Relief spiraled though her at the steady rhythm of Thomas’s heart. Next, she placed her palm across his forehead. Her lips curled up into a smile at the coolness she found there.
“Thank you, God.”
Emma sat back on her heels, her heart beating double time as she stared at her husband …and willed him to open his eyes.
They eventually fluttered open and then closed abruptly. He opened them again moments later. This time they stayed open for several seconds before they closed.
It shocked her when Thomas opened them a third time and looked directly at her with clear blue eyes. Relief spread through Emma’s body and joyful tears slid down her cheeks to have her husband back from the brink of death.
Thomas’s tongue flicked out and licked his dry, cracked lips. “Emma?”
Emma blinked her tears away and smiled at him as she placed her quivering hand on his cool cheek. “Yes. I’m here, Thomas. Welcome back.”
“Did I go somewhere?”
“Almost.” She bit her lower lip and hoped she did not sob her heart out again in front of him. Emma knew she needed to be strong. So she lay back down and snuggled close to Thomas’s body, praying her love would make a full recovery.
***
“You’re trembling. Are you cold?” Thomas asked, confused by events. And what the bloody hell was she doing in his bed? Had she lost her mind?
“Emma, you must leave before someone finds you here.”
She raised her head and looked puzzled. “It doesn’t matter if they do.”
“It matters to me. Until we are wed you must not be in my bedroom.”
Thomas could not see her face but heard her giggle. He frowned. “What is so funny?”
“You are. We married six days ago.”
“We . . . What?” Thomas tried to sit up, but stomach pain, as if his muscles were ripping apart, forced him to lie back. And he lacked any strength. Felt drained and sore. His hand slid to the bandages on his lower abdomen. “What happened to me?”
Emma rolled away from him and he suddenly wished he had not said anything. Having her curled up against his side had felt incredible. Her warmth, her scent… How often he’d dreamed of this. And then Thomas realized he was completely naked beneath the covers.
Emma wore a thin white night rail, and when she rose to her knees beside him, his pulse spiked. She was serious. They were married. But why could he not remember something so life-altering? If they were married, why could Thomas not remember making love to her? Surely it had happened. It must have.
“Thomas,” she said, her voice soft and shaky. “You were sick, very sick.”
“Sick?” What did she mean by sick?
“Right after our wedding ceremony you collapsed. The doctor came and removed your appendix.”
“The doctor removed my appendix?”
“Are you going to keep repeating everything I say?” she said, smiling deeply.
When the smile lit up her face his pulse raced.
“Sorry.” Thomas tried to sound contrite, but he wasn’t. Suddenly nothing mattered except having her in his bed and making her truly his. If only he had the strength to match his desire for her.
“Six days ago the doctor removed your appendix. Five days ago you began running a fever. You almost died.”
The word died got his attention. Fortunately for both of them, he lived. And he would gain his strength back. And then they would…
Thomas grinned, reached out, and cupped one luscious unbound breast. A groan escaped his lips. It was soft, full, and heavy in his palm. “You are beautiful.”
She swatted his hand away. “You must rest.” Her cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink.
“Must I? I’m quite sure the doctor will say when he visits today that I can resume normal activities.” Thomas arched a brow in question. He did not think Emma’s cheeks could get any pinker, but they did.
“If you are referring to what I think you are…. ” She shook her head and murmured, “No.”
“No?” Thomas grinned. With what little strength he had, he pulled Emma close to his side, ignoring the pain it caused him, and placed kisses upon her smooth silky neck. Her body quivered beneath his touch. “Are you quite sure?” he asked as she moaned and curled up closer to him.
“Quite sure,” she murmured. “Oh, Thomas.”
His wayward hand slid under her nightdress, up her thigh, moving closer, closer to her womanhood. Emma gasped, her hips rising up off the bed.
“Thomas.”
“Yes, my darling?”
“You need to rest. Oh, my,” she purred. As his fingers parted her feminine folds he inserted one long finger deep inside her wet heat.
“Relax, and enjoy,” Thomas whispered as he worked his finger in and out and tantalized her nub with the thumb of his other hand. Soon Emma rose up off the bed and her body trembled with release. Slowly she sank down into the bed once again and curled up against his side.