Chapter 15
The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was that it was…
noisy. Joseph hardly had a chance to register the fact that the pounding in his head was gone, and it didn’t feel as if he had one foot in the grave any longer.
Though he supposed with all the shouting in the room, it was quite likely that he simply couldn’t focus on anything else.
“No, no, no, absolutely not! Honestly, Ava, I am beginning to think that you say such things just because you want to get a rise out of me.”
“Now, why would I want to do that? I see no value in angering you, Maisie.”
“Then why would you say such a thing? Surely, you don’t think to be the truth?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
A soft chuckle sounded next to him. Slowly, Joseph turned his head to face the sound and locked eyes Catriona. She paused her embroidery, blinking in surprise at him before a slow smile stretched across her face.
“Good afternoon, Joseph,” she greeted. “Glad to see you’re finally awake.”
“He’s awake?” Footsteps sounded before Ava and Maisie appeared next to Catriona. Ava’s smile was the broadest of the three ladies. “Good day, Your Grace! How nice of you to finally join us. We were starting to get worried, you know.”
“How do you feel?” Maisie asked.
That was one question he wasn’t sure how to answer.
First of all, they were in his bedchamber.
Joseph knew he should be upset at that fact, at that blatant lack of privacy.
Especially seeing how comfortable they’d gotten in such a short amount of time.
But perhaps because he was still recovering and still tired, he felt no irritation.
If anything, it was a little refreshing to be woken up to the sound of bickering.
And then there was Catriona who, despite her soft smile, had clearly been worrying about him. He saw it in the dark rims around her eyes, as if she had stayed up all night caring for him. He saw it in the slouch of her shoulders and the relief written across her face.
He wanted to reach out to her, but she was on the other side of the bed. He supposed that was a good thing considering the fact that he didn’t know what exactly he meant to do.
“Now, now, don’t crowd him,” came another voice. Lord Heaton came into view, standing on Joseph’s side of the bed. He leaned close, studying his face. “You look better, Your Grace. You seemed to have lost your grey pallor.”
Joseph sat up, rubbing his hand down his face. “Why are you all here?” he asked at last.
“Why do you think?” Ava, seemingly no longer worried, pranced over to the chaise lounge under the window. “We came to see how you were faring. After yesterday, we were worried sick, you know.”
“It was rather alarming,” Maisie said as she joined her sister. “I was quite panicked. Had Cat not been there, I would not have been much help.”
“Understandable,” Joseph muttered. He was not quite back to his full strength, he realized.
Perhaps that was why he was taking this better than he’d expected.
He was not used to being surrounded by so many people.
For too long, it had only been him and Dorothea.
“But why are you here? In my bedchamber?”
The three sisters looked between each other then at their uncle then back at him. Catriona spoke next. “Never mind that,” she said. She put down her embroidery and made her way around to his side. “How are you feeling, Joseph? Your fever came back during the night, but it seems to have broken.”
“You cared for me throughout the night?”
She lifted one shoulder nonchalantly, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. Joseph knew that was exactly what she’d done.
Before he could say anything, Lord Heaton was there, moving Catriona out of the way. He observed Joseph with a serious frown. “On second thought, your eyes look a little dull. It may because you’ve just woken up, but it could also be a sign of dehydration. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
“You act as if you’re a practicing physician,” Ava drawled from behind him.
“Please don’t mind him, Your Grace,” Maisie said. “Uncle Frederic think he knows everything.”
“That is because I do know everything,” Lord Heaton protested.
“I won’t deny that you are quite educated on these matters,” Catriona chimed in. “But it would be best to get the opinion of the actual physician.”
Lord Heaton threw his hands up in defeat and made his way over to where Ava and Maisie sat. “Very well, suit yourself.”
Catriona was fighting a smile when she returned her attention to Joseph.
And Joseph was still reeling. This was too much.
A violation of his privacy. He should send them all away this instant.
He hadn’t married Catriona just so her close-knit family could overstep his boundaries like this.
He didn’t need this sort of camaraderie.
He’d been alone for so long that being thrust into situations like these made him uncomfortable.
Or, at least, it should have. But it didn’t.
He didn’t mind the fact that his sisters-in-law were lounging by his bedchamber window as if they’d lived here all their lives.
He didn’t mind the fact that Lord Heaton had been studying him as if he were his patient.
And he certainly didn’t mind it when Catriona stepped up to fuss over him again, touching his forehead and cheeks and murmuring about her uncle being right about the dehydration.
He felt… cared for.
“I’m going to call for the physician,” she said, mostly to herself.
Joseph caught her wrist before she could move away.
It was fast becoming a habit, he realized, stopping her, so she would not leave his side.
But he could not help himself. It seemed that every time he was around her, his mind told him to do one thing while his body acted in a completely different manner, as if drawn to her in ways he could not really explain. “No need. I’m feeling fine.”
She frowned, unconvinced. She seemed quite capable of ignoring her sisters, who had started bickering about Mozart this time. “You seemed fine last night as well, but then your fever returned. I want to be certain.”
“I’m certain,” he insisted. “You don’t need to call him. I just need food and water, and I should be right as rain by the end of the day.”
Catriona looked as if she was going to continue protesting, but then she sighed. “Very well. I will ring for tea then.”
Joseph nodded then attempted to get out of bed. He managed to take the sheet off him before Catriona threw herself in his path. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked him. “You need to remain in bed until you’ve recovered.”
“Remaining in bed will ensure that I am not recovered,” he told her. A part of him knew that he should be annoyed by her persistence, by the way she stood in his path with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. But he felt… touched.
“Or you may infect everyone in the house instead.”
“So, gathering all your loved ones in my bedchamber was how you intended to counter that?” he asked.
“I…” She glanced uncertainly at her sisters and her uncle.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t think. I know that whenever I fall ill, they always keep my company, and it is always refreshing to have others by my side during my low moments.
I didn’t think about how you would feel, I’m…
I’m sorry.” She began to turn away from him. “I will ask them to leave.”
“There’s no need,” he said, a little too quickly. “They’re already here, so they may as well remain.”
Catriona blinked, surprise coloring her eyes. “Are you not upset?”
“You ask as if you want me to be.”
“Hardly,” she responded with ease. “But many would think that what I have done is a bit too much.”
“You should know by now that I am not like many others.”
She stared at him a moment longer. And the sides of her lips curved upwards, the sight lancing him with sudden heat. “That’s right. How could I have thought otherwise? Shall we make our way to the breakfast room then?”
“I assume you will have your entire family follow us?” Joseph asked, raising a brow.
Catriona nodded, her smile brightening. “That is the intention, yes.”
He heaved a dramatic sigh, shaking his head at himself. But a smile touched his lips, amused. “Very well. Dorothea should join us as well.”
“She’s in the middle of her lessons, I believe.”
“Missing a few hours won’t hurt her.”
As impossible as it seemed, Catriona’s smile broadened.
She turned to face her bickering sisters, telling them that they should all make their way down to the breakfast room, before she faced Joseph again, offering her arm for assistance.
He didn’t need it, should have pushed it away and told her as much, but instead, he let her slide her arm around his back when he stood, let her believe that she was helping him move along.
And he let himself believe that it was all for her sake.
Dorothea was ecstatic.
Catriona had come to understand the young girl during her time here and the look on Dorothea’s face was an obvious indication of such.
Obvious to her at least. Dorothea was far too well-mannered to show too much excitement in front of company, and so she sat with her back ramrod straight and her hands folded in her lap, but she wore a smile so bright, it was hard to look away.
Catriona managed somehow, glancing only at Joseph, wondering if he was seeing what she saw—if he was witnessing Dorothea’s true colors blossom before them like the carnation she said was her favorite flower today.
His eyes were fixed on his daughter, his face unreadable. She couldn’t begin to guess what he was thinking, but the mere fact that he had pulled her out of lessons to have breakfast with them must account for something.
Though, there was very little breakfast being eaten.
Joseph was the only one attempting to eat, and Catriona was too focused on him to pay attention to her own meal.
He did look far better than he had yesterday, but she could see the weakness in his movements, as if the cold was lingering.
Even though the fever had broken, and he did not seem as fatigued as before, Catriona knew better than to let her guard down.
“Did I hear someone say encore?” Ava asked as she swiveled around on the stool in front of the pianoforte, bearing a broad grin.
“No,” Maisie clipped without looking up from her book at the same time that Dorothea said, “Yes, please.”
“The lady has spoken,” Ava declared, and Maisie sighed, eyes still glued to her book. Catriona hadn’t even noticed that she’d brought it with her though she shouldn’t have been surprised. “I shall not complain then since it’s Dorothea’s wish.”
Dorothea’s smile widened as she eagerly awaited Ava to resume her playing.
The sound of Mozart filled the breakfast room, slightly sped up to match Ava’s specialized playing. Catriona couldn’t quite tell if she was doing it to annoy Maisie, who much preferred when the original, or to entertain Dorothea, who seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
“Catriona.”
Her heart stalled in her chest. Catriona took a sip of her ginger tea to calm herself before she looked back at Joseph. Thankfully, his attention was on the others in the room. “Yes?”
“Are they always like this?”
She followed his gaze, lips twitching when she noticed that Ava had begun to rock back and forth and had sped up her playing. Catriona doubted Maisie could focus enough to read, but Frederic didn’t seem to have much of an issue.
“Always,” she said. “For as long as I can remember.”
“Hm.”
Catriona chanced another look at him and was both relieved and disappointed that he wasn’t looking at her. “Quite noisy, aren’t they?”
“Noisy is an understatement.”
“Say the word, and I shall ask them to leave.”
He waved a hand. “I suppose it is fine.”
Catriona raised her brow at him. “Are you certain? I imagine how new this must all be for you.”
“Though that may be the case, there is also nothing I cannot handle.”
She hid her smile behind the rim of her teacup. “I see.”
At last, Joseph looked her way, brows dipping. “Do I sense disbelief in your voice?”
“Do you?” she sang.
His frown deepened. “There is. You doubt me.”
“Well, surely you cannot blame me. It is hard to believe that there is truly nothing you cannot handle.”
“That is exactly what I expect you to believe,” he grunted. “I have been through far too much and have come too far to falter any longer.”
She set her cup down, inclining her head to the side as she regarded him.
Even though he was still in recovery, he was still so devastatingly handsome that he stole her breath each time she looked at him.
But with the table between them and his eyes now trained on his meal, she felt like she could handle asking her next question without her heart stuttering in her chest and her words failing her.
“What was she like, Joseph?” Catriona asked softly.
He looked sharply at her. She didn’t move, didn’t break eye contact, didn’t let that small niggle of fear worm its way through her bravado.
“Never ask me about her again,” he stated, his voice cold.
Catriona stiffened. “Never? I think that is rather unreas—”
“I’m done talking about it, Catriona.”
“And I am not.”
His scowl came with full force, but she wasn’t bothered. She was certain that she could cause a storm.
“My past is none of your concern. Don’t think that because you tended to me last night, you may overstep your boundaries like this. I won’t allow it.”
“Ah, that’s right,” she drawled, her voice dripping with sarcastic derision.
“How could I have forgotten never to step over that invisible line you’ve drawn between us?
How foolish of me. Please, accept my apology for asking you what I had assumed was a normal question a wife may ask of her husband, and allow me to take my leave. ”
“Catriona—” he bit out, but she was already getting up to leave, blinking back furious tears. She didn’t need her family seeing her upset, so she took her time in walking, not wanting to alarm anyone.
She supposed that she shouldn’t have been surprised that he didn’t follow her. Disappointed and a little hurt, yes but not surprised. He’d made it clear after all. They were nothing more than a business transaction, and she should take care never to forget that.