Innocence in Regency Society. Diane Gaston

his veins. By God, she was more desirable than that first, magic time with her.

      As she regarded the room with dismay, he saw it through her eyes. A smallish room, furnished with a tall double chest of drawers in a style long out of fashion and a large four-poster bed with faded curtains. His old trunk was tucked in the corner, clothing spilling out.

      Her gaze rested on the bed. What might it be like to share that bed with her? To tangle with her in its sheets?

      This would not do. She appeared as if she would collapse at any moment. The child was no infant, nearly three years old, he’d guess. A sturdy bundle, and Madeleine had not let go of her for nearly an hour.

      ‘Where shall Linette sleep?’ she asked nervously.

      ‘In the bed, where else?’

      She straightened, her defiant chin lifting. ‘My lord, I am prepared to repay you for your generosity, but I must insist on privacy for Linette. She must not be in the same room, let alone the same bed.’

      He raised his eyebrows. Did she think him unmindful of the child? Did she think him so base as to take advantage of her?

      ‘And I’m loath to leave her alone in a strange place,’ she continued, her mouth set in firm determination.

      He stared into her blue eyes and the breath left his lungs. He let his gaze travel down the length of her. Her red silk dress clung to her form and the weight of her daughter pulled its low neckline down lower. The attire was pure tart, but her bearing regal. The combination set his senses aflame, though he had no intention of acting upon them, ill timed as they were.

      A smile not absent of regret spread across his face. ‘I meant for you and the child to share the bed. Did you think I meant otherwise?’

      She blushed, bringing a most innocent pink to her cheeks, her eyes downcast. ‘You know very well what I thought.’

      He stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. The little girl’s curls tickled his fingers. For a moment he let his fingers caress Madeleine’s soft flesh. He held her against him, inhaling the scent of lavender in her hair. From behind her, he planted a chaste kiss on her cheek and gave her a push toward the bed.

      ‘Sleep well, Madeleine.’

       Chapter Three

       T he damp chill seeped through Devlin’s clothing. His twisted limbs would not move. Pain had settled into a constant ache, made worse with each breath, worse still by the rancid stench of blood. Of death. Moans of the dying filled the night. The sounds grew louder and louder, until they merged into one piercing wail. An agonised sound. The sound of fear and horror and pain.

      Coming from his mouth.

      He woke, his heart pounding, breath panting. His vision cleared, revealing faded red-brocade curtains made moderately brighter by sunlight. What were brocade curtains doing at Waterloo?

      He sat up, his mind absorbing the round mahogany table in the corner with its decanter of port, the mantel holding one chipped porcelain vase. His back ached from contorting himself on the settee. It had been the dream. He hung his head between his knees until the disturbing images receded. Had he cried out in his sleep?

      The wail again sounded in his ears, coming from the bedchamber this time, not from his own soul.

      He leapt from the settee and flung open the door. Madeleine paced the room, clutching her little girl. The child cried and struggled in her arms. Madeleine’s red dress was creased with wrinkles. That she’d not bothered to undress before sleeping moved him to compassion. How exhausted she must have been.

      The child gave a loud, anguished cry, and Madeleine quickened her pace.

      ‘What the devil is going on?’

      She spun toward him, her youthful face pinched in worry. ‘She is feverish.’

      ‘She is ill?’ Devlin’s head throbbed from the previous night’s excess of brandy.

      ‘Yes. She coughs, too.’ Her voice caught. ‘I have never seen her so ill.’

      ‘Good God,’ Devlin said. ‘We must do something.’

      ‘I don’t know what to do!’

      Tears glistened in her eyes. The child’s wailing continued unchecked. He had not bargained for a sick child.

      ‘Bart!’ he yelled, rushing back into the parlour. ‘Bart! Where are you?’

      Bart emerged from his room, Madeleine’s small companion like a shadow behind him. The sergeant, his craggy eyebrows knitting together, protectively held her back. The gesture irritated Devlin. Did Bart think him dangerous to young females?

      ‘What in thunder?’ A scold was written on Bart’s face.

      ‘The child is sick. We must do something.’ He stood in the middle of the room, doing nothing.

      ‘The wee one is sick?’ parroted Bart, standing just as paralysed.

      ‘Linette!’ Sophie rushed past Bart and ran to Madeleine, who had followed Devlin into the room. She frantically felt the child’s forehead.

      ‘She is burning up!’ she exclaimed. ‘Maddy, sit down. Let’s loosen her clothes. Mr Bart, if you please, some cool water and some clean rags.

      ‘Clean rags?’ Bart said, still immobile.

      ‘Make haste!’

      At Sophie’s words, Bart sprang into action, drawing water from the pump and bringing it to the women, both fussing over the child. Finding clean rags was more of a challenge. He finally brought a stack of towels and bade them to cut them up, if necessary. Sophie dipped one towel in the water, wrung it out and placed it on the child’s chest. Madeleine mopped the little girl’s brow with another.

      The child seemed to settle for a moment, but, before Devlin could relax, broke out in a spasm of coughing.

      ‘Deuce,’ said Devlin, barely audible and still rooted to the floor.

      Madeleine flashed him an anxious look. ‘I am attempting to quiet her, my lord.’

      ‘I did not complain,’ he protested.

      Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I am at a loss to do more.’

      ‘I would be honoured to assist, if someone would instruct me.’ No one heeded him.

      Madeleine sniffed and patted Linette’s head with the damp cloth.

      Her friend regarded him with a wary expression. ‘We could try to give her a drink of water.’

      Before Devlin could move to the small alcove that served as the kitchen, Bart delivered Sophie a cup of water.

      ‘Let me try to give her a sip,’ Madeleine said.

      Linette flailed her arms, jostling Madeleine, who spilled the water on her daughter and herself. Devlin walked to the cupboard, removed another cup, and placed in it a tiny bit of water. He handed this to Madeleine.

      ‘Try a bit at a time,’ he suggested.

      She did not look up to acknowledge his act, but she was able to pour a small amount into the child’s mouth. He took the empty cup and poured a bit more from the fuller one. Again the child accepted the drink.

      Devlin was feeling rather proud of himself at having been so useful, when the child began another spell of coughing. Madeleine sat the little girl on her knees and leaned her over to pat her gently on the back.

      The child promptly vomited the water all over Devlin’s stockinged feet.

      ‘Damn.’

      Madeleine gasped. Sophie grabbed the wet towel and wiped his feet, kneeling like a slave girl. Bart glared at him as if he were somehow solely responsible for the child’s