Page 94 of Snapdragons
“Wilson is bringing him in through a side door. We’re attempting to keep today’s events a secret from the staff.”
That made sense, and the logical nature of the arrangement eased her concerns.
“To his room?” she asked.
Aldric nodded.
It was all the direction she needed. Penelope did her best to move with an aura of ease and nonchalance, not wishing to draw attention, all the while her heart begging her to speed her steps. Aldric would not have been so casual if Niles were horribly injured. And they would have remained in the village, taking a room at the inn so the local doctor could see to him.
She told herself all those things as she made her way up the stairs and down the corridor, but she didn’t feel entirely reassured.
The door to his bedchamber was closed. She knocked, holding her breath as she waited.
After what felt like an eternity, the door opened, and Wilson eyed her from the other side.
“Is he here?” she asked, unable to keep the tone of pleading from her voice.
The young man smiled back at her. “I told him you’d rush to his side.” He pulled the door open the rest of the way and motioned her in, then closed the door behind her.
Niles was sitting on the bed, looking the other way. She couldn’t tell from this distance or vantage point how bad off he might be. Niles’s valet stepped into view. Penelope froze. The staff weren’t meant to know what Niles had been up to. Feeling a bit frantic, she looked at Wilson.
“Marston knows,” Wilson said.
The valet smiled and dipped his head. “A good valet knows how to keep his employer’s secrets, and I assure you, I have kept this one for years.”
Feeling better on that score but not entirely relieved, she continued her walk to the bed, where Niles sat. She walked around to the far side, the direction in which he was looking. That he was upright seemed to her a good sign.
He turned his head a little more as she approached. What was it he didn’t want her to see? His hands rested on his lap. His knuckles were split and bruised. Penelope sat on the edge of his bed. She very carefully slipped her hand beneath one of his, holding it without touching the wounds.
“Niles?” She spoke softly but made certain she didn’t sound pitying or horrified. She knew him well enough to realize without being told that he was attempting to spare her while also worrying that he’d cause her grief.
“I’m a sight, Penny.” Niles likely didn’t realize how relieved she was simply to hear him speak. The words were a bit muffled, yes, but they were sensible and the sentence complete. She’d worried that his mind might be addled by a few too many powerful blows.
“You promised me you wouldn’t get mutilated,” she said. “I need you to prove to me that you didn’t.”
He kept his face turned away. “I believe the word I used wasmauled.”
“It amounts to the same in the end.”
He didn’t look at her.
“I know boxing matches aren’t gentle affairs, and I don’t expect you to look as though you’ve been for an invigorating ride through the countryside. I simply need to know the state of you, to be reassured that you are relatively whole.”
Still, he hesitated.
“Niles, please. You’re worrying me.”
“I was trying toavoidworrying you.” He turned toward her at last.
She made a quick accounting: a blackened and swollen eye, a gash on one cheek, a bruised nose, a split lip. And even at all that, she breathed a sigh of relief, one he seemed to misinterpret.
“I warned you I looked ghastly.”
She touched his uncut cheek, gently because his whole face must have hurt. “You look far better than I had imagined. Better than I had feared.”
“Your imagination must be incredibly vivid. Or morbid.”
“Let’s just call itmorvid.”
