A Touch of Passion (boxed set romance bundle)

by Uvi Poznansky

  “But I intend to rectify the situation.” Maddie leaned forward and softly said, “you won’t be the first person I’ve disposed of. Shocked? I can see by your face that you are. I killed the man my father sold me to. Stabbed him again and again with a kitchen knife.”

  Nellie was very alarmed at this. Her heart raced, but she needed to try and keep the upper hand. Keeping her voice level, not letting her fear show, she said, “Do you mean to kill me, Miss Singer? Because I won’t go easily and Blake won’t be happy that I’m gone no matter what you think. Blake loves me.” Nellie knew her bold words were untrue, but hoped Maddie didn’t.

  “I think I’d better leave now, Miss Singer. I find that I do not desire your company any longer.”

  Head held high, Nellie stood and walked out of the Tea Room. She approached the street and stopped to wait for a passing carriage before crossing. The hard shove from behind surprised her, put her off balance, and she fell into the street in front of the coach. The horses reared and Nellie rolled, putting her arms over her head. The hooves came down just missing her.

  Passersby stopped, and one man held the nervous horses while another one helped her to her feet.

  “Miss, are you alright?” asked the man who helped her.

  “Yes, thank you.” Her breath panted and she held a hand to her racing heart. “Someone pushed me. Did you see them? Did anyone see anything?”

  “No, ma’am. I didn’t see anything except the horses rearing up and you roll away in time to avoid their hooves. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Nellie shook her head. “Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it very much.”

  Her driver, Otis, was suddenly at her side supporting her arm. “Madam, are you injured? Let me assist you to the carriage. I’ll get you home right away.”

  Finally in the carriage, safe, Nellie began to shake. The realization that someone wanted to kill her frightened her to death. And she thought she knew who the culprit was, Maddie Singer. Who else knew she was there? Who else had a reason to get Nellie out of the way?

  When she got home, she went directly to her rooms and undressed. She wanted a bath, wanted to get the dirt and filth off her body. She was lucky Blake had money. There was hot and cold running water in their home. She drew a bath, hot as she could stand, and got in. Grabbing a wash-cloth she scrubbed herself as hard as she could without taking off her skin.

  Then she laid back in the hot water and closed her eyes, resting.

  She awoke to being lifted by strong arms. The water was cold and so was she. Shivering violently, she cuddled into Blake’s warm body.

  “Nellie, are you trying to catch your death? That water was freezing.”

  “It wasn’t wh…when I g…got in,” she said, her teeth chattering.

  Blake stood her next to the bed, turned down the covers, then got a towel and dried her quickly. He wrapped her hair in the towel, picked her back up and laid her in the bed. She couldn’t stop shaking. He quickly undressed, got in bed beside her, and pulled her into his arms, then covered them both with the blankets.

  He was so warm. She buried herself in his warmth, cuddling into him.

  He covered her as much as he could, putting her legs between his and rubbing her back.

  “You’re alright now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She was warmer and felt better, relaxing into the heat of his body, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he whispered to his sleeping wife.

  He’d nearly lost her. Otis told him she’d fallen in front of a carriage and had nearly been trampled to death. The fear he felt froze him, he’d nearly lost his mind when he’d heard. And then he found her in the cold tub. God, what would he do if he lost her?

  I just found you. I can’t lose you now.

  ❋

  Nellie awoke and reached for Blake. His side of the bed was cold. She sat up and threw off the covers. When she stood, every muscle in her body screamed in refusal. She moaned and sat back on the bed.

  “You shouldn’t be up.”

  She turned toward the sound of his voice and saw Blake wearing a robe and holding a tray.

  “I got breakfast for us to have in bed. I want you to eat and to stay in bed until you feel better. I’ve asked Bertha to keep the children away for today. Told her that you are not feeling well. I also told Otis not to tell the rest of the staff about the accident.”

  “Someone pushed me, Blake. It wasn’t an accident.”

  His eyebrows shot high. “Why would anyone want to hurt you? Surely it was just a figment of your imagination. Here, have some hot tea. It’ll warm you.”

  “I’m not cold anymore. And,” she insisted, “I was pushed. I felt it, a hard shove just before I fell into the street. All my muscles feel like they were run over by that carriage.”

  “You’ve got scrapes on your knees and elbows where you hit the ground, and bruises on your back. You’re lucky that’s all you’ve got.”

  “I must look a fright.” She reached up to smooth her hair, and found a rat’s nest. “Good grief. My hair.”

  He smiled. “You’re right it is pretty frightening.”

  “Give me my brush, please.”

  “Whatever my lady desires.”

  She took the brush he handed her. “Thank you for warming me.”

  “What else was I to do? Good grief, I thought you were trying to do yourself in, lying in cold water like that.”

  “I fell asleep. I just wanted to get the stench of the streets, of what happened, off of me.” She lifted her aching arms to start the brush through her hair. “I know you don’t believe me, but I was pushed and I think I know by whom.”

  He snorted. “Who? Who has reason to push you?”

  “Maddie Singer. She met me at the Russian Tea Room. She must have been following me. She said she wanted to apologize for showing up drunk the other night. She also told me it was planned for her to show up that first time. That you arranged it with her, so that you and she could be together, even while you were married.” She turned and looked into his face, waiting for a reaction. “Is it true?”

  “That’s ridiculous.” He shook his head. “I’ve had no plans to do anything other than be married to you since I met you.”

  She glared. “How did she know about Mrs. Selby?”

  He ran his hands through his hair. “God, Nellie, she helped me write the letters, that’s all. I wanted a woman’s opinion on what I was asking for. In the end, I just put down what I honestly needed. A widow with children. Luckily for me, I got you.”

  Nellie finished getting the tangles out of her hair and brushed it until it was smooth. Then she pulled it to one side, braided it and then lay back on the pillows, stacked so she could sit up in bed.

  “I’m glad you feel that way,” she admitted.

  He sat on the bed and took her hand in his. “I do. I married you didn’t I? The act wasn’t required, surely you knew that. I could have refused to marry you or anyone that showed up. There was no guarantee.”

  “I know. The marriage was a gamble, but one I was willing to take.” Feeling a little spiteful, she said, “I’m told I’m tolerable to look at and since my situation with my in-laws was becoming more unbearable by the day and there were obviously so few women of good standing in San Francisco, I didn’t feel that I would be without a husband for too long.”

  She watched him bristle.

  “You are beautiful, and you’re right. You wouldn’t have wanted for a husband for long. I’m glad I convinced you to marry me when I did.”

  “Why didn’t you marry Maddie?” Nellie knew she shouldn’t talk about her husband’s mistress or ex-mistress, but she had to know. “She obviously wants you and she told me she loves you, has been in love with you since you hired her.”

  He ran his hands through his hair and let out a pent-up breath.

  “I made a mistake with Maddie. I may have said things that would have lead her to believe our re
lationship would continue as it was, even after you arrived.”

  He took another breath and quickly started talking again.

  “But I never made a promise. I don’t make promises very often because I don’t break them. Please believe me, Nellie, when I promise you or the children something, I mean to keep that promise.”

  He needn’t have been in such a hurry. Nellie had no desire to interrupt. She wanted the whole story. “So,” said Nellie, still only half-believing him. “Maddie was right, you did arrange for her to come here that first time.”

  “No.” he said vehemently before taking her hand in his. “That was the original plan, but I changed it after I met you. She wasn’t supposed to come. I ended it with her before I married you. I promise you Nellie. I did not lie to you.”

  After studying his expression for subterfuge, Nellie nodded. She so wanted to believe him, and he did seem so sincere.

  “I believe you, Blake.”

  “Nellie, I—”

  She held up her hand.

  “Maddie, obviously doesn’t want to believe you have changed your mind. Whether you believe it or not, she did push me, I just can’t prove it. Too many people were around, so no one saw anything.” She waved a hand. “And, of course, she was long gone, by the time I got up out of the gutter. I’m afraid I tore my new dress. The yellow one you bought for me.”

  “I don’t care about your dress. I care about you. I’ll buy you another dress, a hundred dresses, as long as you’re alright.”

  That was so sweet and he seemed to be in earnest. Nellie’s eyes began to water.

  “Don’t say those things. Your kindness will make me cry.”

  “I’m not being kind. I’m trying to make up for my lack of protection. You won’t go to the market again without help. Going there is not safe. If what you say is true, and you were pushed and for the moment we are saying it is, they may try again. Whoever they are.” He frowned. “I still don’t believe it was Maddie.”

  “I don’t understand how you cannot believe me. I’m telling you the truth. Do you at least believe me when I tell you she followed me? That she came to visit my table while I had my tea and biscuits?”

  “I believe you. What was she wearing?”

  “The dress was dark, blue velvet.” Nellie waved her hand in front of her chest. “She’d stuffed a white handkerchief down the front so her cleavage wouldn’t be so noticeable. I guess she figured they wouldn’t let her into the tea room dressed the way she normally does.”

  “She dresses that way for work. I doubt she has any other kind of clothes. The one you describe is quite demure by her usual standards.”

  “So you believe me? You know the dress.”

  “Yes, Nellie, calm yourself. Have some tea.” He handed her a cup of lukewarm liquid. “I believe that Maddie came to see you. But that doesn’t mean she pushed you. I don’t believe she’s capable of murder.”

  Nellie didn’t want the tea but her mouth was dry and she needed the moisture. Excited, able to tell him something he obviously didn’t know, she gulped the liquid. “But she is. She told me and unrequited love can be a dangerous catalyst. It will make a person do things they would never do otherwise or wouldn’t have done again.” She knew from reading her thriller novels that people can be pushed only so far. Goodness, she was starting to feel like she was at her wits end and might do Blake harm if he didn’t believe her soon.

  “Like push someone in front of a moving carriage, you mean?”

  “Yes.” She pointed her finger. “Exactly that.”

  Nellie crossed her arms in front of her chest, covered now by a sheet. She still felt naked and she didn’t like it.

  “I need to get up. I’ll get all stove up if I don’t move.”

  She pulled back the covers and put her legs over the side of the bed.

  “I don’t know,” said Blake. “You’ve been through a lot. You’ve some scratches on your face and a lump on your head—”

  “Lump? That explains the horrific headache I have.” Her hand flew to the side of her head where her headache was and sure enough, there was a lump the size of a chicken egg under her fingers. She should have felt it when she brushed her hair but her head hurt all over so she didn’t think any more about it.

  “Isn’t it getting better now? I put some laudanum in your tea. You should be getting tired, but your headache should have lessened. You can’t possibly get up and try to see the children.”

  “Yes, while we have been talking the pain in my head has gotten better. But I still think I should get out of bed. What I really need is to massage some of my cream into my skin. It’ll help the muscles get better, faster.”

  “I can do that. Turn over onto your stomach and I’ll get your cream.”

  He went to her dressing table and came back with a large white jar.

  The rose scent was her favorite. Lots of women liked lavender or lilac, but roses had always been her favorite. With her head resting on the pillow, she was getting a little sleepy. The laudanum was definitely working.

  Blake warmed the cream by rubbing it between his hands before putting them on her back.

  “You’ve scrapes on your back, too. In fact, you’ve scrapes or bruises everywhere even your face.”

  She arched off the bed. “Oh, that hurts.”

  He eased up the pressure of his hands on her back. “Is that better?”

  “Yes.” She relaxed again. “I tried to cover my face with my arms. That’s why my elbows and forearms are so scraped up. If I hadn’t I would have hit the street face first and it would be my face that looked like that.”

  He touched the side of her face. “I’m glad you protected your lovely face. Not that I would have treated you any differently if you’d damaged it. I would feel the same.”

  “And how is that? How do you feel about me Blake?”

  “I like you a lot. Maybe more than I’ve ever liked a woman before.”

  “You like me a lot.” She gently shook her head against the pillow. “I guess that will have to do for now. I don’t think I’ve ever had a man actually like me before. Robert professed to love me, but now, I don’t believe he did. He wanted someone to submit to him and I did, willingly, because I didn’t know any better.”

  That Blake liked her was better than nothing. She could build on that. Expecting him to have fallen as hard for her as she had for him was a mistake she wouldn’t make. She couldn’t even say exactly why, but she knew when. He’d let Violet kiss him and pat his face with her wet baby hand without flinching. That was when she fell for Blake Malone. He loved her children. Now if she could just get him to love her, like she did him.

  Whether the laudanum was doing its work or she was just feeling the effects of the horrors of yesterday, she was getting sleepy.

  “Lay with me Blake. Until I go to sleep. Just lie here with me.”

  “Nothing would make me happier than to hold you in my arms. I find I like having you there.”

  He put the lid on her jar of cream and set it on the night-stand. Then he dropped his robe by the bedside and crawled in beside her. He was very gentle and carefully took her into his arms.

  “You won’t hurt me. I’m fairly resilient, as you can see. Just hold me, Blake.”

  He gathered her to him, holding her as gently as he could, but still closing his arms around her and cocooning her in his embrace.

  She was so sleepy. So very tired.

  “I love you, Blake.”

  He brushed the hair back from her forehead, and kissed her softly.

  “I know.”

  Chapter 9

  Nellie awoke and gingerly felt her head. The lump was still there, but her head hurt less than it had. What? Yesterday? Had she lost a whole day?

  She turned toward Blake and discovered he still slept with her. He hadn’t gone back to his room like she expected him to do once she was asleep.

  Grabbing her robe from the end of the bed where she kept it, she tied it around her and walked to he
r dressing table. Sitting in the chair, she stared at herself in the mirror. She hadn’t managed to protect her face as well as she thought. Her left eye was swollen and blackening, probably something she’d done to herself when she threw her arms up to protect her head. There was also a large scrape on her jaw.

  “It’s not as bad as you think,” said a groggy voice from the bed.

  “I think it’s pretty bad. I thought I had protected my face and head, but apparently not very well.”

  “Come back to bed, Nellie. It’s still early,” he yawned.

  “Aren’t you working today?” She looked at the little clock she kept on the side of her vanity table. “It’s past time that you usually get up.”

  “Not today. I’m spending the day with you, here.” He patted the bed next to him. “Resting. Nick is coming by later and we’ll do some business.”

  “You’re talking about firing Maddie, aren’t you?” She tied her robe.

  Blake sat up, rearranged the pillows behind his back, and watched her. It was still disconcerting, she didn’t know if she’d ever get used to it. Robert had never watched her dress.

  “Yes, but I’m not going to fire her. If you’re right, and I’m not saying that you are, but if you are, then we need to keep an eye on her at all times.”

  “I am right. She’s dangerous, Blake. You need to do something so she can’t hurt the children.”

  “Or you.” He was up in a flash, completely naked and standing in front of her. He took her hand and kissed it on the inside of her wrist, where there were no scrapes or scratches. “I wouldn’t like it if anything happened to you either, Nellie.”

  He pulled her a little closer for a kiss.

  But she was having none of it and pulled away.

  He sighed.

  Couldn’t he have said he couldn’t bear it because he loved her, or something else that would tell her how he felt? She guessed she should be glad he included her at all.

  “Thank you. I’m gratified to learn you’d like to keep me around.”