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“So?”
He lifted an empty vial for me to see. “I was investigating.”
“What is it?”
He opened his mouth to speak, then glanced around the landing where we stood. “We ought not to be here.”
I nodded, going farther down the stairs, but he did not follow. “Are you not coming?”
“Lady Verity—”
“Did we not agree to call each other by our first names in the aviary, Theodore?”
I saw his chest rise and fall before he spoke again. “Should anyone discover—”
“They very well will if we stay here,” I replied before going down the stairs to the drawing room. Reluctantly, he followed.
“Lady Verity—”
“Just Verity.” I turned back to see the great distance he had put between us. He stood at the doors, and I stood by the fireplace.
“Neither that nor any of this is appropriate. Should the marchioness, or anyone for that matter, know you were alone in the company of a man—”
“I shall say not a man but a doctor,” I replied, walking toward him. He stiffened, but he did not move. I stopped when there was but a foot between us and lifted the vial for him to see. “Should anyone come, I will tell them I sought your care due to an ailment.”
He reached out to take the vial from me, but I held it back. “What did you discover in your investigation?”
“I do not speak of my patients to others.”
I frowned. “Then why did you bother to tell me at all?”
“I appear to be having an extreme lack of judgment this evening,” he muttered and exhaled. “Lady Verity—”
“You—”
“Verity,” he finally said, and I smiled, nodding.
“Yes.”
“What in heaven’s name are you doing?”
“I’m not entirely sure.”
12
Theodore
From the second I saw her face over the edge of the railing, I was as sure as the day was long that this was a temptation from on high. The rational, reasonable, and cautious parts of my mind had disappeared at the sight of her. Now I tried to convince myself to flee. She had taken a seat beside the fireplace, staring back at me as I stared at her.
She was haunting yet breathtaking in only the dim light of my candle. When else would I see her so…unperturbed? In a housedress and robe, no less.
“Please say something,” I begged, not strong enough to withstand this.
“I feel as though I can breathe for the first time since coming here.”
“Ironically, I seem to be having the exact opposite experience.” I had never been able to breathe less.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to impose—”
“You are not imposing. This is just—”
“Inappropriate. Yes, I know, you have said so twice now.”
“Because I am at a loss for what to do or what you seek. A lady in your position should—”
“Be strictly managed by her mama until she is given to a husband to then be strictly managed by him.” She frowned, and so did I.
“Hopefully, that will not be your case.”
“You are not disagreeing?”
“Why would I? You speak the truth.”
She looked genuinely surprised, then smiled. “Are you aware I have no mama?”
“We all have a mother. Yours is merely not here any longer,” I replied, leaning against the wall.
“As I do not have even one memory of her, it would make no difference if you told me I fell from the sky to Everely. Do you remember your mother?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you when she passed?”
“We are back to the personal questions,” I said, and her shoulders dropped. I could not bear to see that. “She died when I was two weeks from my seventh birthday.”
“I am sorry.”
“As am I for you.”
She was silent for a moment, glancing around the room as though she were searching for something to make conversation about. When her eyes finally met mine, she frowned.
“Verity, I must ask you again what is it that brought you here—”
“You.”
“I beg your pardon?”
She took a deep breath before repeating herself. “You. You being here brought me here, Theodore, as you have plagued my thoughts since…I do not know when. So I wished to see you. Though now that I have, I am unsure of what to say or do.”
She inhaled and it was as if she were stealing my breath from my body. I stared, uncertain if I were dreaming or losing my sanity. How had I ended up in this situation?
“I…You…Forgive me but can you be clearer with your thoughts?” I finally managed to say.
“I would if I could think clearly.” She smiled gently. “All I have figured out is that I think I have come to like you as well, though I do not understand how, as we are barely acquainted. Is this normal?”
I laughed but it was like a breath of relief and a surge of joy as I looked into her brown eyes. My mind was a mess of things. “I am unsure of what normal is anymore.”
