“Thank you,” Alexander said before shooing them all back out.
Attending Max would give him something else to concentrate on besides Doctor Quinney’s needle in Cynthia’s arm.
“The duchess is upset,” she said.
“Don’t talk to me while he’s sewing you,” he answered.
Barely a heartbeat passed before she spoke again.
“I’ll tell her you weren’t with me.”
“Doctor Quinney can hear you conspiring.” Alexander gently soaped Max’s fur in the warm water. “And everyone saw you with me. As my mother pointed out, you were in my arms.”
“But I didn’t begin that way. Everyone saw that, too. I’ll say you rescued me while I was out with Gertie. They’ll have no problem believing me a terrible chaperone. Today needn’t interfere with your plans of finding a respectable bride.”
He ground his teeth.
She was right. Heneededa respectable bride. His duties to his title and his mother and his future heirs had not changed.
But what he wanted was someone like Cynthia Louise.
“No,” he said. “You were brave and heroic and I’m not going to hide that.”
“And foolhardy?” she said timidly.
“And foolhardy,” he agreed. “I am still going to throttle you.”
“No throttling,” said the doctor. “Those stitches must remain clean and safe for a fortnight.”
“And then I can throttle her?” Alexander said with amusement.
“By then, you won’t remember you wanted to.” The doctor crossed the room and held out his hands for the puppy. “Let me see this fellow.”
Alexander placed the blanket-clad puppy in the doctor’s arms and hurried to Cynthia’s side.
“You were going to show me your bosom?” he whispered.
“No,” she whispered back. “It was an empty bribe to lure you down the hill.”
“You didn’t tell me the bribe,” he pointed out. “I don’t think it was empty at all. I think there was a bosom in my future, until that blasted puppy ruined the moment.”
She batted her eyelashes. “You’ll never know.”
Yes. That was exactly the problem.
Now he’d never know.
“Well, your puppy is bruised and sore,” announced the doctor, “but he’ll be fine. As for you, young lady, I’m leaving a few drops of laudanum in a small bottle on the table. Keep the wound clean and dry, and only take the laudanum if you must. If you return home before the wound has healed, please have a doctor attend to the stitches.”
She nodded.
Alexander stood. “Thank you, Doctor Quinney. I’ll see that you’re well compensated for this visit.”
“You’re leaving the sickroom with me,” said the doctor. “Our patient needs to rest. And it is perhaps not best for Your Grace to be alone with Miss Finch, if your bride is on the other side of this door.”
Mortifying.
And true.
