She blinked twice, then laughed. “When you recover.”
“Stay until I fall asleep, then,” he said.
She sniffed again. “Of course.”
With that promise, he let his fatigued body drag him into slumber.
*
When Leo wokenext, the world was clearer. Aside from the gray haze and pinch in his chest, he felt almost normal. As he made to stand, his head spun, and he fell back. The door creaked open, and someone stepped inside. It was a young maid who approached him cautiously.
He groaned, getting up from the bed. Every muscle in his body ached. “Where am I?”
“The home of Mr. Simon Mayweather, milord,” the maid said. She scurried forward, set a tray containing a large breakfast on the table beside the bed, then left, almost catching her skirt in the closing door in her rush to depart.
Odd.
How long had it been since the crash? Simon’s home was miles away from the Briarwood lands, in the middle of the countryside. How had they transported him so far without him realizing it?
More importantly, where is Saffron?
He remembered her calling to him in the water, her pale arm sinking beneath the waves. A moment later, new memories slid into focus, hazy snippets of conversation as he thrashed beneath covers that were too hot. Her voice calming him, her soft hands touching his cheek. Their declarations of love.
His heart soared. She loved him. He hadn’t dreamed that part. Wherever she was, he was certain she was safe. She could not remain by his side throughout all hours of the day, nor would he have wanted her to.
The savory smell of the tray beside the bed made his stomach growl. He tried to remember the last time he had eaten but couldn’t. Pulling his legs out from beneath the blanket, he reached for the tray.
Then he realized that below his knee there was nothing but a rounded stump marred by an angry, raised scar.
He could still feel his foot, could still flex, and sense the motion of his toes, but there was nothing there. He reached for the air where his foot would have been, and the sensation was eerily familiar, as if the bottom part of his leg were invisible.
I’m seeing things, he thought, waving his hand back and forth beneath his knee.I’m still delirious in bed.
He grabbed a pitcher of water from the tray and peered into it. The face that stared back was pale and thin, with heavy bags under the eyes. It was a face that spoke of a long convalescence.
He threw the pitcher against the wall and fell onto his back on the bed. Anger swirled inside him, at the doctors who could not save his limb, and at himself for making the mistake that had led to the amputation.
What will Saffron think of me now?
He tucked his mangled leg beneath the blanket, unable to look at it.
His stomach rumbled, and he grudgingly rose. When he’d finished sopping up the last of the eggs with a rich slice of bread, he went to itch his foot, but there was no foot there to scratch. His fingers curled into a fist. He put the tray aside and attempted to rise. His remaining leg nearly buckled beneath him, but he forced his way to stand, stretching out each muscle until it screamed.
He found a crutch by the door and slipped his arm over the padded leather fabric. The world spun around him before settling again. He pulled open the nearest trunk and found, to his relief, a pile of clothes. The trousers were tight around the waist, and he had to tie the bottom of one leg beneath the knee, but it was better than waiting to be tended upon like an invalid.
As he struggled to close the small buttons on the cuffs of the white linen shirt he’d found in the trunk, the door opened, and Leo turned to see Saffron clutching at the door frame. She was dressed in a gold-embroidered bodice without the matching skirt, her petticoats clinging to her legs. A maid followed her, hauling a mass of gold fabric in her arms.
“Madam, you ought not—” The maid spotted Leo, and twin circles of red appeared on her cheeks. “Christ, m’lord, you’re awake!”
Saffron flung herself into his chest, and it took all his strength to keep her from bowling him over. He staggered back to fall on his rear on the bed, with Saffron kneeling in front of him, her arms around his shoulders.
“I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted,” the maid said, closing the door.
“I thought I would lose you,” Saffron whispered. “Thank God. Thank God.”
He pulled her close, breathing in the clean smell of her hair. “You are with me now. That is all that matters.” He kissed thetop of her head. “Would you mind explaining why we are at my cousin’s home?”
“You floated so far down the river. When we got you out, we were afraid to move you. This was the closest house.” She pressed her lips to his collarbone and his body reminded him urgently that it had been a long time since he’d last indulged himself. At the same time, he was painfully aware of his own limitations.
