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“O
h my…”
“Rose, I’m sorry,” Cameron said, ignoring the stern look from his mother upon using Rose’s Christian name. “If I’d known, I would have stayed away from you today.”
“Goodness, it’s certainly not your fault. But where will I stay? I have no provisions, or anything.”
“You can stay in the hired man’s cabin out back. Arnold lives a mile away and walks here every day, so he doesn’t use it,” Mrs. Price said.
Rose? In a hired man’s cabin? Cameron shook his head. “That wouldn’t be appropriate, Mum.”
“I’m sorry, Cam. It’s all we have.”
“Don’t be silly, Mr. Price. I’ll be fine. I’ll just…send a message to the house and have a servant bring me my personals.”
Rose’s face paled. Cameron wasn’t sure if it was because she was worried about Kat, or worried about getting scarlet fever herself, or because she would have to live as a peasant.
“Fine. I’ll show her to the cabin,” he said.
Cameron led Rose to the back door of the cottage. “I’m really sorry about this, Rose.”
“It’s not your fault, Cameron. I just hope Kat will be all right.”
“Yes, me too.”
“She’s strong,” Rose said. “My brother had scarlet fever when he was not but seven. He made a full recovery.”
“Thank God I have the commission money from the duke.” Cameron wiped sweat from his brow. “She’ll have the best medicine. I’m sending a message to Bath to that doctor the duke uses. What is his name?”
“Blake. Dr. Michael Blake.”
“Yes, I want him to see Kat.”
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to come out.”
Cameron warmed with embarrassment. How could he expect Rose to stay in such a tiny cabin? “This is it,” he said, opening the door. It was sparse, but clean. A double bed stood on two wooden planks, and a slipper tub graced the corner. A small fireplace, two chairs, and a tiny table completed the decor. The windows were curtained with threadbare cotton. “Hardly fit for a daughter of an earl, is it?”
Rose smiled and touched his cheek. “I’ll be fine.” She rose on her toes to kiss his lips.
“This is why you and I can’t be together, Rose. You shouldn’t have to live like this. You deserve better.”
“I’ll decide what I deserve. In the meantime, you’re stuck with me.” She kissed him again. “I…I would like for you to come to me tonight.”
Cameron held her close, his cock pulsating. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m very sure. Perhaps this was fate.” She shook her head. “Then again, I don’t like to think that Kat got sick just so you and I could be together.”
“No, I don’t want to think that.”
“Let’s just take it as it comes,” Rose said. “I’ll help you and your mother care for Kat. I know how to treat a fever. And you and I will spend some time together. Now, I have need of some parchment and a quill. I’ll send a note to Aunt Iris telling her what has happened and ask her to send me some personals.”
* * * *
A servant arrived with Rose’s personals and a note from Auntie Iris. As bid by Rose, the servant placed the items one hundred feet from the house, and Cameron fetched them after he had left and brought them to Rose in the cabin. When she was settled, she went to the main house and played the old upright pianoforte in the sitting room. It was a bit out of tune, and the sound twanged, as though the instrument belonged in a tavern, but Rose hoped the music might soothe Kat. Later, Rose sat with the little girl while Mrs. Price fixed a hearty beef stew for dinner. She cooled Kat with a cloth dipped in ice water and held her wrapped in blankets when she trembled with fever chills. Mrs. Price came in and relieved her, telling her to go to the table for supper.
The stew and brown bread were delicious, though completely different from the kind of meals Rose was accustomed to. Five courses were the usual on normal evenings, and at least eight for special occasions. Yet Rose found the stew satisfying and her hunger adequately sated. After dinner, she sat with Kat for another hour and read to her from Mr. Dickens’s Oliver Twist, which Aunt Iris had sent in her valise. Tricia came in to relieve her when the sun went down, and she headed out the back door to the cabin.
Cameron knocked on her door soon after.
