"Missed me?" She repeated, her voice gone soft from nervousness. Lily wanted to point out that she was just his maid, and she had kept his house and her constant watch over him while he had been ill, but the nervous way her heart fluttered at his words didn't let her protest them.

"I assure you, apart from my time attending to the LeStranges, you haven't missed anything out of the ordinary," Lily protested gently as she moved to the side of his bed, waiting to help him up should he wish to move. Though she knew his fever had broken, the thought of touching him was suddenly irresistible. Reaching out to rest a hand on his forehead, she looked down at his face briefly trying and failing to keep her expression neutral and not smile down at him. "I missed you," she said quietly as her hand fell from his forehead to his cheek, not quite ready to move away from him despite knowing that she ought to.