The Reluctant Bride by Beverley Eikli Page B

sudden excitement he cried, ‘I can feel it moving,’ before dropping his hands as Emily convulsed, shivering.
    The flowering of hope was quickly extinguished and his stomach contracted. Emily was going to die of cold unless he got her out of her sodden, blood-soaked clothes, and soon. He strained to hear sounds beyond the squawking of chickens and masculine shouts of the farm boys which drifted in from outside. Miranda and Mrs Cooper had been gone a long time.
    â€˜What are you doing?’
    Angus glanced down at her terrified face and registered the knife in his hand, poised at the fastenings of her gown. He’d lost patience with the promise of help and had raised Emily into a sitting position, but now he dropped his arm so the knife was out of her line of vision while he attempted a reassuring smile. ‘You’ll catch your death in those sodden garments.’
    She retreated into the pillows more furious, he thought, than fearful. ‘You will not use a knife to rip my clothes from my back! I have precious little to wear, as it is.’ Her voice contained an edge of hysteria. ‘What do you know about delivering a baby? Where’s Miranda? Where’s the doctor?’
    â€˜They’ll be here soon,’ he soothed, although her questions echoed his own concerns. Despite her protests, he sliced off the buttons that ran down the front of her gown. Then, taking a fistful of linen in each hand, he tore the garment from neck to hem.
    â€˜How dare you?’ she shrieked, collapsing into tears as if it were catharsis to channel her fear into anger.
    He’d seen reactions like it before in the army and was more concerned that she was quivering like a jelly, her skin now icy to the touch. Once he’d rid her of her blood-soaked garments he’d have to find more blankets.
    â€˜Do you make a habit of tearing women’s clothes from them in wartime? Do you enjoy listening to their protests as you take a knife to them?’
    In another situation her words would have been wounding barbs, but Angus was familiar enough with blood, fear and urgency to remain unmoved by Emily’s terror-induced taunts.
    Once he’d peeled off her outer wear he inserted his knife beneath the drawstring of her chemise and again, shredded that in half. For a brief moment she lay still and naked before giving an outraged shriek as she brought her hands up to cover her breasts.
    His gaze did not linger. There was no room for sentiment and this was no seduction scene.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Emily.’ Gently, he again covered her with his greatcoat. ‘It’s hard to be so helpless.’ He squeezed her wrist before stepping back, but her gaze was blank.
    When Mrs Cooper arrived bearing an armful of blankets for which he paid her handsomely on the spot, she told him the doctor was attending a breech birth and would come as soon as he could.
    Angus relayed this to Emily who chewed on her knuckles and muffled her sobs as she moved her hips to try and shift the pain.
    â€˜I’m losing the baby, aren’t I?’ she whispered.
    â€˜Not if I can help it.’ Angus sat on the bed beside her, listening to Mrs Cooper boiling more water downstairs. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it from his grasp, turning her face to the wall. ‘It’ll be a relief if I die, too,’ she whispered. ‘A relief for all of us.’
    He didn’t know how to answer. Did she want soothing, or fierce rebuttals?
    So he said what was in his heart, understanding her rage at her impotence and the power he had over her. It was a strange relief to be able to unburden himself to her like this. Careful not to touch her, he was also careful to see she was attending to him.
    â€˜We’re strangers, Emily, but we won’t always be.’ Her body was an indistinct mound beneath a pile of coverings but she was still, her eyes open. Alert. He placed his hand on top of her covers, somewhere in the