New World, New Love (21 page)

She remained silent for a few moments in her deep gratitude. ‘Thank you,’ she said simply, and of her own volition rested her hand on his arm. He covered it with his own. Then, seeing the warmth deepen in his eyes, she bade him goodnight and went quickly upstairs. In her room she closed her door and leaned back against it. She had yearned almost overpoweringly to feel his arms reassuringly about her.

Daniel and the peacekeepers came out of the last place on their list. They were slightly later than they had been previously and daylight was beginning to lift the sky over the city, which was already astir. Although he had been unsuccessful in finding the French girl, the peacekeepers were well satisfied with the whole operation, having retaken an escaped prisoner who had killed a warden with his bare hands, a woman wanted for theft, two men wanted for mugging and another for rape. This last night the haul consisted only of two prostitutes who had been trying to scratch out each other’s eyes, but upon being thrust in the cart they had turned their venom on the peacekeepers. Their yelled abuse, combined with their hammering and kicking against the inside of the cart, echoed along the street.

Delphine, curled up between a low wall and a warehouse in the hideout she had made her own, paid no attention to the muffled shrieks as the cart was driven past. She was caught in a paroxysm of coughing and, each time, it left her exhausted. Having been lying there for several days, she was no longer fully aware of where she was, moaning softly from the searing pangs of hunger and the savage pain in her injured ankle. Sometimes she thought herself at home in France and at others in the Rousselot ballroom. It was her cough that had kept her away from other homeless people by night, for she had had missiles thrown at her for disturbing their sleep. After having been raped, robbed and abandoned at the roadside, and having been unable to find the refuge she had expected in Boston, her attempt to find work had been thwarted by the state of her clothes and her lack of references. She would have played her flute and begged if it had not been stolen from her with everything else.

Finally an old man who lived alone had taken her in, but it was not only housework he had wanted from her and she had left in a hurry. At least she had had time to launder her clothes, as well as bath and wash her hair, not knowing then that he was watching her through a crack in the door. She had also managed to steal three of his deceased wife’s gowns without his knowledge, which she sold for food, but after sleeping rough again her appearance soon deteriorated.

She had not dared to go back to Daniel’s house after her second enquiry, for a bad-tempered footman, recognizing her from before, had thrown her from the door with such force that she had fallen in a sprawl of limbs and hurt her ankle. It had left her with a painful limp, which meant she could no longer run. With this handicap, she had not dared to go again to the soup kitchen, where a brutal-looking man with bushy yellow hair had constantly harassed her. He had kept trying to grab her away with him into the dark and each time she had only escaped through speed.

At first she had hobbled to the Lombard office to ask after Daniel, only to be told he was still away. Sometimes all the nourishment she had in a day was on these visits, when a clerk gave her a piece of bread from his midday snack. When the pain had become too agonising for her to put any weight on her foot, she had decided that a complete rest would heal it. Instead, her strength had ebbed and she could no longer move from her hideout.

It helped that sometimes she seemed to be at home in France and could run wherever she wished, but now she was alone in the Rousselot ballroom and it was not as she remembered it. Only one candle was alight and it was burning low at a curious speed. In panic at being left in the dark, she rushed to get out before it extinguished itself, but the doors had vanished. Although she ran from wall to wall, constantly meeting her own reflection in the mirrors, there was no way out. Then, as the darkness closed in, she was aware of the yellow-haired man looming over her. Screaming, she hit out frantically . . . but firm hands caught her wrists and it was Daniel’s voice that spoke to her.

‘Delphine! You’re safe now. I’ve come to take you home with me.’

A
s Daniel gathered Delphine up in his arms, her skeletal condition alarmed him. Previously he must have passed her at least twice in the darkness and it was only the early daylight that had enabled him to see from his high driving seat that someone was curled up behind the low wall.

As he carried her into his house he sent a servant running to fetch a doctor, another to summon Louise and a third with instructions to the housekeeper. Mrs Carter, who always had hot water ready for his bath when he returned from his searching, came hurrying with two maidservants carrying jugs. As soon as he had left the bedroom where he had laid Delphine on the bed, the three women removed her filthy clothes and washed her from head to foot. Her tangled curls were combed as gently as possible, although some strands were too knotted to be unravelled and would have to be cut away later. Finally they put her into a lace-trimmed nightgown that one of Daniel’s almost-forgotten mistresses had left behind long ago.

When Louise arrived, Daniel came from the drawing room, where he had been watching for her from the window. She ran to him.

‘How is she? Where did you find her?’

He gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Not in a brothel, but behind a wall. As for her health, Dr Harvey is with her now. We shall have his report very shortly.’

She made a move towards the stairs. ‘Which room is she in?’

‘Wait!’ He took her firmly by the elbow and steered her into the drawing room. ‘I want to prepare you for her changed appearance. Delphine is painfully thin and has a bad cough. She has also injured her right ankle and it is horribly swollen. I doubt if she has been able to walk on it for several days. But,’ he added on a brighter note, ‘she is here now and I’ll ensure that she gets the best medical attention until she is completely well again.’

Louise had pressed her linked fingers against her trembling mouth, but lowered them as she spoke, her eyes full of gratitude. ‘Both she and I will be for ever in your debt for all you have done for us.’ Then she turned her head sharply as the doctor was heard coming down the stairs.

Dr Harvey came into the drawing room. He was in his forties, an alert, intelligent-looking man with a way of tilting his head slightly as if he were long used to listening patiently to those consulting him. He bowed as Daniel introduced him to Louise.

‘Your sister is in a severely emaciated state, ma’am, and she has a fever from her inflamed lungs. I’ve left a bottle of physic that should relieve the coughing. As for her ankle, it is not broken, only badly sprained.’ He flicked his hand to indicate that was only a minor problem. ‘Her strength has to be built up again. She must have nourishing liquids, a little at a time and often.’ He shook his head slightly. ‘In fact, the next few days will be critical. She will need careful nursing around the clock if we’re going to save her.’

Louise gave a cry of distress. ‘Is it so serious? I’ll do everything in my power to help her get well again!’

‘I’m sure you will, ma’am.’ He exchanged a solemn glance with Daniel. ‘I’ll call again this evening.’

Rushing upstairs, Louise found Mrs Carter sitting by the bedside. The woman rose immediately. ‘I’ve already sent word down to the kitchen for a hot posset to be prepared for the patient. Dr Harvey gave me a list of nourishing liquids and light food that Miss Delphine is to be given.’

‘Thank you, Mrs Carter.’

As the woman left the room, Louise took the vacated chair. Although she had been prepared for her sister’s appearance, it was still a severe shock when she saw Delphine’s hollow-cheeked face, her closed eyes sunk in their sockets and her lips drained of colour. Reaching out, Louise lifted her sister’s thin hand from the coverlet and held it between her own.

‘You’re going to get well again, Delphine,’ she said softly. ‘We’ve come through so much together and we’ll get through this too.’

Delphine’s lids fluttered and she opened her eyes. ‘Louise?’ she whispered.

‘I’m here!’

‘Don’t leave me.’

‘I won’t. I’m here to stay.’

A maidservant came with the posset, which had been made with milk and a small measure of an extremely fine French brandy from a hoarded bottle in Daniel’s cellar. Louise gave Delphine a few spoonfuls of it, afraid that she would vomit it up again, but this did not happen and she slept afterwards.

Daniel came quietly into the room and drew up a chair beside Louise. ‘Mrs Carter’s sister will share the nursing with you.’ Then, as Louise would have protested, he added, ‘You can’t be at this bedside night and day, or else you’ll be ill yourself. She is known as Nurse Annabelle and she is experienced in caring for the sick. I met her once when visiting a bedridden friend. She’s a pleasant, competent woman.’ He indicated a communicating door in the room. ‘I thought you should have the neighbouring bedroom through there. Then you can be near Delphine by night as well as by day.’

‘I’m imposing on your hospitality once again.’

‘You could never impose.’

She did not meet his eyes, knowing what she would see there. ‘Could one of the maidservants fetch my belongings from the lodging house?’

‘It shall be done.’

From that time onward everything in the house revolved around the sickroom. There were days when Delphine hovered on the point of death and for forty-eight hours it seemed that there could be no saving her, but Louise and Annabelle were tireless in their ministrations. It was dawn when Louise emerged exhausted from the sickroom, knowing that the immediate danger was over.

Daniel, fearful of the night’s result, was already up and dressed when she came slowly down the stairs. Tendrils of her hair had loosened during her night watch, her sleeves were still rolled up and she seemed unaware that the neck of her bodice was unbuttoned, which he guessed had been due to her exertions at the sickbed. To his quietly voiced query she gave a tired nod, her voice barely audible.

‘We’ve brought her through this crisis. I pray there’ll be no more.’

‘Shouldn’t you be taking some rest?’ Her pallor and the shadows under her eyes concerned him.

‘Not just yet. I’m going into the flower garden for a few minutes.’

He realized how she must feel after being cooped up unremittingly in the sickroom for such a long time. She seemed to glide along like a sleepwalker as he went with her. Outside, the sky was tinted gloriously by the approaching day and the air was fresh and sweet. She breathed it in deeply as she stood a few steps in front of him, crossing her arms, with her head tilted back while the dawn light seemed to glow about her whole graceful figure. It gave her such a tender, vulnerable look that he spoke her name as softly as if it were an expression of love.

She half turned, looking up at him under lowered lids, as if in her exhaustion the long lashes were weighing them down. As he put his hands on her slender waist and drew her gently to him, she did not resist, but raised her arms out straight to rest them across his shoulders. She closed her eyes and he kissed them, his lips travelling on to her brow, her cheeks, her ears and her long white throat. She leaned back, her spine arched, as if to give him easier access, and in her opened bodice, his kisses trailed down to her cleavage. Then his lips found hers in a kiss of adoration, without the violence or demand of passion. She responded submissively and gently as if in a dream.

‘I love you,’ he said softly. ‘Ever since the moment I first saw you.’

She looked up at him, a half-smile touching her lips. ‘Dear Daniel,’ she said, almost in a whisper as she drew away from his embrace. ‘My Good Samaritan.’

Then she drifted from him back into the house, the first rays of sun following to cast bronze lights into her hair.

He did not see her again during the day. Then, in the evening, refreshed by sleep, she was her usual spruce self once more. He caught sight of her from the hall as she was on her way along the gallery to the sickroom.

‘Louise!’

She paused to look down at him. ‘Yes, Daniel?’

‘When can we talk?’

‘Do we need to?’ she asked, as if amused, and then added enigmatically, ‘Haven’t we reached the point of no return?’

He heard her laugh softly before the door of the sickroom closed behind her.

Slowly Delphine began to improve and Dr Harvey had hopes of her full recovery, although privately he was unsure whether her ankle would ever be completely right again. As a result she still occupied much of her sister’s time, for Louise had insisted there was no longer any need for the nurse to remain. Daniel was constantly frustrated in his attempts to talk to her on her own. She always seemed to have a task to do when he waylaid her.

‘Not now, Daniel. I’m busy. There’ll be plenty of time to talk when Delphine is well again.’

As she took all her meals with her sister, not even dining with him after he had been out all day, his meetings with her continued to be brief. Then one evening he found her on her own in the library, choosing a book from the shelves. He slammed the door shut behind him with a force that made her jump. She spun round quickly, clutching the book close to her. Her laughter at her own surprise stilled when she saw how he was looking at her.

‘It’s hard to believe sometimes,’ he said, coming towards her, ‘that you and I are living in the same house. You’re like a will-o’-the-wisp, always disappearing through doors or whisking your way past me on some errand for the invalid.’

Somehow she seemed unable to take her eyes from his, such excitement beginning to pulse through her that she could feel her heart pounding against the book that she held against her. She did not move and let him take it from her to toss it aside on to a sofa. Then she almost fell against him as he drew her hard into his arms, moulding her body against his, and kissed her as long and as deeply as he had once in New York. She kissed him back with pent-up ardour, her whole body alive with passion as she drove her fingers into his thick hair, holding him to her.