Page 60 of A Sight to Behold
“We both have impediments that society doesn’t want to see.”
Nick puffed. “Society—” he waved grandly to mock the Ton and their haughty goings on—“has more procedures to renovate their physiques than they care to admit.”
“Are you saying they’re all false?”
“No, not false. That’s not the right word. But people aren’t flawless. Nobody is perfect. Every person needs to work on something. Just ask Felix how many debutantes come to him, and lords, dukes, earls, their wives, sisters, sons, and even simple folks come for treatment.”
“Nick, I’m blind, Isabel is freckled. It’s just a few dental fillings.”
For a moment, a series of patients that had come and gone from Felix’s treatment room with much more than a few fillings flashed before his inner eye. The most recent of the patients with extensive work done was the Earl of Langley, but he couldn’t mention it. He’d never betray a patient’s trust, and as much as it stung, Lance wasn’t a doctor in their practice. If things had worked out differently, he would have been.
Nick realized what Lance had said.
Isabel is freckled.
He didn’t know that it was worse than that. And he might never understand.
Still, this was how Isabel got her chance at love, right?
Nick tasted acid when he realized what had been on his mind. How could he be so superficial to think there was nothing more to her than her beauty? Or that a minor flaw that probably didn’t even affect her health would render her unmarriageable. Yet, Lance loved her, and he was of noble heritage.
“You two would be the perfect match if society accepted you as you are,” Nick said out loud before he could filter his words. “Pardon me, I didn’t mean to insult—”
“Not at all. That’s actually why we are here. We want your help for a chance to return to society.”
“What could I do about the Ton? I’m at risk of losing the practice because I am engaged to the daughter of a duke.” He didn’t dare mention—even to Lance—that they were engaged without her father’s permission and that he’d only recently taken her virginity and compromised her beyond all redemption. The Ton would not be his friend now, and perhaps never unless they married swiftly. It all hinged on her father. “I have no sway.”
“But you have a scalpel.”
“What? I’m not killing anyone for you, Lance. I’d never—”
“Operate on me.”
“What? That’s even worse!”
“Worse than to kill someone? How does that even make sense?”
“Well,” Nick stuttered. Why was there no air in the kitchen? “Well—”
“You’d rather kill someone than operate on me? Good to know. Thank you very much.” Lance rose, and the chair made such a high-pitched noise that Nick cringed.
“No!” Nick tugged at his collar and realized the top button was already open. Yet, he couldn’t breathe.
Lance stood over him. “Then do it, please. Give me a chance to see you again.”
That was exactly what Nick had feared. He hadn’t been responsible for Lance’s loss of vision. He hadn’t even been in a position to help cure him all those years ago at university. But if he injured him, he’d be the one to rob him of hope forever.
“We don’t even know the cause for your blindness,” Nick exhaled in protest, knowing that he was about to be defeated by his sense of guilt. Lance furrowed his brow.
“That’s true. I never had a conclusive diagnosis.”
“See?” Nick bit his tongue immediately upon saying it. Rarely had there been a pun more clumsily uttered than this.
“I don’t see, no.”
“And we don’t know why,” Nick said.
“So, let’s find out.”
