The Scandalous Duke Takes a Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

pacing and focused his attention on the maid. “How ill is she?”
    She ducked her head again.
    “You’ll do her no harm in revealing the truth to me. It’s a mere matter of minutes before I find out why I’ve been called to her house past midnight. What ails her?” he asked, though he had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer to that.
    The maid shook her head before averting her eyes.
    The butler came into the room. “Your Grace, the hackney awaits.”
    Hayden rubbed his hands through his hair, disarraying it further.
    When they arrived at Jessica’s townhouse, he used the servants’ entrance and took the stairs two at a time to the second floor where Jez’s room was situated. Leo leaned against the back of a chair, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his dark hair standing every which way. His gaze was worried as he stared at Jez from across the sitting room.
    Hayden strode past Leo and toward Jez, who lay on the chaise, head resting on a pillow, her feet curled up. Her eyes were barely open and her skin was covered in a damp sheen of sweat. He didn’t say anything to Leo as he ran forward and fell to his knees so he could lean in close to Jez.
    “Oh, Jez,” he whispered, his heart breaking as she lay prone and almost lifeless before him.
    But his beautiful, bold friend was no less strong even in her current situation.
    He placed one hand over her shoulder, the other against her forehead to test the severity of her fever. He whispered for her ears alone, “While this is not the time to chastise you, you shouldn’t have lied to me, Jez. I would have seen you through this.”
    “It was my shame to bear alone.” Her voice was quiet, as though speaking pained her.
    “It will never be yours to bear alone again.” Determination laced his words.
    She would never have only herself to count on. He would not watch her go through life alone a moment longer. And while nothing could change the deep friendship they’d built over the years, he would always be there to protect her every step of the way. He could not stand passively by waiting for her to notice the man he was, the one who wanted nothing more than to love her as so much more than a friend.
    He wanted her to himself. He always had.
    Tonight would change everything between them.
    Hayden turned enough to see the housekeeper and two maids laying out fresh bed linens. A pile of soiled bedding was rolled up in a basket on the floor. He’d have to remind them to burn the material. There could be no evidence for what went on here tonight; Jez would never forgive him if anyone found out that she’d miscarried the Fallon heir.
    Focused back on Jez, he inspected her clothes. Aside from being damp from the fever that had assailed her, it looked as though the maids had already changed her at some point earlier in the evening, for she was in a night rail. Regardless, the maids would have to help her into a dry nightgown, as this one was nearly soaked right through.
    He didn’t hesitate to lift her up into his arms and take her back to her newly made bed; she would need to rest until her fever broke and he had every intention of staying with her no matter how long it took.
    “You needn’t be so gallant,” she whispered before putting her head to his shoulder as though holding up that weight was too much for her, which only made her argument feeble.
    “I’ll see you to your bed and make sure you’re well enough to avoid seeing a sawbones.”
    And he would see to Jez’s well-being—he’d never seen her so weak and defeated; those were simply two adjectives that did not suit Jez in the least. Leo could wait for him in the sitting room. Hayden kicked the door behind him closed without so much as a word to his friend.
    As he placed her on the bed, hoping he didn’t hurt her or cause her further discomfort, her arms fell away, limp of life, from his neck. “Go home, Hayden. You can see I’m well looked after by the staff.”
    “Why should you do this