Chapter 2

Chapter Two

J emma and Ben watched the excisemen encircle several village men, separating them from the rest of the crowd. Ben wondered if the government representatives knew they’d cornered the few men in the village who weren’t actively engaged in smuggling. Rajesh, Theo, Lord Pencarrow, and the Duke of Harrelson stood apart with the three seniormost officials.

Ben tucked Jemma behind him as they stuck to the shadows and crept toward the back of the assembly hall. He planned to hide her in a recessed part of the building’s south wall. She would be veritably unnoticeable with only the moon to illuminate her. A soft rustle met them as the approached.

“Shh-shh-shh.” The soft cooing revealed a woman with two children hid where Ben wished to tuck Jemma away.

“Charlie?” Ben slid his hand into Jemma’s and practically dragged her the last yard as Ben hurried to his sister’s side.

“Yes. We’re fine. Rajesh sent us out the moment the men arrived. But the cold woke Anjali. She slept through the bedlam. I suspect she’s cold and hungry.”

“She’s not the only one, Auntie.” Charlie’s older niece, Indira, tugged on her aunt’s sleeve. “When can we go back inside? It’s too cold out here.”

“I know, poppet. But we need to remain where Uncle Raj can find us. If we go too far, he will panic when he can’t find us.”

Ben let go of Jemma and leaned forward to open his arms. At nearly ten, Indira was too heavy for Charlie to lift, even if her arms had been free and she didn’t have a swelling waistline. She was little more than a feather to Ben. Much like he’d engulfed Jemma in his arms and shielded her from the wind before giving her his tailcoat, he protected Indira, too. With one arm beneath the little girl who clung to him, he reached out his free hand to Jemma. She didn’t respond immediately, too stunned at the picture Ben and Indira made. Both of the girls’ parents were Indian and favored their father’s family. Jemma had been the man’s cousin. She knew both Indira and Anjali looked much the way she had at their ages. Seeing Ben holding a miniature of herself made her heart skip. She knew what he would look like carrying their daughter.

Rather than accept his hand, she wrapped her arms around Indira and Ben. Nothing about the evening had gone expected. After the kiss they shared where anyone could have seen them, standing with her arms around the man she finally admitted she wished to marry was the least of her sins. The noise from the other side of the building told her the commotion still held most people’s attention. It would be salacious gossip if anyone spotted them as they stood now, but few people were around to start it. With Charlie there as a chaperone, she hoped anyone who spied them wouldn’t look too askance.

“I need to get all of you home.” Ben worried about the weather and the brouhaha spreading around the corner and engulfing his family and Jemma in its midst. He wouldn’t be able to protect them if the excisemen arrested him, which was always a possibility since he’d raced suspicions for years, but no one had ever caught him or gathered enough evidence against him.

This wasn’t the merry holiday party everyone envisioned. As Ben guided the women away from the building, the noise swelled with angry voices rising over the others. He glanced over his shoulder to see Jemma’s brothers running toward them. The young men encircled their sister and cousins, helping Ben hurrying them away. But pounding feet behind them had him drawing his knife and whirling around. He breathed easier when he saw Raj and Theo racing toward them.

“You need to get to your cart and hide it better. His Grace and Lord Pencarrow have the men occupied for now, but they won’t distract them for much longer. They’re refusing to heed His Grace’s command to leave. We’ll take the women home. Thank you.” Theo stepped between Ben and Jemma, having noticed how the young man held tightly to his daughter as they ran.

“Where will you go?” Jemma looked around her father, fearful Ben would ride through the night to put distance between Lantic Bay and him. She worried about the danger that presented, and she wanted him to speak to Theo about courting her.

“He can hide it in our stables. The lads and I will help,” Theo offered. He watched the relief on his daughter’s face, and he knew the two must have put aside their differences. He knew Jemma held a tendre for him, but he didn’t understand how she overlooked his disdain for her. He didn’t trust Ben not to disguise lust as love to ensnare Jemma. He trusted Ben with illicit goods, but he didn’t trust him with his precious Jem.

“Thank you. I will be there as soon as I can.” Ben didn’t like letting Jemma go to make room for her father. He sensed Theo knew their relationship shifted, and the older man didn’t approve. He feared Jemma was wrong about her father accepting his impending request to court her.

“Be careful, Ben.” Jemma stopped her hurried pace when Ben dropped back after handing Indira over to Rag. She glanced at her father before stepping close to Ben. He wrapped his arms around her, uncaring for now that he would likely lose both hands for touching Jemma in front of Theo.

“I will. Go before they catch up with you. It’s too cold out, and you still don’t have your cloak. I don’t want you to fall ill.” Ben lowered his voice. “I already worry about you. This is enough to drive me mad. Do as your father and Raj say, please.”

“I will. I worry about you, too.”

Ben gave her a squeeze before releasing her and nudging her toward the others. He watched the group, minus Theo who went to find Vinita, hurry away before turning back to the village square. He eased into the stables through a narrow door in the back. He knew the crowd was to his left. Somehow, it had shifted away from the large door through which he needed to pass to leave with his cart. He wondered if that was engineered to allow his getaway. He crept to his horses and offered them both apples.

“Shh. We shall race tonight. But I must harness you first. Are you ready to show them you’re not plow horses?” The animals were sturdy and appeared better suited to a farm, but they were fast. Ben didn’t relish revealing that secret to any pursuers, but he wouldn’t waste time near the village. Once he was certain no one followed him, he could slow to a less suspicious pace.

When his horses were harnessed to the cart, he went to the door and eased it open all the way. He stuck his head out and looked in both directions. The commotion hadn’t died down. If anything, it grew louder by the minute. He counted on the noise to disguise any he and his horses made. He stepped up to the cart’s seat and slapped the reins over his horses’ backs. The animals moved forward as Ben hunched forward. Jemma still had his tailcoat, so he had nothing to buffer the wind nor a high collar to mask his face. His hair would be a beacon in daylight, but he counted on the dim moonlight to make him less recognizable.

“You, there! Halt!” The deep voice bellowed to his right just as he commanded the horses to turn left. Ben glanced toward the exciseman who ran toward him. “Pedrick, halt!”

Bloody hell. They know who I am.

Rather than follow the order, Ben slapped the reins across the beasts’ backs and urged them to move from a walk to a trot. There wasn’t enough space along the narrow village lane for them to canter. He maneuvered the pair, heading in the opposite direction from the Rowes’ home. He wouldn’t hint where he intended to go. He wouldn’t bring any of the government officials close to Jemma or her family. He wouldn’t take them to his sister or the young children. He would protect them and take his chances on the road. The officials were on foot, so they would need to round up their mounts before they could give chase. He prayed he could make it past the edge of the village and get lost in the dark. He knew the area nearly as well as his village of Bedruthan Steps.

All too soon, he heard pounding hooves behind him. A single rider atop a mount was faster than a pair pulling a laden cart. The sound grew louder far faster than Ben expected. He urged the horses past a canter and into a gallop. He risked his contraband cracking and spilling, but it wouldn’t matter what condition they were in if he was dead. He needed to hide, so his pursuers had no chance to search him. The need to escape urged him to push the horses into a precarious pace. If he hadn’t eluded excisemen before, he would fear he demanded too much of the steeds, but he knew they could continue for a few more miles before he needed to slow them.

Ben heard the musket’s report, but he didn’t dare look over his shoulder to see which man fired at him. Two more muskets fired in quick succession. He didn’t know which shot struck his right arm, but a blaze of pain coursed up to his shoulder and down to his elbow. His sleeve soon stuck his arm as blood seeped from the wound. The pain threatened to make him vomit, but he wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t just his life at risk, even if all the men’s muskets now pointed at him. Everyone he cared about could be sentenced to hang if the men found his smuggled cargo.

He charged toward the cliffs’ edge, the cart careening around a bend in the road as he turned off the thoroughfare and pointed toward a thicket. He’d recognized a handful of the officials, and he was aware they knew the area as well as he did. He prayed they wouldn’t think of the same place as he did. He charged toward an opening among the trees he knew was wide enough for his cart to pass. The trees would soon grow too close together for him to easily drive the cart between. But there was another path he would take that would be an exceedingly tight fit for the cart and horses, but if he timed it right, he would slip through the trees until the space widened. It would allow him to double back and head toward the Rowes. Not many people knew about the second path since it wasn’t easily noticeable during the night, and it was virtually invisible in the dark.

He counted the trees on his right until he was certain his horses were nearing it. He forced them into the tight turn, and he praised God for the umpteenth time since buying the pair that they were so agile. The cart swung out behind the animals, but man, beast, and vehicle soon disappeared deep into the woods. He slowed to ensure neither the horses’ hooves nor the cart’s wheels gave them away as they traversed ground littered with twigs and branches. When he was far enough from the turn he’d taken, he stopped the horses and waited. He caught snippets of conversation as the men who chased them called back and forth. He listened to them approach before the sound receded. He didn’t want to waste a moment of opportunity to continue his flight, but he also wanted enough time to pass, so the excisemen were less likely to hear him.

When he was ready, he nudged the animals forward, eventually leaving the thicket behind. He kept a wide berth of the village as he drove around it and headed to the Rowes. His arm was so painful, he found it hard to breathe. His head pounded with the same tempo as his pulse. His ears rang, and he shook his head to clear it. That only made him groan. He held the reins in one hand as he wrapped the forearm of his injured arm around his waist. When the manor house’s lights flickered in the distance, he commanded the horses into a gallop once more. He clutched the reins as he fought to keep his seat. He charged through the gates and around the drive to the stables. Theo and Raj awaited him.

“They follow—” Ben said no more as blackness overcame him, and he tumbled to the ground.

Jemma watched from the kitchen door as Ben arrived. Short-lived relief swept over her when she heard the cart clatter around the back of her home. But the moment she spied Ben, she knew something was wrong. She swallowed her scream as he pitched sideways and fell from his seat. She lifted her skirts and ran to him. Even though Raj and Theo were closer, she reached Ben’s side before the men rounded the cart. Theo held up a lantern, and Jemma immediately noticed the red stain that darkened his right sleeve and entire right side of his shirt.

“Mama!” Jemma called for her mother, who would know how to treat Ben. She’d stitched up all her brothers each time they dared each other to do something ridiculously reckless and inevitably hurt themselves. She’d learned from her mother, but she knew her hands trembled too much to trust herself with a needle and thread.

“Get him in the house. I’ll tend to the horses and the boys will help me store the cargo,” Theo said to Raj. The younger man was the same height as Theo, but his chest and shoulders were broader after years at sea. He’d climbed his ship’s rigging and hoisted sails, earning himself a muscular physique. While Theo hardly looked his age in his mid-fifties, he wasn’t as robustly built as he’d been at Raj’s age.

Raj bent over Ben and put his hand on the younger man’s chest, feeling it rise and fall. Jemma swatted his hand away as her other clutched Ben’s shirt. She practically snarled at her cousin.

“He’s alive. Hurry before he isn’t.” Jemma knew the wound wasn’t serious enough to be fatal, but rationality fled the moment she realized Ben was injured. Her heart raced as Raj slid his arm beneath Ben’s shoulders and righted him onto his feet. He slung Ben’s uninjured arm around his shoulders and mostly dragged Ben the short distance to the kitchen. Jemma ran ahead to open the door and call to her mother again. Once the three of them were inside. She wrapped her arms around Ben on his injured side, helping Raj bear Ben’s weight. She loathed jostling his arm, especially when he groaned. But his continued unconsciousness only proved how dire the situation was to get him somewhere her mother could tend to him.

“The kitchen table,” Jemma suggested. Without her father and brothers, she and Raj couldn’t carry Ben’s hulking frame to the second floor and a bedroom. For now, the kitchen table was a wide surface with a fireplace to boil water only a couple feet away. Vinita entered the kitchen with her sewing kit over her arm. She grabbed one leg while Jemma lifted the other as they helped Raj maneuver Ben onto the sturdy piece of furniture.

Raj drew her aside, or at least attempted to. Jemma took two steps back before squirming and breaking free of the arm Raj wrapped across her back. His fingers pressed into her outer arm, trying to keep her in place, but her pointy elbow dug into his ribs. She rushed to Ben’s side, taking his cold hand in hers.

“Mama, what can I do?” She needed to do something to help. She felt useless watching her mother.

“Hold his hand and talk to him. Raj, fill the kettle and put it on the fire. Fetch linens and bring them back.” Vinita gave her orders as she dug through her sewing basket, withdrawing scissors, a needle, and a spool of thread. She unbuttoned Ben’s shirt before cutting away the saturated sleeve.

When Vinita exposed the wound, it tempted Jemma to look away. But she couldn’t. Ben left not only to protect the smuggled goods but to get himself far away from her family and the villagers. He was wounded because he tried to shield Jemma and the others. Her heart hurt as she watched the man she’d loved for years lie on the table, his pallor growing grayer by the moment. She brushed back hair from his forehead as her other hand wrapped around his. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Nothing she said was too inappropriate for her mother to hear, but she wanted to make certain if any part of Ben’s mind was awake, he would hear her.

“Benjamin, you will get better. You have many dances to make up to me, and you still need to talk to my papa. Sleep now while Mama tends to you, but you better not sleep forever. I’ll hold your hand for now, but I expect you to twirl me around at the next assembly. I expect you to wake in time for Christmas. I know you planned to go home for the holiday, but I hope you’ll stay. Not because you can’t travel while unconscious. I hope you stay, so we can make plans for the New Year.” She leaned farther forward, this time ensuring her mother couldn’t hear her. Vinita studiously ignored her daughter as she prepared to sew Ben’s arm. “I shall cut several fresh bunches of mistletoe. We have just as many kisses to make up for as we do dances. Preferably far more. Please, Ben, don’t leave me.”

While she knew he was unlikely to bleed to death, there was always the risk of infection. If his arm putrefied, he might lose more than the limb. He might lose his life. Once that thought niggled into Jemma’s mind, it took root. She observed her mother as she washed her hands in the near scalding water from the kettle Raj filled. She knew her mother’s mother trained Vinita and her two sisters to care for others according to the Garuda Purana’s teachings. Jemma’s grandmother was a raja and had always believed her role as the maharaja’s wife meant she was responsible for the people who lived in their village. She taught Vinita santapa atmapacharaja , or unhygienic habits, caused illness. Her mother always scrubbed her hands and wrists before treating a wound or after tending to a sick person.

Once her hands were dry, Vinita threaded a needle but set it aside as she peered at Ben’s arm. “Bring a candle closer, please.”

Jemma hurried to fulfill her mother’s request. Vinita brought the light closer to Ben’s arm to better examine the wound. She gently turned it to study the hole from various angles.

“Mama?”

“The bullet didn’t pass through like I’d hoped. I shall have to fish it out.”

Jemma thought that sounded wretchedly painful. She didn’t like the idea, but she knew her mother had no choice. “Should I fetch some of Papa’s whiskey?”

“Yes. I shall pour it over the wound, and Ben will need it when he wakes. There’s no avoiding causing him more pain.”

Jemma squeezed the hand she still held, disliking having to leave Ben for even a moment. But she understood the liquor was necessary, and Raj hadn’t returned with the linens. Charlie remained upstairs with the children, and her father and brothers hadn’t come in from the stables yet. She lifted her skirts above her ankles and dashed to her father’s study. She knew where he hid the contraband. She withdrew the key hidden in his desk and went to the set of shelves that held books he’d brought back from India when he and Vinita moved to England after he left his service to the East India Company. She removed them and slipped the key into the hidden hole in the wall. She opened the safe and withdrew a bottle.

It tempted her to gulp a fortifying dram, but her parents wouldn’t approve, and she was certain either or both of them would catch a whiff of the alcohol on her breath even if she never opened her mouth. A year ago, she’d sampled some liquor with her brothers, and her parents knew the moment she stepped back into the house. She’d thought the double standard unfair since her brothers no longer got in trouble for their drinking. It wasn’t until her parents explained the vulnerability it created if she were anywhere but home with impaired senses that she understood their displeasure.

She moved as swiftly back to the kitchen as she had when she left. She handed the bottle to her mother who’d brought a pair of sugar tongs and a butterknife to the table. She scrubbed both with soap in the hot water before pouring the whiskey over them.

“Hold his hand. He’s likely to wake from this. If he does, try to calm him enough to have a swig.” Just as Vinita spoke, Raj returned with several towels and a bedsheet. Theo and his sons also walked in. “Help me get a sheet under him then hold his legs down.”

Jemma watched the men take places around the table before lifting Ben high enough for Vinita and Jemma to spread the sheet across the makeshift operating table. Then the men pinned Ben to the table’s surface. She thought to turn her head away while her mother performed surgery, but she couldn’t look away. She needed to know what happened to Ben. Her mother eased the butterknife into the wound until she found the bullet. She grasped the tongs, pressing them together until they were nearly shut. She sank them into the bullet hole, and Jemma held her breath, praying her mother captured the bullet with her first try and didn’t have to fish around within Ben’s arm. It was only seconds later that Ben stirred. He tried to thrash, but the men kept him immobilized. He howled with pain.

“Jemma!”

She leaned close to his ear again, her lips brushing the whorl as she whispered. “I’m here, Ben. I’m not going anywhere. Mama’s going to fix your arm, but you must stay still.”

Ben’s eyes fluttered open, and he turned his head toward Jemma. “You’re safe?”

“Yes.”

His eyes closed, and he sighed. Then his body went rigid as Vinita withdrew the bullet then doused the wound with whiskey. His back bowed from the table, and he cried out but didn’t open his eyes again. Jemma brushed the russet locks back from his forehead, tempted to twirl them around her forefinger. She remembered what he and Indira looked like earlier. Now she wondered what a child with Ben’s red hair would look like if she held them. She clasped his hand tighter between both of hers as she prayed. She pressed her forehead against his temple.

“You’re going to be well. You need to rest and heal, then all will be well.”

“Jemma?” This time Ben didn’t yell. He turned his head toward her voice like he had moments ago.

“I’m still here.”

“Good.” He shifted to look at Vinita before bringing his attention back to Jemma. “You’re truly safe? None of them followed you?”

He’d assumed all twelve men chased him, but he hadn’t counted them. He looked toward the kitchen door, suddenly terrified he’d led the men here. Theo watched the young man and understood his concern before he spoke up. “No one’s come here. They’re either still searching for you or abandoned it until morning.”

Ben nodded, his gaze lingering on Theo for a moment. He knew he had to explain himself to Jemma’s father, but for now, he preferred to focus on Jemma. She calmed him. While his arm hurt like the devil, and he didn’t enjoy feeling the needle pass in and out of his flesh, he worried most about Jemma. He knew her brave smile belied how upset she was. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed the back of her left one.

“I’m all right now. Your mother’s taking care of my wound, and I haven’t brought anyone to your door. If I can rest here tonight, then I’ll set off in the morning. I don’t want of the contraband close to you, Jemma. If I’m discovered with it, I don’t want you nearby.”

“No. Don’t go.” She darted a plaintive glance at her mother, who continued to sew Ben’s arm, then at her father. She pleaded silently for her father to convince Ben to wait.

“Jemma.” Ben’s voice brought her attention back to him. “It’s nothing more than a little scratch. I’ll be fine in the morning. With it bandaged, no one will notice under my shirt. I can’t dally here now that the shipment is no longer safe. I must deliver it.”

“No.” Jemma shook her head. “Wait at least a day. Maybe one of my brothers could go with you.” She turned beseeching eyes to her father, who nodded silently.

“I can’t. I have to?—”

“I won’t allow it.” Jemma lifted her chin and stared down at Ben, who laughed then winced. He brought her hand back to his lips.

“Would that I could obey, Jem. You gave me the same look the day we met when I told you, you should traipse along the cliffs alone. I would miss it far too much if I didn’t survive.”

Jemma kept her mouth shut as she swallowed her gorge. It wasn’t that she believed him too injured to travel. She feared for him since he’d been chased that night, and the excisemen wouldn’t give up now they knew he fled from them. She also didn’t want to give up a moment of their time together now that they’d admitted their feelings. She didn’t want to waste another minute they could spend together. But she understood his duty wasn’t to her. She wouldn’t be selfish and embarrass herself.

She knew Ben had to travel all the way to Poole which lay to the east. It would take three or four days just to get there. He’d be gone at least a week, and that seemed like an eternity. She’d gone months at a time without seeing him for years, but now it felt imperative they be in the same place for more than a passing visit. It tempted her to hide in the cart before he left and go with him. She thought to beg him to pretend they were married and let her travel with him as his wife. But she didn’t blend in anywhere but among her family. She would draw far too much attention. She resigned herself to at least a week or a fortnight without seeing him. She chided herself for being weak.

“Jemma?” Ben tugged on her hand, and she leaned forward. This time it was his turn to put his lips to her ear and whisper. “I will return from Poole as fast as I can. I won’t dilly dally there. I want to be here with you for Christmas. I want to court you if your father agrees. Be patient for a little longer, then you’ll be shooing me away and complaining I’m always underfoot.”

Vinita finished stitching his arm, and the young couple turned their focus to wound. They both strained to see the stitches before Vinita used a torn strip of linen to bandage it. Raj helped him to sit up, and Jemma sucked in a breath as she watched the corded muscle along Ben’s abdomen flexed as he moved. She’d noticed the peeks and valleys while he laid flat, but they mesmerized her now. She wished to trail her fingers over them. When Ben reached for the remnants of his shirt, the muscles in his chest and shoulders bunched and relaxed. She wished to watch them and wondered what it would look like to have him above her, making love to her as she witnessed the restrained power in his magnificent body.

Ben swung his legs away from Jemma and everyone else. He’d seen the way she assessed him, and it made his cock stir. The last thing he needed was to survive being shot by excisemen only to have Theo shoot him for fantasying about making love to the man’s daughter in front of her entire family. With two deep breaths and strict instructions to his cock to calm down, he rose from the table. He glanced toward the door then down at his bare torso. He shifted his gaze to Jemma.

“I need my tailcoat back, please.”

“Why? You don’t think you’re leaving tonight, do you?” Jemma’s whipped her head around to look at her father. “You aren’t going to let him leave, are you?”

While Vinita doctored his arm, no one had invited him to stay for the night. He wouldn’t ask because no offer meant he wasn’t welcome.

“Of course, he’s not leaving tonight.” Theo crossed his arms as he studied Ben. He didn’t understand the sudden change in dynamics between his daughter and the man she clearly considered her beau. He’d only called out to her, which didn’t speak to a man who held Jemma in disdain. Theo had been injured several times while serving in India before he and Vinita made their home in Polruan. He’d had a couple nasty fevers as well. He knew he’d only ever asked for his wife, and her presence was the only thing that calmed him. He saw the same pass between Ben and Jemma.

Ben looked toward the kitchen door again as he nodded. “I still need my coat back, please.”

“Now?” Jemma demanded. She didn’t understand why he persisted if he was aware he had a room within the manor.

Ben didn’t want to say aloud what they knew. There was still no invitation for him to stay in the house. He merely didn’t have to leave. He expected to bed down in the barn. He would need the coat to make up for the lack of shirt. He assumed Theo and his sons hid his satchel which had a spare set of the clothes that wouldn’t be easy to reach right now.

“Papa.” Jemma didn’t know what to do because it seemed like Ben planned to leave, heading into the winter night without nearly enough layers. Theo didn’t respond, causing tears to well in Jemma’s eyes.

Ben rested his hand on her shoulder when he really wished to place it on her waist. “What’s the matter? Why are you upset?”

“Papa said you could stay, but you want your coat, so you can leave.”

“Yes. I’ll freeze in the stables without it. Your stable hands will find me and think me a block of ice to chip away.”

“What?” Theo interjected. “You’re not staying in the stables. There’s plenty of room here for you.”

Theo and Ben stared at one another, and Theo realized the younger man truly believed he wasn’t welcome under Theo’s roof. He wondered what made Ben think that since they’d always gotten along, and he’d just watched his wife stitch Ben’s arm after he took a bullet while protecting Theo, his family, and the entire village.

“I see Jemma nicked my whiskey. I must put it away. Raj, Ben, why don’t you join me for a dram before you both retire.” Theo hoped his offer would sound as genuine as he meant it since he included Raj. He didn’t want Ben to think he faced the inquisition, but he wanted to understand what stood between Jemma and him.

“Lady Vinita, thank you for taking care of my wound. I appreciate your kindness.” He didn’t know what to make of the older woman darting her gaze to Jemma before meeting his.

“Of course. You’re a brave young man, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude.” While Vinita hadn’t seen Ben and Jemma together as they ran from the assembly hall, Theo’d voiced his concerns when he’d doubled back to get her after he was certain Jemma, Charlie, and the girls were safely away with Raj and their sons guarding them. She’d remained behind to make it look like their family stayed since she was the most recognizable, and no one would believe Theo would abandon her.

Vinita and Jemma stayed behind to clean the kitchen, and the younger boys went to their chambers. Ben followed Raj and Theo, but Raj excused himself to fetch Ben a shirt since they were a similar size. Ben entered Theo’s study, a place he’d been plenty of times. But he didn’t feel as at ease as he always had in the past. Theo stood before the fire, his backside to it as Ben walked to a settee but didn’t sit. He would stand as long as he lasted, which might only be a few minutes. He felt nauseous from the pain and blood loss.

“What happened with Jemma tonight?”