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"A war to conceal his sincere concern

They cauely--in her hazy state of deliriuo directly toward the stairs that would lead them to the second floor where he kept her isolated before Instead, he carried her to the far side of the corridor, before entering a bedroom

It was huge--rander than the roo-sized bed with a dark gold duvet cover The bed was not an antique It was a modern type that probably cost the earth to obtain There was also an en suite, which Ruby saw through the slightly ajar door at the far corner of the rooe bathtub

Alec put her on the bed and tucked her under the duvet "You'll be war into the wardrobe on the other side of the room

Ruby eyed him with interest as he opened the door of the wardrobe She blinked twice, realizing that the array of expensive clothing was his, and she was in his bedroom It was in her nature to ask silly questions, and often she couldn't stop herself, so she inquired, "Why am I in your bedroom? Why don't you put me in my own room?"

Alec glanced over his muscular shoulder, and his eyebrows rose "Because, ma'am, your bedrooht; and, et a chill"

Ruby blushed He knew! Darn him! He knew she destroyed thein order to escape Of course! He would've seen it anyway before noticing that she escaped And that was how he found her--drenched wet and lying there on the ground with her foot caught between vines and roots

"Could you not put me in another room?"

Alec took out a pair of clean jeans and a white shirt "And risk another atte? But of course, I'm sure you can't escape with that foot of yours in such a bad condition" He turned to give her a devilish grin, his grey eyes twinkling

Ruby's heart started to beat outrageously fast Even though she couldn't see clearly without her glasses or contact lenses, his smile still affected her more than she liked to admit

Alec noted the blush Damn it! She looked so adorable with her wet hair, apple red lips, and brown eyes He wanted to ravish her there and then

She lowered her eyes, blushing even es as he walked into the bathroom

Ruby closed her eyes, wondering why she was staring at him like a wanton She was still ht in her dinner of chicken soup

"Now there," the woman said, "ya eat this It'll make ya feel better, nice an' warm an' all"

Ruby thanked the wo after Mrs McKenzie left Alec returned, wearing his clean, dry clothing

Ruby glanced up from her soup and siain She could see his lean ht jeans and shirt His hair was in a disheveled state, which made him look so hot

She sed the soup in herhard

Stop it! She told herself internally as she put the bowl on the bedside table, her hands tre That's it! It must be a consequence of the shock, and the after lost in the woods

"Youaround to her side

Ruby's heart lurched even faster now

"I'ry," she snapped

Go away! Don't come near me! She wanted to yell at him

Stubbornly staring at the duvet when he sat beside her, she wanted to screaed to look at him and throw herself into his arms What a wanton she was! She never felt like that before, not toward any man

No, she reasoned in her mind, she wanted to throw herself at him because he was the one who saved her; therefore, it was only a natural result that she felt obliged to him, and duty-bound to thank him with all her heart and soul Yes, that was it! It was overwhelratitude toward him that she felt, and that was all

Alec picked up the bowl of soup, dipping the spoon into it, and scooping out the dark broth before ai the spoon toward her lips

"Here," he said

Still refusing to look at him, she shook her head Alec put the spoon back into the bowl and placed it on the table He shifted closer to her,his head next to her face

Ruby felt his warm breath on her cheek When she turned slowly to look at hiht into her brown ones

Aleccheek Sing hard, Ruby's throat was suddenly very dry

"Are you innocent, Ruby?" he asked, his hot breath fanning her cheek

Ruby couldn't reply She couldn't think either The only thing she could do was concentrate on her breathing She was beco, male presence The room seemed quite hot for her suddenly

She lowered her eyes "What do you mean?"

Alec stared at her thick, dark eyelashes She was enchanting Daainst his unreasonable, pri her through inti

"What I oing to do to you?" His voice sounded thicker

Ruby licked her dry lips, and Alec glanced at her srabbed her delicate chin in his hand before kissing her passionately

His kiss felt hard and lasted a long time, which, to innocent Ruby, who had never been kissed before by any ot scared all the way down to her little toes, and tried to break free froainst his chest

Alec noticed her shivering, so he ended the kiss and moved back

"You know I can do more than that," he whispered, his war her ear

She glanced at hi She didn't knohat to say The only things she could be sure of were the nearness of hi heart

"Here Eat"

"I will eat if you leave me alone," she murmured, her eyes downcast

"Nay"

She turned to look at him then, and Alec had to hide his smile at her reaction

"But," she began Stop it, you ninny, she told herself He was just playing with you

"Fine," she said, her voice sounding a little bit stronger "I'll eat I'ry anyway" Then, she practically snatched the bowl fro without further reserve

Alec couldn't help but s her soup so salaciously

Alec ht He felt rather stupid sneaking into his own bedroooddamn bedroom! He was not a thief, for God's sake But he was pretty sure she'd insist they sleep separately; and he either had to let her sleep in another room or he, himself, would have to sleep in another room And that he didn't want

Once he changed into what he considered a decent pair of pyjamas: loose trousers and a T-shirt, which he rarely used, he climbed into bed beside her

Twentydead tired

He just couldn't sleep It was not because of the blasted stor its fury upon the beside him She arm, very soft, and half naked A man didn't need more than that to torture hi closer to hi war in the hearth

Everything was going fine with hies and iht That was the big problem She was unexpectedly very hot to the touch Not that he intended to touch her, of course, but she, herself, rolled closer to hi like a drow

ned kitten, craving the war hot She was unnaturally hot, and he knew, God, he knew, she was in the throes of a fever

He knew he had to give her so to reduce her temperature

He hurriedly got out of bed and found soed to wake her up before helping her take the medicine When he was satisfied that she sed the two tablets, he lay her back on the bed before lying down beside her, and letting her head rest in the crook of his arm

When, ten ot very worried He'd have to do so else and fast

He got out of bed and ran down the stairs to the kitchen

Bowl! He needed a bowl for water The kitchen was big, and he was never in there often enough to re was kept

He wanted to ring Mrs McKenzie for help, but the thought of waking the woht just to find a mere boas unreasonable, he concluded Thus, he found hi every cupboard door he could put his hands on At last, he found a bowl and rushed back upstairs

Five minutes later, with lukeater in the bowl and a s Ruby's hot face He touched her forehead to see if that helped, and found her temperature there was much cooler

"This is working," he said

Then he startedthe wet towel down to her throat As he did so, he was thinking about the rest of her body, and paused to look at her flushed face He told hie of her Anyone would do what he was about to do if confronted with such an odd situation

He started to unbutton her shirt

"Forgive me, sweetheart," he said

Buttons undone, he slipped the towel under her shirt and started bathing her body while keeping his eyes averted, and staring at her face instead of what he was doing Once he deeh to cool her fever, he touched her forehead again, happy to discover it was indeed getting cooler

After rebuttoning up her shirt, he lay beside her and pulled the duvet up to her chin As he did so, shehe couldn't understand in another language He didn't have the heart to just push her away, so he wrapped his arm around her and moved her closer still He didn't knohat caroaned in her language again He smiled and closed his eyes

Ruby woke up feeling utterly drowsy and weak Her body ached sorely She sat up, and instantly, her head spun out of control She gritted her teeth and swore silently Once her dizziness ceased, she scanned her surroundings She couldn't remember where she was She tried to think, but her brain refused to function properly Where am I? This wasn't her bedroom Where was everyone else? Where were her mum and four sisters?

A dog yapped She glanced at a very cute, snohite dog sitting on the edge of the bed near her feet He looked as though he, too, had just woken up

She frowned Then, slowly and painfully, began to re It was Westies Then she re her She re the Land Rover back fro her into the manor She also recalled how he treated her injured foot; and then, oh God, she re that she was scared The last thing she re asleep in his arms

She bit her lip as she suddenly became mortified with embarrassment Why did she admit to him she was scared? Why did she fall asleep in his arms?