The Heart of a Duke(67)

“Stop scowling, and let me help you,” she said.

He eased himself up enough for her to slip her arm beneath his shoulders.

She yanked his pillows up to cushion his back. “There. Now ease back slowly.”

He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Can you leave your arm around me and sit beside me? It reduces the pain.”

Their gazes met, and a thrum of awareness filled the air before she snatched her arm free, letting him sink back onto the pillows with a groan.

“You deserved that. For goodness’ sake, I am trying to help you and you cannot be serious for one minute. This is a dangerous situation. You need to treat it as such.”

“I am,” he protested, his humor gone. “You can be sure I will watch my back from now on. But what I will not do, and what you are asking me to do, is to run away. I did that once. I am done running.”

“What do you think you are going to accomplish by staying? Provide them with a target to practice on until they perfect their aim?” She folded her arms across her chest and awaited his response.

He did not have any answers to that.

The silence stretched, but Julia was formidable.

Sighing, he lifted his hands and swiped them through his hair. “I am going to kill Brett.”

“Yelling at friends who care about you will not change the situation. Besides, he did not tell me anything, just warned me that it was dangerous for you to remain here. He told me I had to get the full story from you, which will be difficult because you only give half of the story, like you did about Edmund.”

“He told you about Edmund, too? He is going to die. Right now!” Daniel flipped his covers back and made to get up, but Julia rushed over to him.

“No! No, he is not here. For goodness’ sake, you can kill him when you heal. You have enough bruises on your body. Please, no more.” She yanked the covers out of his hands and bent over him to tuck them back in around him.

When her eyes lifted to his, her anguish dispelled his anger. He cupped her cheek, turning her face toward his. “I am sorry, Julia. So very sorry that I scared you.”

“Then don’t do it again! Go home. Go to America,” she begged.

His hand dropped and he sighed. “I cannot. I did that once. I left everything behind, buried myself in work and tried to forget. But over the years, the questions were like this wound, only they would not close and they festered. A decade ago, I lost everything precious to me, nearly including my life. I will not leave until I get answers. I do not know what Edmund is looking for, and I have no idea why someone wants me dead, but I will find out.”

Julia dropped like a stone onto his bed. Her gaze studied him with a sharp scrutiny, and she must have read the conviction in his expression, for she nodded, looking resigned. “Fine. Then I will help you.”

“What? No! Absolutely not. It is too dangerous. I will not allow it.”

“You are too weak to stop me. We are also not betrothed, so you cannot tell me what I can or cannot do. But you did make me an offer, and you are responsible for ruining me as you like to remind me, so I have a vested interest in your survival. Saving you saves me.”

He stared at her. “That is the most ridiculous piece of logic I have ever heard.”

She shrugged. “I am involved. I have spent a long, uncomfortable night caring for your worthless, ungrateful hide, even if it is so thick that knives cannot pierce it. I have earned the right to make sure it remains in one piece. Just in case I decide to marry you.”

He blinked at her and then he couldn’t help it, he laughed. He stopped immediately, for it irritated his side. “So if I let you assist me, and I survive, does this mean you will marry me?”

“I will give it serious consideration.”

She looked so earnest, he had to stifle his laugh again.

He could not resist. He grasped the long rope of curls that tumbled over her shoulder. His knuckles brushed her breast, and he heard her ragged intake of breath. He did what he had yearned to do since he had opened his eyes to a lovely angel sitting bedside vigil. He wrapped the thick strands around his hand and reeled her in. “Maybe I can help expedite your decision.” His voice was husky as his eyes dropped to her lips.

“You can,” she whispered back, her gaze meeting his, inches away. She was so close he could see tiny white streaks like starbursts flaring out in the blue of her eyes.

Mesmerized, it took him a moment before her words registered. He leaned forward, but her hand, firm and warm on his shoulder stopped him. Damned if his temperature didn’t ratchet up another notch.

“By telling me what you mean about Edmund looking for something. By telling me all you have not told me. By trusting in me.”