The morning light danced on her closed eyelids. As if breathing for the first time she inhaled deeply. Slowly, her eyes heavy with sleep opened. Groggy and weak she looked at her surroundings. Blinking and trying to clear her foggy mind, confusion set on her instantly.

Grimacing with pain she pulled herself up into a sitting position and leaned against the pillows. Her arm was wrapped in a sling, her feet were bandaged and propped on pillows. Looking around, she wondered where she was. The massive poster bed sat adjacent a large beautiful window with elegant drapes and tassels, the room furnished in opulent grandeur, was fitted for someone of wealth. She looked down at herself and gasped. She wore nothing but a thin shirt that covered very little of her.

Not able to move much with her right hand, she reached for the coverlet and covered herself. Her hand went up and touched her hair, the massive mess above her head was evident from the feel of loose locks. Smoothing away her loose strands and removing the remaining pins she combed her finger through it. Silky waves of brown fell past her shoulder down to her sides. Pulling the sheets to her lap, she played with the strange images in her mind wondering where she was. And who brought her here? Lost in her thought she did not notice the tall figure that stood by the door until he spoke.

"Good Morning, I see someone has finally awoken." Dominic stood with crossed arms against the open door jam.

His smile was sensual and soft.

He had walked in to find her removing the pins from her hair. He silently observed her. She protectively sank further into the pillows and pulled the sheets closer to her chin. Shyly she looked down with her hand in her lap.

He walked closer to lean against the bedpost closely observing her. After a while he looked at her shoulder.

"Does it still pain you?" She followed his gaze to the sling on her arm. Shaking her head, she looked at it. "Only with slight movement,” Her soft meek voice assured him.

For a brief moment, they fell silent. He cleared his throat and stepped forward to sit at her bedside. “Forgive me for my rudeness; my name is Dominic McAllister, Marquess of Grisham."

Demurely she gave a shy smile. "Please to meet your acquaintance M’lord, I am Emilia Westham"

A small grin tugged at the side of his mouth, he noticed long lashes fanned her cheeks while she looked down. He looked her over and noticed the silky long brown hair that rested in soft curls on her shoulder and fell to her elbow. It was long and beautiful. She had the look of a well-groomed young girl of status.

"Can you tell me Emilia, What happened to you?" His soft baritone voice hypnotically pulled her eyes to look at his face.

She sat silent for a while trying to remember.

She looked up at him.

The very few men she has actually encountered and interacted with looked nothing like him.

His eyes were as blue as sapphire gems, hair black as midnight, the shadow of a beard gave him a breathtaking look. With her thoughts lodged in her mind, she searched for the answer she was looking for.

"I am afraid not, M'lord, all I can remember is being at a dinner party."

His puzzled look waited for her to continue.

Silently staring into the distance with a frown, she briefly closed her eyes and began to rub her forehead trying to remember.

"I remember being at Lady VanCamps dinner party. From there everything went dark and... I remembered you covering me, " she shyly hugged herself.

His lips curled into a smile. After a while, the smile faded from his lips.

“Well under the circumstances due to your injuries you cannot get out of bed for a couple of days."

He watched her eyes widen in disbelief.

"A couple of days?" She asked.

"Weeks even," He added.

He watched her face go from disbelief to terrified.

"Weeks!" She was horrified.

"A few months at the least" The humorous tone to his voice made her look at him.

He had the laugh in his eyes at her bewildered stare when it turned into a teasing smile.

"You're wicked m'lord." She smiled, her eyes danced with his humorous joking.

He chuckled.

After a brief exchange of words, he repeated what the physician had told him.

"But, in truth our real dilemma is there is no one to attend to you." He pointed out the obvious.

"Oh my, that is a dilemma!" She lowered her eyes.

He looked at her, his expression softened.

"I sent word with Helmsley to find someone to assist you. But, I fear it will be some time before they return." He assured her.

With an optimistic air to her reply, he chuckled.

"I guess due to circumstances there is really nothing we can do. Although it is improper, it is inevitable that we are alone. I believe we can manage until then. Don't you think M’lord?”

With a chuckle, he agreed. "Yes, indeed."

And, yes indeed they did. Every day he found himself perched on the edge of her bed. They talked and laughed over gossip they heard and people they both knew. Their conversations day by day had a pleasant air to it.

They focused on a relaxing card game after their mid-morning meal.

“And your opinion of Lady Hilde?” He peaked over his cards.

Lowering her cards she rolled her eyes to the side trying to think. He sat crossed leg facing her.

“Too pompous for her own good.” She wrinkled her nose.

Dominic looked up to her with a quizzical stare.

“Is she not the one that they say is quite daft?” Studying his cards, he threw one down.

Emilia looked at him struggling to contain her laughter.

“Of course, she had poor Mumsy taxidermed,”

With a frown, he looked at her not understanding her

“Who is Mumsy?” he frowned.

With a cool glare she looked at him, fighting to maintain her composure.

“The bedraggled white ball of fur she carries everywhere, is Mumsy"

He stared at her still confused.

" .....Her dead poodle.” she added.

He stared at Emilia for a brief moment and collapsed in a sputtering heap of laughter that his shoulders shook and she followed immediately.

The day was never dull in her presence, he marveled.

She was fascinated with his stories of sailing. He observed that underneath all her beauty she was also very smart. She grew more interested in understanding his views of the world.

Dominic, as the days passed by he grew fond of her and anticipated her presence everyday as she did his.

~·~·~·~·~··~

She sat before frustrated before the mirror. It was evidently very hard to brush her hair with one hand. Her shoulder was beginning to throb. In defeat she let out a puff of pent up air and placed her brush on the table.

"Need some help?" Dominic asked.

She looked up into the mirror at his reflection there eyes met. He stood leaning against the door frame watching her.

She glanced down at her brush picking it up she turned to face him and held it up in her hand.

Silently she waited and looked at him. Her heart fluttered as she watched his lips curl into a smile then a gorgeous grin.

He pushed away from the door and walked slowly towards her gently taking the brush from her hand, she turned and watched him through the mirror as he softly place the bristles to the crown of her head and stroked downward.

It was a heavenly feeling she got lost in and she enjoyed it. It was a daily morning routine he happily fell into as well.

She giggled innocently at his attempts to help her comb her hair.

“I don’t understand why, if I can make a sailors knot, I can't make a damnable braid” he fussed with the long brown mane of curls before him.

A quick sigh turned into a soft laugh followed by her giggle as she fought to gain control of the hairbrush.

The daily routine of taking care of her slowly fell into a normal flow they grew accustomed to. By the weeks end, the awkwardness of taking her bath changed when he decided to try to help her but blindfolded.

They played chess and enjoyed reading stories in books from his massive collection in his library. Ever so often, he carried her to his study where they lay on the floor by the fire stretched out like children laughing. He had never felt this much freedom before and neither has she. Helmsley would see the two and would smile at how they were together.