If You Were Mine by Rebecca King Page B

glowing
flames jostling heartily in the grate with an absent frown on his
face. The doctor had been and gone, and the news was not
good.
    One of
the staff was quickly dispatched to summon Peter’s presence at
Havistock as a matter of urgency. Not only did he need to know
about his sister’s survival, but he also needed to be informed of
her ill health, and the imminent danger to her life.
    God
forbid the doctor was indeed accurate, and her life was hanging in
the balance. Dominic stared thoughtfully into the fire for several
moments and tried to marshal his whirling thoughts. Surely, he
couldn’t lose her now.
    A sense
of unfamiliar helplessness washed over him. The memory of the
rasping hollowness of her cough when she had ridden in his arms was
strong. Putrid lungs could kill even a person of relatively good
health, for someone as malnourished as Isobel...
    Quickly
closing off the macabre thought, Dominic pushed away from the
hearth and strode towards the door. Suddenly, he had the pressing
need to be with her and not waste even one single, precious
moment.
     
    Isobel
felt weight pulling her down. Wrapped in something soft and heavy,
she was unbearably hot.
    Trying
desperately to pull herself free, she slowly became aware of a
strange noise, over and over. Her head throbbed in rhythm with the
stabbing pain behind her eyes. Everything within her ached
fiercely.
    Her
thoughts spun around and around as she fought desperately to pull
herself free from the kaleidoscope of confusing colour. Shades and
shapes merged, and Dominic’s beloved features appeared before her.
Out of the haze, his beautiful green eyes glinted brightly as they
shone lovingly at her. She could hear the soft murmur of his voice,
but simply couldn’t find the strength to answer him. Her mouth
wouldn’t work.
    She
didn’t know if she was dreaming again, but this dream felt
different. There were no swirling mists through which he appeared.
The kaleidoscope of colours around him made her dizzy and confused.
She felt muddled, as though something was holding her down, and she
just couldn’t shake it off.
    “ Come on now, you must drink some.”
    Isobel’s
drowsy gaze locked on to his beseeching look as she felt something
being held against her lips. Instinctively, she opened her mouth
and swallowed the warm concoction, coughing violently as it settled
harshly on her cold and empty stomach. It tasted slightly salty,
and warm, but other than that Isobel had no idea what he had just
given her. She tried desperately to move her head away, but found
herself held more firmly against the solid wall of his chest, his
face mere inches from her own. Once again, something was placed
against her lips.
    “ Please, you must drink this now,” his rich, masculine voice
held a stern tone of authority that even Isobel couldn’t
ignore.
    She
frowned, wondering what she had done to incur his wrath. Despite
trying to plead with him with her eyes, she couldn’t find the
strength to keep her gaze locked on his and eventually gave up,
reluctantly allowing him to feed her the strange concoction until
exhaustion overtook her, and she once again slipped into the
darkness.
    “ That’s more than we have been able to get down her since
yesterday Sir,” Mrs Holcombe declared, settling the blankets and
sheets around the prone woman lying before them.
    “ It’s not enough though,” Dominic eyed Isobel’s pale face
against the white cotton pillow. “She needs more if she is going to
survive.”
    Frustration seethed within him at the sheer helplessness of
the situation. Although she was drinking the broth Cook had made
her, there had been no improvement in her condition since the day
she had arrived, and that had been nearly three days
ago.
    “ I’ll sit with her for a while,” Dominic informed Mrs
Holcombe, sinking into the chair beside the bed. Ignoring the women
as they collected various items from around the room before
eventually leaving, he picked up Isobel’s limp