The Indebted Earl Erica Vetsch (iphone ebook reader txt) 📖

Betsy crowded close, knocking the captain’s hat askew on her head, and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Feel better, Captain Earl. I will come back and see you soon.” She wrinkled her nose in a gamine grin.

The captain had opened his eyes the moment her lips touched his cheek, and he reached for her hand. “You’re an excellent nurse, Betsy. Thank you.”

The gruffness in his voice warmed Sophie’s heart. He wasn’t totally indifferent to the sweetness of the girls. Perhaps, if he grew fond of them, he might consider keeping them here at Gateshead.

Mamie put her hand on Thea’s back. “I’ll go upstairs with them, dear. We’ll be quiet as can be.” As they headed out into the hall, Mamie gently lifted the captain’s bicorn from Betsy’s head and placed it on the table beside the parlor door. When she looked back over her shoulder, she smiled.

Sophie wrung out a cloth in the cold water and folded it, laying it gently on Charles’s brow. Mamie was flourishing being around the girls. She hadn’t had a spell of absentmindedness all day, and she’d managed the shore visit well. Her cheeks had a healthy bloom, and her eyes were bright and aware.

“I feel an utter fool.” Charles put his hand to the cloth, his eyes closed. “I’m supposed to be seeing to your well-being and safety, and here you are tending me.”

“I don’t mind. I’m only sorry you suffered an injury. We were fortunate that Mr. Dunhill appeared when he did.” Sophie went to the front windows, pulling the drapes to lessen the light coming in. “Do you think you can rest?”

“I doubt it.”

“Is the pain bad?” She returned to his side. “Perhaps I can see if there is such a thing as a medicine chest in the house and rummage up something for headaches.”

“That’s good of you, but no. I’ve suffered more pain than this and lived through it.” He winced. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me.”

Sophie gripped her hands. He had undoubtedly suffered great pain with his saber wound, but his words were a blunt reminder that Rich hadn’t survived his injury. With all the happenings, getting to Gateshead, the girls’ tumultuous arrival, the trip to the beach, and the captain’s injury, she had been able to set aside the grief and constant sense of loss for a few days.

“Did he suffer? I know he must have, but he wouldn’t let on in his letters.” She pressed her hands against her middle. “Why? Why wouldn’t he tell me? I’m trying so hard to understand, but it’s as if he lied to me. Why wouldn’t he talk about his injury, let us know how serious it was? He had to know for weeks that he wasn’t getting better. If he had told us right away, maybe there was something I could have done. My brother is a powerful duke. He might have been able to get Rich evacuated from Portugal, brought home. Or somehow gotten me aboard a ship so I could have been with Rich, seen him one more time before he died.” The words poured out in a torrent, and she was helpless to stop them. Anger and frustration flared anew in her chest, and hot tears burned her eyes.

So much for setting aside her grief and pain. Here she was letting it all out on an injured man.

“I think Rich didn’t tell you for those very reasons. Believe me—I tried to change his mind.” Charles let the wet cloth slip into his hand and placed it on the side of the pitcher. He slowly opened his eyes, pain, both physical and mental, showing there. “He was afraid, once peace had been declared, that your brother would use his connections to get you to the Peninsula. I think from the very outset, Rich knew he wouldn’t survive his wounds. He hoped, but he knew it was a faint chance. He also knew …”

Gently, Charles took her hands as they sat knee to knee. His fingers were damp and chilly from the cloth, but comforting too, as he rubbed his thumbs on the backs of her hands. The connection was more than physical. This man had been there when Rich breathed his last. He, too, had cared for Rich and had agonized alongside him.

“He knew that you would suffer with him if he were to write to you about the severity of his wounds. He knew better than anyone the great tenderness of your heart, and he felt your burdens were heavy enough.”

“Why couldn’t he understand that nothing about him was a burden? That I deserved the truth? I was prepared to marry him, for better or worse, in sickness and in health.” Heartbreak gripped her throat, constricting her airway.

His clasp on her hands tightened. “Please don’t blame him. He was doing what he thought best, and in the end, he wasn’t thinking clearly. But he was always thinking of you. He spoke of you constantly, and when he passed away, your name was on his lips. He made a hard decision that he felt was in your best interest. If you have to blame anyone, blame me. It was my fault from beginning to end.”

Anger flared, and she withdrew her hands, escaping to the far side of the room to compose herself. He should have done his duty. If not for him, Rich would be here now. He should have written to her how serious Rich’s condition was. If not for him, she would have found a way to be with her beloved before he died. Even as she thought this, she knew herself to be unjust. He had fulfilled Rich’s wishes in saying nothing. Would she think more highly of him if he had betrayed his friend?

She wiped her cheeks with her palms, frustrated at crying in front of him. “I do beg your pardon.”

He stood in the middle of the dim room, spreading his hands in appeal. “It is I