AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Minor? I recall you mentioned scars earlier.”
“And if youalsorecall, I said I was confident your wounds would heal and not leave any scars.” He grasped her chin with his hand. “Now. Hold still.”
Regardless of the chill still permeating the room, heat flooded her face.
A ghost of a smile crossed his lips, but he remained silent and continued to cleanse the scratched area and even plucked a few feathers from her hair. Once he completed his task by applying a thin layer of salve, he gave a quick nod of satisfaction. “All finished. That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”
When she reached up to touch the tender skin, he grasped her hand, sending gooseflesh prickling her arms.
Yet she was anything but cold.
“Don’t touch your face. Allow the salve to work.” His eyes locked with hers, something flickering in their green depths, then darted to her lips.
Thickness clogged her throat, and she forced it down.
Even without trying, she’d landed in a world of trouble.
* * *
Timothy forcedhimself to focus on something other than Emma’s blue eyes and rosy lips. Lord, help him make it through the upcoming night alone with her. He reminded himself she’d mentioned a fiancé. A clergyman, no less. “Since we’re no longer at each other’s throats, tell me a little about yourself,” he said, hoping to put her at ease.
She stiffened before him.
What had he said? It seemed a simple, polite question. He tried another tactic. “You mentioned assisting a birth. I presume you live nearby? What is your father’s occupation?”
If anything, she grew more agitated, her lips clamped as if they’d been sutured shut.
“I only thought we should get to know each other. Perhaps I’ll start. My family owns an estate in Wiltshire. My father’s a viscount. I have one sister, Beatrix, who recently married Viscount Montgomery, my close friend. They had a baby girl earlier this year, Elizabeth, although they call her Lizzie.”
If any of his information surprised her, it didn’t show on her face.
She smoothed the skirt of her blood-stained gown. “Am I to presume you’re the spare, and hence your service in the military and occupation of physician?”
A reasonable assumption, he admitted, albeit false. “No. I’m in line to inherit. However, I much prefer to be productive. I’ve never cared much for idleness.”
“Mr. Netherborne says idleness is the devil’s workshop.”
“I think he may have nicked that saying from someone else. Is Mr. Netherborne your intended?”
“He is.”
Timothy studied her. No sign of affection crossed her face at the mention of her betrothed. “And have you been betrothed long?”
“A month. Mr. Netherborne believes in a long engagement. To prove myself.” She blanched as if she hadn’t meant for her last words to slip out.
Not wishing to embarrass her further, he kept silent, but the statement intrigued him to no end. What in the world did she have to prove?
CHAPTER 5—BEING NEEDED
Priscilla waited for Timothy to ask why she would have to prove herself. Yet he remained silent. The words had slipped out. What was it about Timothy that made her feel like she could speak her mind?
Not at all like Abner Netherborne, where she weighed each word carefully before allowing it to leave her lips. Simply being in the man’s presence exhausted her. But being with Timothy was effortless.
She would say comfortable had it not been for the powerful pull of attraction when she brushed his hand or he examined her with those intriguing green eyes.
Of course, she had already known he was the heir, but his honesty impressed her. He could have easily lied.
As she had been doing.
