The Secret Rose by Laura Landon

Author:Laura Landon [Landon, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2016-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Abigail sat in a cushioned chair next to Ethan’s bed and watched his restless sleep. It had been three days since Stafford had flayed him raw. Three days when she didn’t know if he’d survive the next day. Or even the next hour.

Stafford’s intention had been to kill Ethan. And he’d almost succeeded. There were places on Ethan’s back where the skin had not only been ripped to jagged shreds, but the flesh beneath lay open and exposed.

And every brutal stripe on his back was her fault. Every deep tear was because she’d fled London and he’d been forced to come after her. She clutched the quilt tighter to her, as if the soft warmth could assuage her guilt. Why hadn’t she listened to him and stayed in London?

She swiped at a tear that spilled from her eye, then pushed the cover from her shoulders and rushed to his bedside when he released an anguished moan and tried to push himself from the bed.

“You’re safe, Ethan. Nothing can hurt you anymore.”

“No!” he groaned. His struggling intensified.

“I’m here, Ethan. You’re all right.”

“Run, Abby! Run!”

His attempts to free himself became more frantic. “I’m safe, Ethan. Lie still.”

“No,” he moaned again. “Run!”

Abby tried to hold him steady while whispering in his ear. She needed to calm him before he tore the stitches that had taken Mac over an hour to sew. Thankfully, strong hands reached in to help her hold him down.

“Lie still, Captain,” Mac’s commanding voice said. “That’s an order.”

Ethan’s movements didn’t calm completely, but at least enough to keep him from doing more damage.

Abigail knelt by his bedside and whispered comforting words in his ear. Eventually, he calmed, then slept.

“Has he rested at all since I left?” Mac asked when Ethan was still, and Abigail had returned to her chair.

“A little.”

“When was the last time you gave him laudanum?”

She looked at the clock on the mantel. “About an hour ago.”

Mac shook his head. “Dammit. It’s too soon to give him more.”

Ethan released a painful sigh, and Abigail rose to place a cool cloth on the back of his neck.

“Tell me what happened between Ethan and Stafford,” she said when she returned to her chair.

Mac watched Ethan’s restless sleep. “I guess you deserve to know,” he said, then leaned back in his chair. “We were delivering a shipment of French wine to Stafford’s plantation. The voyage hadn’t gone well from the start. First, we hit bad weather and lost part of our rigging. Then we ran into a patrol searching for blockade runners and were nearly caught. It was time to go home. The crew looked forward to unloading the cargo and leaving hostile waters.”

Mac rose from his chair and rinsed the cloth in cool water, then placed it back on Ethan’s neck. “We arrived at Stafford’s plantation in the middle of celebration. I’m not sure what Stafford was celebrating, but there must have been thirty to forty friends and neighbors gathered there. Ethan went ahead to tell Stafford we were there, and the crew loaded our cargo into smaller boats and rowed to shore.

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