If You Were Mine by Rebecca King

through her mind. She
couldn’t be sure whether the events she could remember had indeed
happened, or were in fact something her fuddled mind had wishfully
created. She glanced warily down at her plain cotton night
rail.
    “ How long have I been at Havistock Hall?” she whispered,
biting her lip warily.
    “ Three weeks now,” Dominic replied, his face breaking out into
a smile as her eyebrows shot up incredulously. She was so beautiful
that he ached to look at her.
    “ Three weeks?” Her voice was weak, but her beautiful blue eyes
were alive with astonished wonder.
    Dominic
nodded, stuck for words. The memory of the last few days was too
raw and painful at the moment. “Your situation was poor -” was all
he could say, and allowed the conversation to lapse between them
briefly.
    Isobel
felt her energy start to wane, and fought to stop her eyelids from
drooping. “I feel so very tired, yet I cannot remember anything.
Why is that?” She frowned at him in consternation.
    “ You have been seriously ill my darling. You have had us all
worried.”
    Easing
onto the bed to sit beside her, he tenderly tucked an errant curl
behind her ear before placing his lips there.
    “ I am so very glad you are going to be well,” he whispered
softly, pressing a tender kiss on the soft skin of the temple.
Closing his eyes for a few moments, he simply rejoiced in being
able to absorb the essence of her.
    “ You kept giving me some foul drink,” she accused gently,
lifting one tired eyelid in time to catch his slightly guilty look
as she slowly shook her head.
    After
several moments of companionable silence, Dominic was certain she
had fallen asleep again, only to jump with alarm when she
spoke.
    “ Why am I in your room, and not in the sick room, or guest
room?” Her voice held no accusation, just mild
curiosity.
    “ We do not have a sick room here in Havistock, my dear,” he
replied, pushing himself away from the bed. “The main suite is
where you belong.”
    “ But I am a guest,” Isobel argued, silently cursing the
exhaustion that once again gripped her.
    “ Not at Havistock darling. You will never be a guest
here.”
    Isobel
tried to understand the significance of his words, but found her
eyelids just wouldn’t cooperate. Making a mental note to ask him
about it later, she fell into a deep healing sleep once more,
content in the knowledge that he was nearby.
     
     
     

CHAPTER
FIVE

     
    Three
and a half weeks later Isobel was feeling decidedly out of sorts.
Despite her lingering weakness, being confined to bed was boring to
say the least. She longed to be outside in the fresh air. It felt
like she had spent most of the first few weeks at Dominic’s home
either eating or sleeping, but could remember very little about
it.
    For the
past few days she had been wide awake, and was now fighting growing
frustration at her lack of activity.
    She was
so very sick of being tired and sick of being stuck in the
bed.
    Days
were spent just lying in bed leaving her feeling more tired than
she had when she had been walking all day!
    Her
wracking cough seemed to be getting worse instead of
better.
    It took
every ounce of effort just to breathe, something she had managed to
do so easily for all of her life seemed just so damned
difficult.
    If she
ate any more of that infernal broth Cook insisted on sending up,
she would throw the next bowl out of the window and be done with
it!
    Aaahhhh!
    She
fought the urge to thump her fists against the bed in temper, and
glared moodily out of the window at the snow-covered
ground.
    Dominic,
bless his heart, was becoming a pest. Whenever she awoke he was
seated beside the bed, either stroking her hair or holding her
hand. Always present while she slept. On a couple of occasions, she
awoke to find him softly snoring in the chair beside the bed. The
dark shadows beneath his eyes testament to his own tiredness that
he seemingly refused to succumb to.
    When she
did wake up to find him in the chair, he had