Midnight My Love by Anne Marie Novark Page A

suffice." Resisting the impulse to stay, he
made his way to the observatory thinking that Alex looked as if he
were abandoning her. Squaring his shoulders, Damien decided he
didn't care.
    ****
    Alex sat in her brother's dimly lit room and
anxiously watched as he tossed restlessly beneath the covers. The
clock on the mantel showed a quarter to twelve. She knew Rochdale
would come shortly to relieve her. He would help administer the
next dose of medicine, then maybe she could go lie down awhile.
    Robert's fever had grown steadily higher;
the Peruvian bark the doctor prescribed had proven ineffective.
Alex bathed her brother's forehead with a cloth soaked in
lavender-water. She tried to coax him to sip some of the barley
water Cook had sent up.
    As the fever climbed, Robert became more
agitated. He dozed fitfully, kicking the sheets away and mumbling
deliriously. When he did awaken, he stared unseeingly at Alexandra.
Time and again, she bathed his fevered cheeks and turned his
pillows for him. He would rest quietly for a short while, only to
start tossing and turning again.
    When Rochdale knocked on the door at
midnight, Alexandra felt she'd been in the sickroom for days. She
gladly greeted the viscount as he came toward the bed.
    Rochdale looked down at Robert, then at
Alexandra. "You've had a rough time of it, I see," he said
quietly.
    "Yes, his fever is mounting." She replaced
the cloth on Robert's forehead with a fresh one, glad to turn away.
It would never do to let Rochdale know the relief she felt when he
walked into the room. "I hope it breaks in a few hours. Perhaps I
should stay," she said, shoving her hair off her forehead.
    When he didn't answer, Alex looked up.
Rochdale was watching her with brooding eyes. The candlelight
mellowed his sharp features and she thought him extremely
attractive. Against her will, she felt an overwhelming desire to
feel his arms around her again in a strong embrace. She wanted to
lean her head on his shoulder and share the burdens crushing down
on her.
    Alex turned to the nightstand and began
preparing Robert's medicine. She must be extremely tired to be
feeling such nonsensical things. Rochdale had no interest in her.
He didn't even want to be friends. None of it mattered, any way.
She was going to marry Carlisle, after all.
    Rochdale walked over to where Alex was
mixing the dose of medicine. Her hand trembled and she spilled some
of the laudanum she was measuring. Why did he stand so close?
    His hard body brushed against her as he
reached for the draft causing her stomach to flutter and her
breasts to ache. She glanced up into the golden-brown eyes, then
quickly turned toward the bed before the treacherous sensations
made her do something stupid like beg him to hold her, comfort her,
kiss her.
    Goodness. She was more tired than she
realized.
    "I'll lift Robert's head and you give him
the laudanum," she said softly.
    Rochdale nodded curtly. When the medicine
was administered, she plumped the pillows and tucked the sheet
under her brother's chin. "Maybe he'll be able to rest now," Alex
said. Avoiding Rochdale's intensive gaze, she sat in the wing chair
near the fireplace.
    The viscount came toward her. She trembled,
thinking he looked like a panther stalking its prey. The bedroom
was dark; Robert was asleep; she was alone with Rochdale.
    He grasped Alexandra's hands and pulled her
to her feet. With his hand on the small of her back, he guided her
toward the door. "You, my dear, are going straight to bed."
    She tried to halt their progress, but the
strong hand pushed her out into the hall. "I can't leave Robert
while he's still so feverish," she protested.
    "You can and you will," Rochdale said
firmly. "We agreed to divide the watches, Miss Turlington. You
won't be worth half a groat if you stay up all night." He looked
down at her with a smile--half devilish, half tender. "Go to bed
and don't worry about Robert. I promise to wake you if he worsens."
He closed the door in her face and Alex