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Sidney awoke with a start, breathing heavily.
"What the bloody hell?" he muttered, peeling the sheet back that clung to the thin sheen of sweat covering his body and sitting up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
Glancing around the bedchamber, he noted the sun was just beginning to filter in through the windows and knew it must be early, no real sounds of the day's activities to be heard.
He swiped a hand over his face and pushed up, his body still tense from the absolute nightmare that had jarred him from sleep. He shook his head as he walked across the room to the wash stand and splashed a bit of water on his face, the cool temperature bringing some relief to his heated skin, although his mind continued to whirl.
Alexander Colbourne? Where the fuck had that uptight loner come from? He hadn't thought of him in well over a decade. Last he recalled, he had married that pretty girl from London. It was no exaggeration that he had not even heard the man's name spoken, so he genuinely had no explanation for his sudden and most unwelcome appearance in his dreams.
Sidney dried off and sighed, bracing his arms against the stand, squeezing his eyes shut against the churning in his gut and the visions in his mind - Colbourne kissing Charlotte. Colbourne stopping her carriage on the cliff. Colbourne marrying Charlotte.
Raising his head, he peered at himself in the mirror for a few seconds before a rustling drew his attention to the reflection behind him. He drew in a deep cleansing breath and returned to bed, trying to slip in gently.
He should have known it would be of no use.
Dark lashes fluttered, and equally dark brown eyes opened to gaze at him in the increasing morning light. "What is it?"
"Nothing."
A warm hand slid across his abdomen and soft curves moved in close. "I don't believe you."
He didn't answer, idly playing with a curl that lay on the naked skin beneath his palm, but he knew his silence would not be tolerated for long.
And sure enough, not even a full minute had passed when Charlotte propped herself up on his chest, her slightly rounded belly pressing into his side, fully awake and with a determined glint in her eye.
"I know it's something." Her fingers rose to push back the hair around his ears, her eyes softening. "Tell me."
Sidney exhaled, annoyed at himself for upsetting his wife in her delicate condition. "Just a dream. A nightmare, really, but unimportant."
"I've heard if you tell someone your dream, it won't return. So, come. Out with it."
"It's ridiculous," he hedged. But the look on her face that said, "I'm prepared to wait," let Sidney know she would settle for nothing less than the full truth of it.
"Fine. I dreamt that you fell in love with someone else and married him, instead."
Charlotte’s eyes widened in shock. "What?"
She seemed to mull it over and Sidney was curious to know what she was thinking until she began to laugh lightly and admitted, "You're right. That is ridiculous!"
And Sidney chuckled, too, holding her and their child even tighter, as her bright laughter chased away the remnants of doom and gloom the dream had left behind.