By Request Collection Part 2. Natalie Anderson
said once she was back in bed. ‘I thought I was getting better.’
‘I am sure you are but perhaps yesterday was too much for you,’ he said. He brushed the hair back from her face, his expression more than a little rueful. ‘I’m sorry for upsetting you. I keep forgetting you’re not well enough to go head to head with me.’
‘I am fine…really…’
He grimaced and added, ‘I shouldn’t have made love with you. Perhaps it was too soon.’
Emelia wasn’t sure what to say so stayed silent. It seemed safer than admitting how much she had wanted him to make love to her.
There was the sound of someone arriving downstairs and Javier rose from the bed. ‘That sounds like the doctor,’ he said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Within a couple of minutes a female doctor came in, who had clearly been briefed by Javier, and she briskly introduced herself and proceeded to examine Emelia, checking both of her pupils along with her blood pressure.
‘Have you had migraines in the past?’ Eva Garcia asked as she put the portable blood pressure machine back in her bag before taking out a painkiller vial and needle for injection.
‘Not that I can remember,’ Emelia said. ‘But I’ve had a few headaches since I had the accident a couple of weeks ago.’
‘Your husband tells me you’ve recovered a bit of your memory,’ Eva said, preparing Emelia’s arm for the injection. ‘That was yesterday, correct?’
‘Yes…’
‘You need to take things more slowly,’ Dr Garcia said. ‘I’m going to take some bloods just to make sure there’s nothing else going on.’
Emelia felt a hand of panic clutch at her throat, imagining an intracranial haemorrhage or the onset of a stroke from a clot breaking loose. ‘What else could be going on?’ she asked hollowly.
The doctor took out a tourniquet and syringe set. ‘You could be low on iron or have some underlying issue to do with your head injury.’ She expertly took the blood and pressed down on the puncture site, her eyes meeting Emelia’s. ‘What about your periods? Are they regular?’
Emelia was suddenly glad Javier had left the room as soon as he had brought the doctor in. ‘Um…I really can’t remember…’
‘So you haven’t had one since the accident?’
Emelia bit her lip. ‘No…’
‘Don’t worry,’ the doctor said. ‘After the ordeal you’ve been through, your system is probably going to take some time to settle down. Stress, trauma, especially physical as in your case, would be enough to temporarily shut down the menstrual cycle. Are you taking any form of oral contraception?’
‘My prescription has run out,’ Emelia said. ‘I wasn’t sure whether to go back on it or not. I thought I should wait until…until I knew more about…things…’
‘I’ll write you one up, just in case.’ The doctor took out her prescription pad and Emelia told her the brand name and dose.
Within another minute or two the doctor was being seen out and Javier came back in. ‘How are you feeling now? Headache still bad?’
‘The doctor gave me an injection,’ she said. ‘It’s starting to work. I’m already feeling a bit sleepy.’
He stroked a hand over her forehead. ‘I’ll bring something for you to drink. Do you fancy anything to eat?’
Emelia winced at the thought of food. ‘No. Please, no food.’
His hand lingered for a moment on her cheek before he left her, closing the door so softly Emelia hardly heard it as her eyelids fluttered down over her eyes…
When she woke it was well into the evening. She gingerly got out of bed and dragged herself into the shower. As she came out of the bathroom, wrapped in nothing but a towel, the bedroom door opened and Javier came in.
‘Feeling better?’ he asked.
‘A lot.’ Emelia tried to smile but it didn’t quite work. ‘Thank you.’
‘Do you feel up to having some dinner?’ he asked. ‘Aldana’s prepared something for us.’
‘I’ll just get dressed,’ she said, feeling shy, as if she was on her first date with him.
She could see he was trying hard to put her at ease. He had been so gentle earlier, so concerned for her welfare she wondered if he loved her just a tiny bit after all. She chided herself for dreaming of what he couldn’t or wouldn’t give. As much as she loved him, she couldn’t afford to waste any more of her life waiting for him to change. If he didn’t want the same things in life she did, then she would have to have the courage to move on without him, for his sake as well as her own. She hated to think of never seeing his face again or, worse, imagining him with some other woman. How would she endure it?
‘Take your time,’ he said, gently flicking her cheek with the end of his finger. ‘I have some business proposals to read through.’
She touched her face when he left, wishing for the moon that was so far out of reach it was heartbreaking.
Javier came back to find Emelia dressed in a simple black dress that skimmed her slim form, highlighting the gentle swell of her breasts and the long trim legs encased—unusually for her—in ballet flats. Her hair had been blow-dried but, rather than styling it, she had pulled it back into a simple ponytail. She had the barest minimum of make-up on, just a brush of mascara which intensified the grey-blue of her eyes, and a pink shade of lip gloss which drew attention to her soft full mouth with its rounded upper lip. He felt the heat of arousal surge into his groin as he remembered how that mouth felt around him. She was the most naturally sensual woman he had ever met and yet at times, especially right now, he seriously wondered if she was aware of it.
‘You are looking very beautiful this evening, querida,’ he said.
She smoothed her hands down over the flatness of her stomach as if she was conscious of the close-fitting nature of the dress. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured and shifted her gaze from his to pick up a light wrap she had laid on the end of the bed.
He escorted her down the stairs, holding her hand in his, noting how her fingers trembled slightly as they approached the formal dining room.
Aldana brought in the meal and Javier watched as Emelia kept her gaze down, as if she was frightened of saying or doing the wrong thing. He was the first to recognise that Aldana was a difficult person, but she was dependent on the income he gave her after her husband had gambled away everything they had owned. Javier didn’t want to dispense with her services just because of a personality clash with his wife, but he could see Emelia was on edge and he had cause to wonder if things were worse when he wasn’t around to keep an eye on things.
After watching Emelia pick at her food for several minutes, he dabbed his napkin at the edges of his mouth and laid it back over his lap. ‘Emelia,’ he said, ‘I know, like many women, you are keen to keep slim, but I have never agreed with you starving yourself. In my opinion, you were perfectly fine the way you were when I first met you. There is no need to deny yourself what you want. Your health is much more important.’
She looked up at him with a sheepish expression. ‘I haven’t been to the gym once since I’ve been home. I can’t believe I did it before. Izabella said I was obsessive about it. I normally have no self-discipline. I much prefer incidental exercise, like walking or swimming.’
‘And sex?’ he asked with a teasing smile.
Her face coloured and she lowered her gaze to her plate. ‘Is that all you think about?’ she asked in a tight little voice.
‘It’s what we both used to think about,’ he said. ‘You are the most sensually aware woman I have ever been with.’
Her