered, remembering the masquerade, when they had both behaved as though they could suit very well indeed. After a moment of such heated reflection, Lorelei scolded herself severely: she had a patient to care for. There was no time to be lewd or shameful!

His fever broke just before noon and she sat next to him, reading a novel, as he slept.

She did not notice him wake up, until she felt his gaze on her face. He looked disoriented, but much improved. What

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