“Thank you.” Charlie heaved a sigh of mingled relief and frustration. “I can’t stand feeling this helpless.”

“You’ll get stronger every day.” Petra poured tea and brought a cup to him. “Shall I hold it?”

“No, I can do that at least for myself.” He extended his good hand and took the cup, lifting it rather shakily to his lips. Neither Petra nor Guy made the mistake of offering to help.

Guy took his own cup from Petra and sat in a chair by the bed while she perched on the edge of the bed. “So Serena came to visit you this morning?” she said with a meaningful glance.

“Oh, I have one boon to ask of you, Granville. Please, under no circumstances allow my sister to carry me off,” Charlie said with a mock groan. “While I’m bedridden and weak as a kitten she’ll try to take charge and if anything will keep me on my bed for eternity it will be that.”

Guy laughed. “I can safely promise you that I am proof against all managing sisters. You’ll leave my house only when you’re ready and willing to do so.”

“Serena means well,” Petra ventured. “But she can be overbearing.”

“An understatement,” Charlie responded.

“Your sister is in Scotland, isn’t she, Guy?” Petra asked. “She married the Duke of Brandon, didn’t she?”

“She did, and has the most enormous brood of children,” Guy said. “I have at least five nieces and three nephews.”

“Do you spend much time with them?” Petra found she was very curious to find out more about Baron Ashton. Ten years ago she’d been so immersed in the actual fact of the man himself anything else hadn’t interested her, but now she very much wanted to know what, or who, had contributed to making him the man he was. His family could prove fertile ground for exploration.

“I go to Innes in August for the opening of the grouse shooting and when I can for the salmon fishing in the spring,” he answered. “But I’m not always able to do so.” He shrugged lightly and leaned over to take the cup from Charlie, whose eyes were closing periodically. “I think we should leave the patient to sleep, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course.” Petra slid off the bed. “If you’ll lift him, I’ll put the pillows down a little.”

Guy obliged and she readjusted the pillows. “Is that all right, Charlie? Are you comfortable?”

“As much as I can be at the moment,” he responded, wincing.

“Take a spoonful of this.” Guy poured liquid from a medicine bottle onto a spoon and held it to Charlie’s lips.

Charlie obediently swallowed the dose and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry to be such a pathetic invalid,” he murmured.