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"So like that It seems I was y"

Suspecting that the earl was rarely given to ies of any kind, much less humble ones, Annabelle linked her aringly, "since you saved our lives"

He shifted her more comfortably in his arhed against his shoulder

While the doctor visited Simon in the master bedroom of Marsden Terrace, Westcliff took Annabelle aside and personally tended to the wound in her upper ar out the metal chip that was half-buried in her skin, he doused the area with alcohol while Annabelle screeched in pain He dabbed the cut with salve, bandaged it expertly, and gave her a glass of brandy to dull her disco to the brandy, or pure exhaustion had amplified its effects, Annabelle would never know After downing two fingers of the dark aht-headed Her voice was distinctly slurred as she told Westcliff that the world was fortunate that he hadn’t gone into the ed was probably true She staggered off drunkenly to find Simon, and was firmly dissuaded by the housekeeper and a pair of house her Before Annabelle quite knehat had happened, she had been bathed and changed into a nightgown purloined fro in a soft, clean bed As soon as she closed her eyes, she sank into a helpless slurin, she awoke quite late the next ather where she was and what had happened The hts touched on Si no heed to her handsos as she padded barefoot into the hall She crossed the path of a house-maid, who looked mildly startled by the appearance of a woman ild, unbound hair, a scratched and reddened face, and an ill-fitting nightgooht before, was still strongly scented of foundry smoke

"Where is he?" Annabelle asked without prelude

To the housemaid’s credit, she comprehended the abrupt query and directed Annabelle to theto the open doorway, Annabelle saw Lord Westcliff standing by the side of the huge bed, where Siainst a stack of pillows Siainst the snowy linens that had been pulled up to his midriff Annabelle winced as she saw the profusion of plasters affixed to his ar so soas soon as they becaaze locked on her face and held with unnerving intensity An invisible swell of e them both in acute tension As Annabelle stared into her husband’s granite-hard face, no words seemed appropriate If she spoke to hi to be puerile hyperbole or inane understaterateful for Westcliff’s presence as a temporary buffer, Annabelle addressed her first co the cuts and burns on his face, "you look like the loser in a tavern brawl"

Co forward, Westcliff took her hand and executed an i a chivalrous kiss to the back of her wrist "Had I ever participated in a tavern brawl, madarin fro that twenty-four hours ago, she had despised his arrogant aplo Westcliff released her hand after giving it a reassuring squeeze "With your permission, Mrs Hunt, I ithdraw No doubt you have a few things to discuss with your husband"

"Thank you, my lord"

As the earl left and closed the door, Annabelle approached the bedside Simon looked away froilded with sunlight

"Is your leg broken?" Annabelle asked huskily

Si on the ornately flowered paper that covered the bedrooed voice "It will be fine"

Annabelle’s gaze touched on hi on the heavy ers of his hand, the way a lock of dark hair fell over his brow "Simon," she asked softly "Won’t you look at me?"

His eyes narrowed as he turned to pin her with a hostile stare "I’d like to do more than look at you I’d like to throttle you"

It would have been ingenuous for Annabelle to ask why, since she already knew Instead, she waited with forced patience, while Simon’s throat worked violently "What you did yesterday was unforgivable," he finallythere in that hell-pit, I ht would be the last request of s turned out, it wasn’t your last request," Annabelle replied warily "You survived, and so did I, and now everything is fine--"

"It is not fine," Si fury "For the rest of oing to die along withto stop you" He averted his face as his breath turned harsh with unwanted emotion

Annabelle reached for him, then checked herself, her hands suspended in the air between them "How could you ask me to leave you there, hurt and alone? I couldn’t"

"You should have done as I told you!"

Annabelle didn’t flinch, understanding the fear that seethed beneath his anger "You wouldn’t have left had it beento say that," he said in savage disgust "Of course I wouldn’t have left you I’m the man A man is supposed to protect his wife"

"And a wife is supposed to be a help ony Dammit, Annabelle, why didn’t you obey"Because I love you"

Simon continued to look away froh hihtened into a fist on the coverlet as his defenses began to crack visibly "I would die a thousand times over," he said, a trehtest har to throw your life away in a completely pointless sacrifice isas she stared at hiathered like an ache in her body "I realized so outside the foundry, watching it burn and knowing you were inside" She sed hard against the thickness in her throat "I would rather have died in your arms, Simon, than face a lifetime without you All those endless years…all those winters, su you Growing old, while you stayed eternally young in my memories" She bit her lip and shook her head, while her eyes flooded "I rong when I told you that I didn’t knohere I belonged I do With you, Si with you You’re stuck with o" She ed a tren yourself to it"

With startling suddenness, Siainst hiled skein of her hair His voice carowl

"My God, I can’t stand this! I can’t let you go out every day, fearing everythat every ounce of sanity I’ve got left is hinged on your well-being I can’t feel this way…it’s too strong…oh, hell I’ll turn into a raving lunatic I’ll never be of use to anyone again If I could just reduce it soht be able to live with it"

Annabelle laughed shakily at his rough confession, while a hot rush of joy spilled through her "But I want all your love," she said As Simon drew his head back to look at her, his expression knocked the breath fros It took her several seconds to recover "All your heart and mind," she continued with a crooked smile, and lowered her voice provocatively "All your body, too"