Chapter Ten
Kate stumbled as she went to him, and ended up on her knees in the mud. James looked at her, but she didn’t think he saw her. There was wildness in his eyes, blindness, and sweat on his brow and upper lip.
It was more than the smell. She knew it as soon as she saw his face.
Kate rose to her feet and took hold of his arm. “James . . .” She pulled him away from the stench, halting when the air was fresh and clean again. James leaned against a tree, his eyes closed. He breathed in gasps. The tension on his face told her he fought nausea.
Kate glanced around her. A fallen sycamore lay alongside the path. “Here,” she said. “Sit down.”
James sat with his head in his hands, still breathing in shallow gasps. Kate knelt in front of him, heedless of the mud. “Concentrate on breathin
