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But that still didn’t explain why his head hurt so bloody much Clearly he’d been in some sort of an accident Or had he been attacked?

"There has been no change at all?" the h the lady had just said as much

But she must have had far more patience than Edward, because she replied in a quiet, clear voice, "No, sir None"

The runt Edward found it impossible to interpret

"Er" The woman cleared her throat "Have you any news of my brother?"

Her brother? Who was her brother?

"I am afraid not, Mrs Rokesby"

Mrs Rokesby?

"It has been nearly three months," she said quietly

Mrs Rokesby? Edward really wanted theet back to that point There was only one Rokesby in North America as far as he knew, and that was he So if she was Mrs Rokesby

"I think," the ies would be better spent tending to your husband"

Husband?

"I assure you," she said, and there was that touch of irritation again, "that I have been caring for hi him her husband? Was he married? He couldn’t be married How could he be married and not rean to pound What the devil was happening to him?

"Did he just make a noise?" the man asked

"II don’t think so"

She moved then, quickly Hands touched hih her obvious concern, there was soht

"Edward?" she asked, taking his hand She stroked it several tihtly over his skin "Can you hear entleman did not act to relieve a lady’s distress?

"I fear he entleness than Edward thought appropriate

"He still breathes," the wo, but his expression ain, more loudly this time

"He still breathes"

"Mrs Rokesby"

Edward felt her hand tighten around his Then she placed her other on top, her fingers resting lightly on his knuckles It was the smallest sort of embrace, but Edward felt it down to his soul

"He still breathes, Colonel," she said with quiet resolve "And while he does, I will be here I may not be able to help Thomas, but--"

Thomas Thomas Harcourt That was the connection This must be his sister Cecilia He knew her well

Or not He’d never actually met the lady, but he felt like he knew her She wrote to her brother with a diligence that was uniment Thomas received twice as s to Tho in North America? She was supposed to be in Derbyshire, in that little town Thos Matlock No, Matlock Bath

Edward had never been, but he thought it sounded char Not the way Thomas described it, of course; he liked the bustle of city life and couldn’t wait to take a coe But Cecilia was different In her letters, the small Derbyshire town canize her neighbors if he ever went to visit

She itty Lord, she itty Thoh so much at her missives that Edward finally made hi his response, Edward interrupted so many times that Thomas finally shoved out his chair and held forth his quill

"You write to her," he’d said

So he did

Not on his own, of course Edward could never have written to her directly It would have been the worst sort of impropriety, and he would not have insulted her in such aa few lines at the end of Thomas’s letters, and whenever she replied, she had a few lines for hih he said it was several years old, Edward had found hi woolden color, or if she really did sht not She did not strike him as a woman with secrets Her sht he’d like to odforsaken as over He’d never said anything to Thoe

Now Cecilia was here In the colonies Which ain, what did? Edward’s head was injured, and Tho, and