My Favorite Major (Heroes Returned Book 1) (14 page)

He lifted his hand out to her, though doing so made a spasm shoot down his arm and his back radiate with pain. He closed his eyes in agony and couldn’t help the groan that escaped him.

“
Major!” Amelia cried. Then her cool hands were touching his face. “Oh, Major, please don’t move.”

Why was she calling him that? She’d called him Philip in his dreams, hadn’t she? “Philip,” he breathed out.

“
What?” Her sweet breath blew across his face. Had she been nibbling on mint? Where was her usual lilac scent?

“
Philip,” he rasped again, a bit louder this time.

“
Yes, you’re Philip,” she replied, panic laced her words. “Has he forgotten who he is?”

“
I think—” Olivia’s voice found his ears, twinged with a mix of humor and relief “—he wants you to call him Philip.”

Philip opened his eyes once more to find Amelia hovering over him. Her blue eyes met his, and she looked so weary, as though she hadn’t slept in a week. Even still, she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. “So pretty,” he breathed out. She looked almost like an angel, like his angel.

Beside his bed, he couldn’t tell whether Olivia was laughing or crying. She rose to her feet and said, “I’ll send for Doctor Watts.” And then she was gone.

But Amelia was still there, still hovering right above Philip like an angelic protector. “Water, Amelia,” he whispered. “Please.”

Her blue eyes widened in surprise and she scrambled to a nearby pitcher and poured him a goblet. Then she was back at his side, tilting the water to his lips, helping him drink. Oh, what glorious water. Nothing had ever tasted so good.

“
Do you remember what happened?” Amelia asked after he finished with the goblet.

But before he could answer, the chamber was suddenly flooded with people. Clayworth and Cordie. Tristan and Russell. Maids he didn’t recognize. And Olivia and
Kelfield
? This was most definitely the strangest dream he’d ever had. Why the devil should Kelfield be here?

“
Good God!” Russell heaved a sigh. “You took ten years off my life, Philip Moore.”

“
I did?” How? What had he done?

His old friend smiled. “I’ll see that you pay it back, don’t you worry.”

“
Russell,” Cordie complained. “The last thing he needs is your blathering.” Then she closed in on Philip, frowning most peculiarly as she touched his brow. “Is the pain awful? Doctor Watts left some laudanum.”

“
Laudanum?” He hated the stuff. They’d kept his dosage so high in Belgium, he hardly remembered returning home.

“
I’ll get it.” Cordie turned on her heel.

“
No!” Philip barked. Then he tried to push up on his elbows, but the searing pain in his back returned in a blinding flash. God, what had happened to him?

The whole room gasped in unison as he dropped back to the bed.

Philip closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to recede. “No laudanum,” he hissed. He needed his mind clear, not jumbled. “Amelia, no laudanum.”

She squeezed his hand. “Not if you don’t want it,” she promised.

“
Where am I?”

“
Returned from the brink of death,” Russell muttered, but Philip heard him clearly.

“
Russ!” Tristan growled.

“
Death?” Philip echoed, opening his eyes once more. “What do you mean death?”

The pressure from Amelia’s hand tightened and she sat beside him on the edge of his bed. “You don’t remember?”

What did he remember? He remembered Amelia. He remembered kissing her. He remembered some breathy little sounds she made as he caressed her and the softness of her breasts. He’d never forget one second of any of that. But then…what had happened? He’d left Clayworth House after securing her promise to stay in London. He’d needed to talk with Tristan about arrangements for the duel…

The duel. Was that what he couldn’t remember? “Did I lose the duel?”

A few feet away, the Duke of Kelfield snorted, though he was quickly elbowed in the stomach by his wife for doing so. “Alex!” Olivia grumbled.

“
Sorry,” the duke apologized, and he actually did look contrite. Who would have thought Kelfield owned such an expression?

Amelia leaned closer to him, her hand still holding his. “You’d just left me and we heard the shot.”

Philip frowned at her. “The shot?”

Amelia nodded. “The authorities are searching for Mr. Mason, but they haven’t found him yet.”

Mason? Fury pulsed through Philip’s veins. “He shot me in the back?” What sort of coward did such a thing? Then he looked closer at Amelia, searching for signs of distress. “He didn’t hurt you?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t even see him. I only saw you and…”

“
She hasn’t left your bedside since that moment,” Russell said quietly. “Most men would be happy to have a wife half as attentive.”

All those dreams. But they hadn’t been dreams, had they? She really had been with him all that time. Philip gazed at Amelia, and his heart lifted a bit. “You didn’t leave me?”

“
You made me promise I’d stay. Do you remember, before you left that day? You made me promise.”

He did remember. He’d meant London, at the time. He wanted her to stay in London while they figured out what was between them. But she’d honored those words to the letter. And now with the pain pulsing in his back and with all his friends and even the damned Duke of Kelfield watching on, Philip didn’t need to figure out anything more. Everything was perfectly clear.

“
Promise me something else,” he whispered.

“
Of course.” She slid closer to him. “What do you need, Philip?”

“
You.” He squeezed her hand this time. “Promise you won’t jilt me.”

A smile lit her face. “You are delirious.”

He nodded in agreement. “I am. But I want to spend forever with you, and that won’t change.”

Cordie started to sniffle, but Philip only had eyes for Amelia, who stared back at him with her mouth agape.

“
Come along,” Tristan called to the room at large. “Clearly, he’ll survive. Let’s give them a few moments.”

And then the room emptied of everyone except for Philip and Amelia, who still clutched his hand in hers. “Are you mad?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Completely sane. Well, unless you really do jilt me. I’d probably go mad then. And you—” he grinned even though he was in pain “—what would people say if you jilted a man who took a bullet for you? No, it’s most definitely in your best interest to marry me, Amelia. Think of your reputation.”

She grinned in return. “My reputation, hmm?”

“
Well, that and I’m fairly certain you like my kisses. I’ll kiss you everyday for the rest of our lives. Just say ‘yes’.”

A blush stained her cheeks. “You do drive a hard bargain, Major Moore.”

“
Philip,” he stressed. “You called me Philip when I was unconscious, didn’t you?”

“
Did I?”

He nodded. “I heard you, I think. And I like the sound of my name on your lips.”

“
Philip Moore, you do not resemble the very serious major I met that first night. Do you know that?”

“
Well, I have been shot and I haven’t bathed in days.”

She giggled.

“
But you’re still laughing at me, even if I’m not so serious anymore.” He released his grip on her hand, but trailed his fingers lightly over her knuckles. “Kiss me, Amelia.”

“
I don’t want to hurt you.”

“
You can ravish me when I’ve got my strength up. I just need a kiss for now.”

Amelia leaned forward, her blue eyes peering into his, but they fluttered closed when her lips brushed his with the softest of kisses.

“
Marry me?” he whispered across her lips.

She opened her eyes and smiled. “I don’t think I have a choice. There’s my reputation to consider, after all.”

Philip wasn’t sure how he’d been so fortunate as to have Amelia stumble into his life, but he wasn’t about to question the gods who, thus far, hadn’t smiled in his particular direction. She fretted about his chamber, plumped his pillow, offered him water, and kissed him whenever he asked. “You are perfect,” he said as she drew his drapes closed.

Amelia dropped the drapery sash and shook her head. “Hardly. If it wasn’t for me, you would have never been shot.”

He smiled what he hoped was his most charming smile. “Small price to pay for your affection, Amelia.”

At that, she rolled her eyes. Then she glanced towards the doorway and stood a little taller. “Captain, Lieutenant.”

Philip tilted his head to the other side to find the Avery brothers standing just inside the threshold. It was about time they showed their faces. He couldn’t, after all, go in search of them. “Amelia, I need a few moments with my old friends.”

“
Of course.” She bustled across the room. “But remember what Doctor Watts said. You need to rest.”

Philip heaved a sigh and gestured to himself still lying in bed. “It’s not as though I have much of a choice, love.”

She grinned at his endearment. “Do you want me to ring for tea?”

“
No.” Philip shook his head. “We won’t be long.”

Amelia brushed past the two officers on her way out of Philip’s sick room, then she shut the door behind her.

“
I thought she’d
never
leave.” Russell grinned and dropped into the chair from which Amelia had kept her vigil at Philip’s bedside for days on end.

“
Your mother would approve of her.” Tristan cocked his head towards the now closed door as he walked further into the room.

And he was right. Philip’s late mother would have liked Amelia very much, or at least he thought she would have. And that thought did ease his soul just a bit, but only a bit, because the girl was still in danger and there wasn’t a damn thing Philip could do to protect her from his cursed bed.

Russell kicked his boots up and rested them at the edge of Philip’s bed. “I think the chit must actually like
you
, surprising as that is. Best not let her get away.”

Philip heaved a sigh. “Can you be serious?”

Russell’s grin widened. “I can try, but I don’t think I’ll ever be as successful as you, my friend.”

From the window, Tristan grunted. “For the love of God, Russ,” he complained. “He did summon us here. Clearly, he has something to say.”

Thank God for Tristan’s level head. Philip pushed up on his forearms to sit higher on the bed, but his back stung so badly, he gave up the fight and closed his eyes, hoping for the pain to recede. “I need your help,” he said through gritted teeth.

“
Of course,” the Avery brothers said in unison, which didn’t surprise Philip in the least. They had been to Hell and back together, the three of them.