“I had a feeling that would be your opinion,” he muttered.
“Are you any warmer?” she asked, assessing him rather unsympathetically.
He shook his head.
Victoria stood. “I am going downstairs to prepare you some broth. I assume there is food in the kitchen?”
He looked at her blankly.
“Food?” she repeated. “In the kitchen?”
“I think so,” he said, not sounding at all certain of himself.
She stared at him in disbelief. “You abducted me and forgot to stock the cottage with provisions?”
His lips stretched into a decidedly weak smile. “I might have.”
“Robert, this is so stunningly unlike you, I don't know what to think. You've never forgotten a detail in your life.”
“I sent word to the caretaker that I would be arriving, asking him to prepare the cottage. I'm sure he brought food.” He paused and swallowed. “At least I hope he did.”
Victoria stood, a stern, governess-worthy expression firmly in place on her face.
“Do you know how to cook?” Robert asked hopefully.
“I'm a wonder when I have food.”
“You'll have food.”
She didn't say another word as she left the room.
Robert remained in bed, shivering and feeling altogether sick. It hadn't been so bad when Victoria was there. She—and that devilish nightgown he was beginning to wish he hadn't purchased—took his mind off the fact that ten little icicles were attached to his feet and that he used to call them toes.
A few minutes later Victoria reappeared in his doorway, two steaming mugs in her hands. Robert's entire face lit up. “Broth?” he said. He couldn't remember a time when broth sounded so good.
Victoria smiled sweetly. A little too sweetly. “This is your lucky day, Robert.”
Robert sniffed the air, searching for an aroma. “Thank you, Victoria, for—” He stopped when she handed him a mug. “What is this?”
“Hot water.”
“You brought me hot water? Isn't one supposed to receive some sort of nourishment when one is ill?”
“You're not ill, just cold. And hot water is, by definition, hot. I'm sure it will warm you up.”
He sighed. “There wasn't any food, was there?”
“Not even a biscuit.”
He took a sip of the water, shuddering with delight as the heat traveled down his insides. Then, his mouth never leaving the rim of his mug, he looked up. “No tea?”
“Nary a leaf.”
He drank some more, then said, “I never thought I'd see the day when an English household would be out of tea.”
Victoria smiled. “Now do you feel warmer?”
He nodded and held out his empty mug. “I don't suppose there is more?”
She picked up his mug and stood, motioning to the window. Rain was still pelting the house furiously. “I don't think we're in any danger of running out of water. I have some heating on the stove and a bucket outside catching more.”
He looked up sharply. “Surely you don't intend to go outside in this weather. I want you to stay dry.”
She smiled and waved away his concern. “There is no need to worry about me. The overhang will keep me dry. Only my hand will get wet.” She started to leave.
“Victoria, wait!”
She turned around.
“Are you still cold? You have done nothing but take care of me. I don't want to see you catch a chill.”
“The water has helped. I—”
“Your hands are still shaking.” It sounded almost like an accusation.
“No, I'm fine. Really. It just takes a bit of time for me to warm through and through.”
He frowned, but before he could say anything more, she had darted from the room. She reappeared a few minutes later. The blanket around her shoulders slipped, and Robert tried to ignore the way the blue silk nightgown clung to her curves. It was the oddest thing he had ever encountered. His mind was racing with every sort of erotic fantasy, and his body refused to respond.
Robert cursed the cold with remarkable fluency.
As Victoria handed him his hot water, she asked, “Did you say something?”
“Nothing fit for your ears,” he muttered.
She raised her brows, but other than that did not question him further. They sat in companionable silence for several minutes, Victoria perched on the opposite side of the bed from Robert.
Suddenly she sat up straight with such abruptness that Robert nearly dropped his mug. “Where is MacDougal?” she asked, tightening the blanket around her.