He wished greatly that things were not this way, that his father did not require this from him. Still, it was what it was, and no matter how hard he thought, he could not fathom a way out of this. He had finally resolved to get over the youngest Birmingham, and just when he began that process, he had to run into her. Beholding those violet orbs was all he had needed to become weakened at the knee. He had been able to think of nothing else but her since that meeting, and now here he was, trying to sneak up upon her in the dead of the night. Indeed, he had lost command of his senses. He finally reached the window pane and gave a sigh of relief. He was especially glad that she had left the windows open, no doubt for the night air. Her room stayed lit, so he was certain she was reading a book. He knew he had the right window, for the last time he had been here, as he walked with Agnes in the garden, he felt a pair of eyes on his back. When he looked, he saw no one, but he had known without a doubt who had been watching him.
He held on firmly to the windowsill, and using it as leverage, pulled himself up. His upper form immediately went in through the window. The sweat that had furrowed at his brow dropped as his limbs felt heavier from exhaustion, and he felt he couldn’t move further. But he had come so far, there was no sense in stopping now. Calling on the last of his strength, he pulled one last time and sent his whole body flying through the window into her chamber. He fell with a thud and thought he heard a bone crack. His body hurt all over, and he groaned, having been a while since he partook in such strenuous exercise. He laid there, catching his breath, hoping that she had been too engrossed in whatever book she was reading to hear that.
As the seconds passed by, his panting began to cease and soon, his breathing normalised. That was when he decided to get on his feet and seek her out. He eventually opened his eyes to rise on his feet, and that was when he noticed a figure hovering over him with a candlestick in one hand and a gas lamp in the other hand. Before he could say anything, he felt the candle stick land painfully against his temple.
“Ouuhh!” he cried, his eyes fluttering closed. Who knew his fair maiden had a feisty side to her? It hurt like hell!
As soon as he opened his eyes again, he saw the candlestick coming towards him, and he immediately sprang backwards, shouting for dear life. “Eleanor! Stop! It’s me, Nicholas!”
She retracted her assault, and he released a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding.
“Nicholas?” He chuckled at the wonder in her voice and considered what must be going through her head.
“Yes. It is I.” He finally got up on his feet and reached to touch where she had hit him. It stung as he touched it, and he quickly withdrew his hands. There was no blood, thankfully, but he knew it would cause a swelling.
“I never knew you had such a powerful strike. I would have scrambled out of the way in time, if I did.”
He saw her roll her eyes. She chose to ignore those words for her reply was a question, totally unrelated. “What are you doing here, Nicholas? You have got the wrong room. Come on, I can manage to sneak you into Agnes’s room. Everyone is asleep by now.”
She was already walking away from him, so his hand shot out and caught hers. She turned sharply to regard him, her eyes narrowed in question. That was not the only thing he could read in those eyes. He could see shock, and he could see pain. The other made his heart ache in his chest. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause her pain, yet, he always managed to do that so effortlessly.
“I am certain I’ve got the right chamber, Eleanor. It is not Agnes I have come to see, it is you.”
She yanked her arm out of his hands upon hearing that. Her voice was filled with incredulity when she spoke.
“Have you lost your mind? You climbed up that wall, through my window, in the dead of the night, to see me when your fiancée sleeps barely thirty feet away from me? Where have you left your senses?” Her voice was a whisper, yet it felt like a scream in Nicholas’s ears, so much that he found himself flinching as she emphasised each word.
“You are right. I have lost my mind. I only wanted to see you, Eleanor, desperately.”
Her jaws dropped at his word. “What part of I do not ever want to be alone with you, did you not get? Why do you continue to do this, Nicholas?”
His face fell. He had been expecting this welcome but had hoped it wouldn’t be so bad. Eleanor sounded like she truly wanted him gone. Mayhap, he should have thought this through one more time. He had only considered himself, his feelings. He had not thought of how this would affect Eleanor. She had pleaded with him, and her voice had almost trembled. Yet what had he done? He had completely disregarded her pleas in the guise of being smitten by her.
Disappointed, he saw what a mistake this had been. There was only one thing left to do now, turn around and leave – for good. It was the only way around this. He had to be responsible with his feelings. He had not asked to fall in love with her, and indeed, he had – but she had not asked for it either.
“You must forgive me, My Lady. I had thought I had given this a proper thought, that I was doing what seemed right, but now I realise my mistake. I shall take my leave now; I am terribly sorry for any ill I have caused you, since our first meeting until now. You have my word that I will cease to trouble you from now on.” With that, he spun and began to ready himself for descent. His bones still weighed a ton. He had not fathomed that he would be making his descent so soon, but he would have to manage it somehow. He flexed his limbs and neck, making sure to avoid his temple. Nothing was said; she had not even deemed it fit to give a response to his pronouncement, but that was fine. She did not have to say anything else.
Feeling as though he was finally ready to begin his descent, he moved closer to the window. He was just about to throw one leg over when she finally spoke. He froze even before processing her words.
“What?” he asked as he regarded her from his side view, half-turned. He needed to be sure that he had heard right.
“I asked you to wait. You have gone through all this trouble to get here, and I hit you – in my defence, I was only protecting myself –” a pause, and she looked as though she was searching for words to say, then taking a breath, she continued, “You must be tired. Since you are already here, I think it would only be right for me to at least take a look at your head. You could rest and regain your strength for the descent.”
She had avoided his gaze all through, but that did not keep him from feeling warm and fuzzy inside. He stopped himself from smiling, though. It was quite thoughtful of her, but he would not allow for more opportunity to hurt her further. Being in his presence was hard for her; he would ease her of that burden, not add to it. As much as the offer was tempting, as much as he wanted to accept, he could not.
“Thank you, Eleanor. That is quite thoughtful of you, but I think it would be best if I took my leave now. I have given you my –”
“I insist. What could a few minutes possibly change?”
He could see the stubborn line her lips were set in. He knew he could not win this fight he did not really want to win in the first place. He finally let a small smile take over his face.
“Well, if you insist. I suppose a few minutes would not hurt, and I am indeed in need of that rest.” With that, he let her lead him further into her chambers, to her bed. As he settled on the four poster princess bed, she went about returning the lamp to its position, which was a nail in the wall. She dropped the candle stand on her vanity and disappeared behind her bath doors. She returned with a bowl of water and a small piece of clothing.
“Let me have a look at that. I would have preferred to use warm water, howbeit we cannot afford to awake anyone to heat the water for us. This will have to do.”
He nodded and turned his head to the side so that she could take a look at her handiwork. He heard her sharp intake of breath as she saw it, and he instantly became alarmed.
“Is it awful? Tell me; I can take it.”
She looked down at him, her mouth slightly opened, and h
e prepared his heart for the worse. He was not vain, had never been overly concerned about his looks. But then again, if it was so awful, he would have to give explanations, and for the life of him, at this moment, he could not think of a single scenario that would not be mortifying. He flushed just thinking of Benjamin’s reactions.
“Quit stalling Eleanor. Out with it.”
“Oh, pardon me. It is only that, I am afraid, it really is horrible. It is so swollen, the size of a very big button, and it’s coloured wrongly. Crimson with hues of black. So nasty!”
Nicholas’s heart fell. He had no words to say; his thoughts were already scrambling, searching for the least embarrassing excuse he could give. Of course, the truth was out of the question.
“Well, I suppose I deserve that. Well, there is nothing to be done about it. You may carry on.” He heaved a deep sigh. Interestingly, as he readied himself for the pain that would come with her administrations, he began to hear a snicker. Taken aback, he turned his face upward to consider the woman who stood before him. Then the snickering became giggling, and before he knew it, she was laughing. The symphony of its sound pleased him so that he only wanted to close his eyes and savour the sound; nonetheless, he was interested in what she found so amusing.
“My Lady? Is all well?”
She did not reply right away, for it took time recovering from her laughter. She finally did and proceeded to explain herself.
“You should have seen the look on your face. My apologies. I just could not resist. Yes, you have a swelling, but I exaggerated a bit. If I could just attend to it properly, it should be gone by the time you arise on the morrow. Also, it is only reddened, but that is only to be expected.”
As relieved as Nicholas was, he could not believe that she had had him totally with such a simple prank. He shook his head at her, giving in to a grin of his own, for her eyes still twinkled, and the lines on her cheeks still crinkled. He had not seen her look this happy ever since that night in the Fortham library.
“I shall give it you, Eleanor. You had me.”
She giggled again but said nothing further, only proceeded with her administrations. First, she soaked the piece of cloth in the bowl of water and squeezed out the liquid it had managed to retain. Then, she lifted the damp cloth to his injury and began to knead. It hurt at first, but the hurt quickly faded away. She was tender, and as she rubbed on, more than the pain slipped away. All the ache he had been having over his dilemma melted; his worries, they all faded away until he could only focus on the feel of her hands against his skin and the sensations they were giving him. His eyes fluttered closed, and he relaxed into it. His bones that had weighed a ton only a few minutes ago suddenly felt weightless. It was an absolutely terrific feeling.
The sound of throat clearing brought him back, and his eyes fluttered open, only to stare right into those violet orbs. Even in this dim lightning, she was still so beautiful.
“I have completed the task. How do you feel?”
Nicholas glanced at the bowl she held in her hand. He had been so far gone that he had not even feel her stop. “I feel wonderful, like you touched every part of me.” When he saw her flush, the implication of his words set in.
“Oh. I did not mean it that way. I mean, I feel good all over. That was incredible. Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” She walked away and disappeared behind the bath doors again. He wondered if now was the time to leave. He felt better, and a few minutes had long since elapsed. Although, he was not ready to leave, he was a man, and a man kept his word.
As she reappeared, he thought to himself, a few more minutes wouldn’t want. If she asked him to leave, then he would with no protest.
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
He sighted a secret smile on her face as she stepped into the light. He wondered if she was recalling a fond memory. Was it of a man? That consideration had his blood simmering, and he had to chide himself to maintain his calm.
“Isabelle.”
He raised his brow at her. “What about Isabelle?”
“When we were younger, she got into a lot of trouble. She enjoyed exploring and seemed to always manage to return with one injury or the other. Broken limbs, cuts, scrapes … After scolding her, Father would sit her down and do what I have just done. She always felt better afterwards. As we grew older, she got more careful and managed to only incur minor injuries. Not wanting Mother and Father to know of her continuous escapades, she would come to Agnes or I. As we helped her, we both got better at it.”
“That is impressive. Your sister, Isabelle, she sounds like a handful.”
“Oh, she is! She is also a total sweetheart. humorous and charming. One could never hope to stay cross with her.”
“Well, then I guess I would be needing lessons from her. I would very much like to get in your good books.” Their eyes held, and they got swept up in another moment. Afraid that she would suddenly become uncomfortable and ask him to leave, he tore his eyes away, ending the moment. They wandered to the book he had seen on the bed as he sat down, and he looked at it.
“The Memoirs of an Heiress?”
Her eyes followed it, and she instantly went to pick it from the bed. As she grabbed it, she sat on the bed. Finally, Nicholas thought, as his body began to hum from the sweetness of her nearness.
“I haven’t been able to visit the library for new books. I had to send Leandro to have the ones I had borrowed, returned. I could not trust him to pick anything for me, and I have read all the ones I have here, at least twice.”
He contemplated asking why she had not gone herself but decided against it. Something told him it would be a touchy subject, so instead, he asked, “You were reading when you heard me, weren’t you?”
“Yes. I must confess I was rather afraid. I felt an intruder had found his way into my bedchambers. I took the first thing I could find and decided to seek him out.”
“Eleanor, the brave warrior. That was a great risk you took, considering if it had truly been an intruder with malicious intent he could have easily overpowered you, and God forbid, hurt you. Next time, the sensible thing to do would be to leave your chambers and lock him in. Then, you alert the household and call for help.”
“Are you accusing me of being insensible?” she snapped, amusing him. “I remember that I have once announced that I would rather you refrained from insulting my person.”
“Ahh … indeed. How could I forget? I remember quite brilliantly, for that matter. However, those words I have just said had no such intention. It came from a place of care as I am simply concerned with your well-being.” As much as he was impressed by her brave deeds, the truth remained that she was a woman, and a candlestick would not hinder a truly evil man.
“Unsolicited, howbeit, I cannot deny the truth in them. I did not think of it that way. I shall take caution next time.”
“No. let us hope that there will be no next time. Except of course, it shall be I, making another night journey.”
“A foolhardy one, if I may be so bold to say. I shall beg you not to attempt such escapade anymore. Anyone could have seen you hanging outside of my window, then it would have truly been a disaster. And what if you had slipped, fallen, and broken your neck? We would have awoken to your dead body on the morrow, I declare!”
Nicholas grinned, feeling a profound happiness at the concern he could hear in her voice. She worried about him, that much was obvious, and if she did, it only meant that she cared about him. Deeply enough to spur such apprehension.
“Well, having you cry over my dead body would be worth dying, a thousand times over. The only thing that would come close is how kissing you had felt.”
Chapter 23
Eleanor’s breath held. She had known letting him stay would be a huge blunder but had not been able to send him away with that blow to his head. Now, a few minutes had lengthened to almost an hour, and here they were. Though she could not deny that his presence had been immensely enjoyable for her, sh
e knew it was time for him to leave, especially since this conversation had just taken a very dangerous route. She cleared her throat and wet her lips which suddenly felt dry. There was no way she was letting this conversation continue, not when he was so closely seated to her, on her bed, in her bedchambers!
A Scandalous Love for the Enticing Duke: A Historical Regency Romance Book Page 16
