Free To Have and to Hold by Rebecca King Page A

Miss and had given up arguing for him to leave to preserve the young
lady’s modesty.   Whatever happened, she
was well and truly ruined the first night she appeared in the house, after such
a prolonged illness it would indeed be a blessing if she were still here at the
end of the ordeal.
    Isobel was
quickly changed into a warm, dry nightgown and the sheets around her swapped
for clean dry ones.   The fire was stoked
almost constantly until Dominic felt sweat break out on his brow as the temperature
rose.   Isobel convulsed into wracking
coughs the like of which he had never heard before.   On and on they went until Dominic thought he
would go quietly mad.   Unable to bear
sitting beside her doing nothing he sat beside her
upon the bed and carefully pulled her into his embrace.
    “Please darling
you need to try to relax.”   He murmured
softly kissing the damp tendrils of hair at her forehead.   He nodded in thanks to Mrs Holcombe as he
took the tincture left by the Doctor.   “If you can hear me my love you need to drink this.”   He waited until the coughs eased enough to
slip the spoon into her mouth, wincing as she coughed and spluttered against
the liquid intrusion.   Briefly, he
wondered if she would throw up again, but after several moments she subsided
once again into a fitful slumber.  
    “We need to send
for the Doctor Sir.”   Mrs Holcombe
murmured, not liking the greying tinge of the lady’s complexion.
    “We can’t send
anyone out in this it would be suicide to do so.”   Dominic murmured.   “Even if we could get someone there, the
Doctor wouldn’t make the trip here no matter what I offered him.”   He cursed the atrocious weather but knew he
was going to go anyway.   Not to do so was
unthinkable given this new turn of events.
    “I’ll go and get
some different medication.   If I describe
her condition, he may be able to give us something to assist her.”
    “But Sir- “   Mrs Holcombe was
aghast at his proposition.
    “I have
to.”   Dominic’s tone brooked no
argument.   He would go quietly mad if he
had to sit around and wait for her to die.   He had to do everything he could to help her.
    Within moments,
he had left the house.

 
 
    The skies were
brightening with the first glimpse of dawn by the time a snow-covered Dominic
appeared shivering at the kitchen doors of Tavistock Hall.   With growing dread, he entered the
house, praying silently that he wouldn’t be greeted by the news that Isobel had
passed away while he was gone.  
    “Mrs
Holcombe?”   He murmured raising a
querying brow at Cook as he stalked through the kitchens.
    “We are upstairs
Sir, with the young miss.”   Dominic took
the stairs two at a time, ignoring the clumps of snow that fell from his cloak
as he stalked through the house.    Easing
open the door, his heart thumped heavily in his chest as he was assailed by a
wall of heat billowing out of the room.   Sweat beaded on his brow as he quickly removed his cloak and boots as he
made his way towards the bed.   A quick
survey of Isobel showed her to be the same waxy complexion she had been
earlier.   The awful rattle in her chest
was still alarmingly harsh in the silence of the room.   He didn’t need to ask Mrs Holcombe to know
there had been no improvement.
    Removing the
bottle from his cloak, within moments Isobel had her first spoon of
tincture.   It was greenish in colour and
smelt vile.   Dominic shuddered as he
looked warily at the murky concoction.   He wasn’t surprised when Isobel coughed and spluttered.   It made him want to throw up just by looking
at it.   Still, if it improved her
condition, she would drink it by damn, Dominic thought worriedly as he placed
the bottle beside the bed.  
    Exhaustion
swamped him as the ravages of the night began to catch up with him.   “I’ll get you some breakfast Sir.”   Mrs Holcombe murmured weariness lacing her
own voice as she made for the door.
    “Not for me