Loved and Found (Scandalous Affairs Book 5) by Christi Caldwell

Author:Christi Caldwell [Caldwell, Christi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

As Edith struggled to open her achingly heavy eyelids, she had confirmation of a sad truth—she had died after all.

She’d not survived the carriage ride.

All of it, from the blow she’d taken to her shoulder, to Thaddeus’s unexpected arrival at a foreign keep, caring for her injury and then tenderly carrying her to a place warm and so very comfortable proved to be nothing more than a dream she’d carried with her into the afterlife.

But it had felt real, and it had been so very glorious being reunited with him, even if it was only for a short while. Even if he’d been as angry, in her imagining of him, as he’d been the last time she’d seen him in the living.

Except…he’d not been at all angry this time.

This time, he’d cared for her.

And put her back together, and—

“You’re awake.”

That hoarse, disbelieving pronouncement, drew her attention across the room.

Her heart thudded wildly against the walls of her chest and with some effort, she turned her head towards him—a man she’d not imagined in death, after all.

He remained frozen, on a knee, beside the hearth. His cheeks were covered with several days’ worth of growth, his eyes were bloodshot, and he’d the look of a man who’d seen a ghost. If he hated her, wouldn’t he rejoice in her misery?

But no, Thaddeus had always been so very honorable, so very good. It was why even before she’d gone to him and begged him to leave with her, she’d known in her heart of hearts that he’d reject her.

“Thaddeus,” she tried to make her lips move, to speak his name, but her tongue was heavy and her throat dry.

Suddenly, he jumped up and rushed to the door. Yanking the panel open, he spoke quickly and quietly to someone in the hall, and then after he closed the door, he hastened over to Edie’s side.

She attempted to push herself up onto her elbows.

“No!” he said quickly.

She gasped, and tears stung her eyes at the agony induced by that effort.

“You were in an accident,” he spoke in soothing tones, gentle ones that were a balm upon her aching soul. “You hurt your arm. I set it. You also came down with fever.”

That was right. There’d been spirits, and a stick to bite upon, and then the effects of the spirits.

Her sluggish thoughts sought to assemble the disjointed words from their last exchange, and then slowly, bits and pieces of those remembrances slipped in.

“You called me your love…”

“I don’t hate you…”

“…dream of making love with you…”

Edie recoiled, as that particular statement whispered forward. Good God, what had she said? Nay, what else had she said?

She groaned and then promptly winced as her head throbbed all the more.

“Take it slow,” he urged in those calming tones, mistaking that groan as one of pain and not pained mortification, and she let him keep to the erroneous conclusion.

“With a few days more of rest, the pain will be greatly improved. I expect it should heal completely.”

Edie ran

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