Sexy As Hell

gazed at him with alarm, Oz sat down heavily, spread his arms on the kitchen table as if for support, and lifting his black gaze, said, “I just retched up a deal of blood along with my breakfast. My guts are raw and mutilated. I’m wondering who poisoned me.”

“Christ! You need a doctor!”

“No. There’s nothing he can do anyway. I need to know if we have any new help in the kitchen, in the house, for that matter. Have any tradesmen you don’t recognize been around lately-anyone out of the ordinary?”

“I haven’t noticed, but I’ll ask the staff. Let me get you something-water, coffee, lemon juice and sugar?”

“Water-bottled.” Oz followed Achille with his eyes as he hastened to a cabinet. “I’m dying of thirst. Thank you,” he said a second later as Achille handed him a bottle of Apollinaris, uncapped as he watched.

As Oz drank a small amount, his swallowing impaired by the poison, Achille said, “Someone in India ordered this. Do you know who?”

Oz blinked to clear his blurred vision. “The lovely cartel trying to take over my banks, of course.”

“Have they tried before? You were sick a few mornings ago.”

“I don’t know.” His voice was weak, the room wavering around him. “I thought I’d just drunk too much. But this time there’s no question-I’ve all the symptoms. My heart’s racing, my eyes are dilated so much the light hurts, blurred vision, can’t swallow.

“Belladonna,” Achille said shortly-a favorite in India. “You threw up, though. That should help.”

Neither man said what they were thinking; there was no known antidote.

“Here’s hoping.” Oz clenched his fists against an involuntary tremor convulsing his body. “I feel like shit.”

“We should call a doctor.”

Nothing moved in Oz’s braced body but his gaze. “No.”

“I’ll make you some broth. Something to soothe your stomach.”

Oz grinned faintly. “Not unless you kill the cow yourself. Do you have some cans of anything?”

Achille looked affronted, then quickly said, “I’ll go out and buy some soup myself. I’ll open the can in your room, warm it on the grate.”

“Later. I feel like sleeping.”

Achille knew better than to express his disquietude. Oz had slept erratically or not at all for weeks. The poison must be taking its toll. “We’ll watch over you. Don’t say a word; none of us wants you to die in your sleep.” Convulsions, coma, and death-in that order-were typical of belladonna poisoning.

“Least of all, me.” Oz’s brows flickered. “Especially after my wife’s very agreeable visit. Perhaps I can induce her to call on me again.”

Achille scowled. “She would have stayed if you hadn’t sent her away.”

“Romantic soul,” Oz said gently. “No, she wouldn’t have.”

“Surely you could have convinced her. She’s having your child for Christ’s sake.”

“Ah-the mystery child.”

“You’re an ass,” Achille said with disgust. “But time enough to lecture you when you’re not on your deathbed. You’re going to faint where you sit.”

Oz raised weary eyebrows. “How kind of you to notice. Now, could we get back to more relevant issues? Throw out all the food and liquor-particularly the brandy. It tasted like hell. My enemies chose to poison the liquor, I expect. Fortunately, Isolde drank nothing but tea. Dispose of everything where some scrap man doesn’t scavenge it and die because of me. In the morning-the gods willing-I’ll deal with my detractors.”

“I’ll send a telegram to my friends in India.”

Achille had met a motley crew during his sojourn in the Maldives.

“Thank you, but no,” Oz said. “My relatives will take care of my enemies in Hyderabad for me.” Oz supported an extended family of second and third cousins in India in regal splendor. They, in turn, were grateful, not to mention capable of retaliation-subtle or cold-blooded; Oz’s sense of vengeance was equally vindictive. “And I’ll talk to Davey and Sam about my London rivals.” If he lived, those who’d done this to him would regret it.

But grey with pain he did nearly faint when he rose from his chair, and instead of going to his office, Achille helped him to his bedroom. Davey and Sam arrived shortly after, both careful to disguise their apprehension at Oz’s appearance. His skin was turning blue as he sat in bed, his hair damply matted on his head, and even with a quilt thrown over his shoulders he was shivering uncontrollably.

“You know the names of those in the cartel, Davey. Find their cohorts here in town.” He inhaled deeply, and the men saw the effort it took to speak. “I’ll see them tomorrow. Send a telegram to my relatives in Hyderabad. They know what to do.”

“You have to drink liquids to rinse the poison from your system,” Sam said, clutching at straws, knowing the poison as well as anyone, knowing it was too late.

“I will, thank you,” Oz politely said, the toxins already in every cell and tissue, in his coursing blood and ravaged guts.

“Don’t worry, sir, Sam and I’ll take care of everything,” Davey interposed. “No one must have thought to mention your size. It may have saved you.”

“We’ll see.” Oz’s voice was very weak. “Are… we… done?” He lay back, his rapid pulse making his head spin; whoever had done this to him was of less concern right now than trying to keep his lungs working.

“We’re done,” Sam firmly said, signaling to Davey that he was staying.

Oz’s secretary looked back as he followed Achille from the room, a last question on his lips.

But Oz was already sleeping or unconscious or dying.

Sam, Achille, Davey, and Josef took turns watching Oz that night, fearful he might stop breathing-the drug capable of paralyzing the nervous system. Or he could deteriorate further into a coma. More than once during the long night, they considered sending for his wife.

But ultimately, none dared breach the barricades Oz had erected against sentiment after Khair’s death and those of his parents.

None of his attendants slept that night, each intent on making Oz as comfortable as they could: changing the bedclothes when they became soaked, offering him water when he’d wake in a daze with dry lips and a parched mouth, talking to him in his delirium, offering succor when his night-mares raged.

Everyone watched the clock, waiting for sunrise, as if daylight signaled a degree of success. And whether it did or not, everyone exhaled a sigh of relief when dawn broke.

Oz had survived the night, his breathing was improved, as was his color; he was sweating less, and the convulsions had stilled. That he was young and strong was in his favor. They were all hopeful now when they hadn’t been so many times during the long hours of the night.

Sam left to marshal his men, Davey to see if he had any responses to his telegrams, Achille to personally shop for Oz’s breakfast. While Josef sat with Oz, thinking as always that his young master reminded him more of his mother than his father; no blunt, sober, reliable Lennox lay before him, although the former baron had unequivocally loved his rebellious, intemperate son. Oz had all his mother’s charm; they could both delight with word and smile. And now the young boy he’d watched grow to manhood would live to see his child born, Josef pleasantly thought. He was in touch with the staff at Oak Knoll, as would be any conscientious retainer.

Oz woke to find Achille cooking his breakfast over the bedroom grate. “Scrambled eggs the way you like them,” his chef said, smiling over his shoulder. “I bought and cracked every egg myself.”

“I can’t be dead,” Oz croaked, “because I feel so bloody rotten.”

“You’ll feel better after you eat.”

Oz turned his head, was gratified to find that his eyeballs didn’t explode, and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was lightheaded and unsteady, and everything from head to toe that could ache, ached. “I think,” he said, conscious of his stench, “first I need a bath.” Carefully swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he waited until the ringing in his ears stopped before he tried to stand.

Achille was at his side, his arm out to steady him. “You’re hard to kill.”

“My enemies will discover that to their regret,” Oz said, waving away his help, closing his mind to the pain. “Catch me if I fall, and thank you, by the way. You haven’t slept, I presume.”

“I will tonight. One question,” Achille said with a grin, walking beside Oz as he made for the bathroom. “If you don’t mind.”

“I fear something vulgar with that grin. Would it help if I said I minded?”

“Not after all the years we’ve known each other. I was just wondering how you managed to function during