Page 69 of A Highland Duke to Claim Her Heart

“Ewan!” He cried, before rushing forward and grabbing Ewan’s arm, throwing it across his shoulders in order to help keep him upright. “What has happened?”

“I… I cannot walk,” Ewan said through gritted teeth. “At least, I cannot walk unassisted. You must help me, Alaric. I need to get out to the drainage system.”

“The drainage system?” His friend looked at him like he was mad. “You cannot go all the way out to the farms! You cannot even make it across your own entrance hall. You need to go back to bed. And we need the physician to come at once. Butler!”

Moments later, the butler appeared in the entrance hall. “Fetch the doctor. Inform him that it is now a matter of emergency and the duke cannot wait for his convenience," Alaric ordered. “And tell no one where you are going.”

Ewan wasn’t sure why Alaric had added this last instruction, but it was too difficult for him to try and think straight, let alone understand his friend’s obscure motivations.

Alaric then turned Ewan around and began to slowly guide him back toward the stairs.

“But there is so much work to do,” Ewan tried to protest, even as his voice wavered. “I cannot abandon my farmers. They must be wondering why I have not come to the fields.”

“The farmers have been informed of your illness,” Alaric said. “Right now, we have to get you rested and figure out what is wrong with you. If you try to go out to the fields, the effort could kill you.”

“But—”

“What is more important?” Alaric snarled. “Going to see your tenant farmers or remaining alive for your daughter?”

Ewan could not argue with this, so he allowed his friend to steer him back toward the stairs. Climbing them proved difficult, and by the time he reached the top, he was sweating profusely once again, and his breathing was labored.

At the landing, he heard a small gasp, and he and Alaric turned to see Annabelle. Her eyes were wide, and she was clutching a piece of paper to her. As Alaric helped him forward, he saw that it was a drawing of a little girl with two taller figures next to her. A man and a woman, from what he could see.

A mother and a father.

“Annabelle…” he murmured, as they passed her, but he was not sure if she had heard him.

“Stand back, darling,” Alaric said to her as they passed, “your father is not well.”

Annabelle pressed her back against the wall to let them pass, her eyes wide with fear. As they passed, Ewan tried to give her a reassuring smile, but his facial muscles didn’t seem to be working, and he imagined that the smile had come across more like a grimace. Either way, it did nothing to rid her expression of fear.

At last, they arrived back at Ewan’s chamber, and with some effort, Alaric got him into bed. Not long after, the doctor arrived.

Ewan knew Dr. Ludley well. For most of his life, Ludley was the physician that came to see him whenever he was ill or had injured himself. But in all the years he had known the doctor, he had never seen him look as grim as he did now as he listened to Ewan’s heart and lungs.

When he was done listening, he sat back, frowning.

“How does it look?” Ewan tried to say, although before he could finish the sentence he began to cough.

“Try not to talk,” the doctor warned him. “Your lungs are severely compromised, and the less stress you put on them, the better.”

Ewan opened his mouth to reply, and the doctor shook his head warningly. Instead, Ewan simply nodded, his eyes wide as he gazed at Dr. Ludley, willing him to tell him what was wrong.

The doctor seemed to understand what he was asking. “Your body is under an enormous amount of strain,” he said. “Especially your heart, which is much weaker than I would have expected in a man as active as you are. I do not know exactly what is wrong, but I can tell you this: These symptoms are not indicative of overwork or exhaustion. This is something worse.”

Ewan’s jaw tightened.What will happen now?He wanted to ask, but he dared not.

“For now, I want to monitor you,” the doctor said. “I will be keeping a close eye on everything that you eat and drink over the next twenty-four hours. Everything must be approved through me. No one is to give you anything to ingest that I did not expressly approve. Is that understood?” The doctor turned to Alaric, who was waiting by the door.

“That is understood,” Alaric said, stepping forward. “You can count on me, Doctor.”

“Good.” Dr. Ludley turned back to Ewan. “I will not lie to you, Your Grace. Your condition is very severe. If things remain like this, I fear we would be in danger of losing you. But I am going to do everything within my power to make sure that does not happen. You are in good hands now.”

At the door, he stopped for a moment to speak with Alaric. Although Ewan could not hear what they were saying, the expressions of both were grave. The doctor’s words circled through his mind. He still could not wrap his mind around what Dr. Ludley had said.

Just a few days ago, it had been nothing but a headache and some fatigue. And now, he might be on the brink of death.

Everything had deteriorated so quickly.