“Will you slow down?” Belle called. “You cannot do anything to help him with your hands still tied.”

Emma knelt next to Alex and pressed her ear against his chest. His heart was still beating. Belle took advantage of Emma’s momentary stillness and cut away the last piece of cloth that bound her wrists.

Finally free, Emma frantically took Alex’s face in her hands. “Are you all right?” she pleaded. “Please say something.”

“Get…him…off of me!”

Emma drew back, somewhat reassured by the vehemence in his voice. With strength born of the panic that had been racing through her for the last few minutes, she shoved Shipton and rolled him off of Alex’s body.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll be fine,” he said hoarsely. “Go see if Dunford is all right.”

“I don’t know,” Emma said dubiously, picking up the cloth that had once been tied around her wrists and pressing it against his wound. “You’ve bled quite a lot.” She glanced guiltily back at Dunford, whom she hadn’t even noticed in her quest to reach Alex.

“Stay with him,” Belle said quickly. “I’ll tend to Dunford.” It didn’t take very long for her to roll Woodside off of Dunford’s legs, and Belle quickly set about the task of tying him up—with the very bindings he had forced her to use on Emma.

Dunford strode over to Emma, who was still kneeling beside Alex, her expression worried. She couldn’t seem to stop the flow of blood.

“Let me see him,” Dunford said. “I know a thing or two about gunshot wounds.”

Emma knew that Dunford had fought on the Peninsula with Alex, so she moved away immediately.

Dunford did a quick examination and then turned back to Emma, relief visible in his eyes. “He’s lost a fair amount of blood, but it’s not serious. He’ll be mad as hell, but he’ll live.”

Emma smiled tremulously as she leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Alex’s lips. As she drew back, however, Alex’s good arm shot forward, and his hand closed around her chin like a vise. Shocked, Emma’s eyes opened wide, and she stared into the depths of Alex’s emerald gaze, which was suddenly remarkably clear and unclouded by pain.

“I am going to lock…you…up.”

“Oh Dunford!” Emma cried happily. “He’s going to be just fine!”

Three days later Alex was feeling quite refreshed, but he was having so much fun being nursed by Emma he couldn’t quite bring himself to get out of bed. She had remained by his side for the first day and night, carefully cleaning his wound and then once it had started to heal, making sure that he didn’t accidentally reopen it. She knew from experience that Alex tossed and turned quite a bit in his sleep, and she didn’t want him losing any more blood.

The second day she also remained at his side. Except this time she was fast asleep. She had traveled across the country and back, climbed along a ledge, been tied and gagged, and maintained a twenty-four-hour vigil for Alex, all in three days. She fell asleep in the chair, holding Alex’s hand. When he awoke, he felt her small hand in his, infusing him with her fire and love. He glanced over at her, and she looked so adorable that he eased himself out of the bed, picked her up, and laid her down next to him. His movements were awkward as he didn’t have the full use of his arm yet, but he felt a burning need to comfort her. Besides, he rather missed the feel of her cuddled up next to him.

Dunford came in while she was asleep, and Alex carefully covered her with a blanket. Propriety dictated that the two men conduct their conversation elsewhere, but Alex was loath to get out of bed, and he knew he could trust Dunford. In hushed voices, they discussed the previous days’ exploits, and Alex learned that at Dunford’s rather insistent urging, Woodside had hightailed it out of the country. They had considered reporting him to the authorities, but Belle decided that she didn’t want a scandal. Woodside was so obsessed with titles and aristocracy, she had told Dunford, that life in the outback of Australia would be equal punishment to any jail. After about ten minutes, Dunford slipped back out of the room and headed for his own chamber, declaring that he was planning to sleep for the next week. Alex didn’t doubt for a minute that he would.

On the third day Emma woke up, somewhat surprised to find herself in bed and completely undressed.

“You slept for nearly a day,” Alex said in an amused tone.

Emma closed her eyes. “What a dreadful nurse I am.”

“I think you’re perfect.” He dropped a kiss on her nose.

Emma sighed in contentment and snuggled up next to his warm body. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better. The wound doesn’t really hurt unless I accidentally bump it.”

“I’m glad,” Emma murmured, scooting her head underneath his good arm and resting it on his chest. “You had me rather worried, you know. There was so much blood.”

“Darling, you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘worried’ unless you were inside my head when I realized that Woodside had you in that room. And then when I realized you were tied up…I don’t ever want to feel that way again,” he said fiercely.

Emma felt his body tense, and in his muscles she could feel the intensity of his emotions. Tears filled her eyes, and she turned over onto her stomach, propping herself up onto her elbows so that she could look into his eyes. “You won’t,” she said softly. “I promise.”

“Emma?”

“Hmm?”