bedside. Steeping the washcloth in the water, he carefully squeezed it out again. Pressing it against Jenny’s forehead, then at the sides of her neck, he murmured, ‘You will be better very soon sweetheart…I promise.’
Where did he get such confidence in his healing powers? he wondered. Especially when the tight little knot of anxiety that had taken up residence inside his chest had to be a far truer indication of how he was feeling.
‘So…so hot…’ she murmured, moving her head from side to side. ‘Need some…water…’
‘Here.’ Sliding his arm round Jenny’s shoulders, Rodrigo helped raise her head, then reached for the carafe of water on the nightstand. Pouring some into the matching glass, he touched the cup to her lips. She sipped thirstily, some of the liquid escaping to streak down her chin onto her gown.
‘Please…let me lie down again.’ Her sky-blue eyes opened wide to stare up at him. ‘You—you shouldn’t be doing this.’
‘Why?’ Rodrigo smiled, lifting an eyebrow at the flash of lightning outside the window that for electrifying moments dwarfed the dim glow of the lamp. ‘What else should I be doing on a night like this? You are ill, Jenny, and I am the only one around to take care of you.’
‘But you—you’re not responsible for me any more.’ As she bit down anxiously on her quivering lower lip her feverishly bright blue gaze was shrouded in tears.
‘Do not talk further…you will only distress yourself. Rest. That is what you must do now. It’s all you can do.’
Moving back to the bathroom, Rodrigo searched through the mahogany cabinet for some of the regular medication that was recommended for flu and fever. The doctor had advised him to give some to Jenny just as soon as he could. It would settle her and help her have a more comfortable night. Discovering an unopened packet near the back of the cabinet, he scooped it up in triumph and not a little gratitude.
It wasn’t the easiest task to get her to take the two capsules he placed in her hand. She was trembling so violently with fever. Fear slashed through Rodrigo’s insides that she might take a turn for the worst after all. If she did then that singularly unhelpful doctor would rue the day he had refused to come out to her, he vowed passionately.
Biting back his apprehension and doubt, he persuaded Jenny to swallow the pills with a slurp of water. With her eyes closed again, she turned onto her side. A couple of minutes later she displayed all the signs of sleeping deeply.
Freeing a relieved sigh, Rodrigo scraped a hand round his stubbled jaw, studying her closely, with microscopic thoroughness. It was no hardship to watch her…not when she resembled some slumbering angel lying there.
Downstairs in the kitchen, a gratingly anxious meow greeted him. Smiling, he dropped to his haunches to gather up the softly striped ball of fur that had instantly pressed against his ankles, as though desperate for reassurance. The feline was clearly jittery about the storm, and he took a few moments to pet and make a fuss of her before popping the animal back onto the woolly plaid blanket in her basket beside the range.
Making a swift inspection of his surroundings and spying the uncovered cake of which he’d enjoyed a slice earlier, he replaced the lid on the tin so it wouldn’t dry out. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he flicked off the lights and headed back upstairs. Dropping by his bedroom first, Rodrigo grabbed some paperwork relating to the meeting rearranged for the following day, dragged the satin quilt off the bed and returned to Jenny, unable to suppress the concern that had been building inside him ever since she’d fainted into his arms earlier. He was anxious to ascertain how she was doing.
He saw at once that she was still asleep, but even so he laid his cheek briefly against her chest to reassure himself that the soft rise and fall of her breathing was progressing normally. The action sent a