Page 45 of Once a Scoundrel

“She’s askin’ fer ye, sir. I came to fetch ye.”

Faith sucked in a silent breath.

“I need a moment to dress. Go find Lady Faith,” he called out with a grinning wink at her. “She’s sleeping somewhere downstairs.”

“Yes, sir!” The sound of scurrying footsteps drifted away.

“You’re terrible,” Faith scolded in a whisper.

He arched a brow. “You’d rather she find us together like this?” With a last, lingering kiss, he rolled off her and out of bed. He snatched up his breeches from the floor and yanked them on. “That should buy us a few minutes while she hunts for you.” He slipped his shirt over his head. “I’ll go to Mary, and you can follow when you’ve finished dressing.”

She sat up and pulled the covers over her body to hide her nakedness. Which was a damned shame, as far as he was concerned. Although if he’d remained here with her looking like that for a minute longer, nothing could have pulled him away.

“You’re awfully good at hiding naked women,” she commented quietly, wariness darkening her face.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He dared to play with fire by leaning over the bed. “I might have changed, but I still remember how to be a rake.” He pulled down the sheet to bare a single plump breast and placed a kiss on her nipple. When it puckered eagerly beneath his lips, he groaned and murmured with a heavy sigh, “I’m going to miss being a rake.”

She swatted at him again. Laughing, he dodged her hand and grabbed up the rest of his clothes from the floor.

Buttoning up his waistcoat, he grinned back at her and reluctantly slipped into the hall.

He was dressed halfway respectable by the time he reached Mary’s room, although covered in prickly morning beard and still somewhat dusty from yesterday’s ride. He stifled a silly grin. It must be love if Faith found him desirable looking this rumpled and worn.

He paused in the doorway. “Mary?”

She opened her eyes, and his heart skipped. “Stephen,” she mumbled, “you’re here...”

With a rush of relief, he hurried forward and sat on the chair drawn up to her bedside. He reached for her hand. “Thank God you’re better. You had me worried.”

She smiled weakly at him. “You weren’t the only one.”

Footsteps hurried down the hall and into the room. “Sir! I can’t find Lady Faith anywhere downstairs.”

“How peculiar.” He kept his face inscrutable, except for a twitch at his lips. “Did you check in the kitchens?”

Footsteps raced away.

Looking at her with a mix of relief and sympathy, Stephen placed his hand against her forehead, then smiled. She would have a long recovery ahead of her to regain her strength, but now her forehead was cool to the touch and the color had returned to her cheeks.

With a grateful smile, she took his hand and squeezed it, but the gesture which was meant to reassure him of her strength only reinforced how weak she was.

She tried to sit up. “Where’s Jeremy?” A panicked worry rose in her voice as she glanced around the room. “Jeremy!”

Stephen took her shoulders and gently put her down against the pillows. “He’s all right. He’s at the manor house.”

She nodded and eased down, the panic leaving her but not its intensity. “I want to see him.”

“You will,” he assured her in as soothing a voice as possible. “Soon. But for now, you need to rest and regain your strength.”

She blinked rapidly as tears welled in her eyes. “I was so frightened. I kept having nightmares...”

“It was only the fever,” he said gently.

She shook her head, tears spiking her lashes. “I thought I was going to die.” Her hand tightened around his, and his chest ached that he couldn’t help ease her fear. “And I was so terrified. Not for me, but for Jeremy. What would he do if anything happened to me? How would he survive if he lost me, too?”

Too.Along with his father. “He would have me,” he rasped hoarsely. “Always.”

“Thank you, Stephen,” she whispered. “Everything we have is because of you. I don’t know what we’ll do without you, or how we’ll ever repay you.”