Page 77 of A Touch of Charm
Oh dear.
She sighed.
She glanced at Andre again, and he looked at her for a moment, a black hunger flaring up in his eyes, and then he cleared his throat and blinked back down at the ledger on his desk.
Good.
“Thea, explain yourself,” Stan thundered.
“Why should I?” She folded her hands before her and stood in the simple dress as if she were in Bran Castle in a ball gown on the top of the stairs, about to descend for a grand ball. Yet beneath the surface, her heart hammered wildly. Heat bloomed under her skin, and she could feel the flush combined with the tingling awareness still lingering on her lips where Andre’s had been. She ached with a disorienting mixture of want and mortification, her body betraying the fierce restraint she maintained. The room felt too small, the air too thick, and though she held herself steady, as if carved from marble, inside, she was molten, trembling on the edge of unraveling completely.
My big brother interrupted my first kiss!
Thea was seething on the inside.
“Because I demand it,” Stan said, standing ramrod as if he were in military uniform again like he was all those years ago when his father forced him to undergo training and achieve a rank he could be proud of. Father had different demands from each of them and remained unhappy regardless of how much honor they brought back home.
Mary came in, her usual bubbly self, but around her waist was an apron. “I’m the assistant nurse.”
Behind her emerged a young woman who looked at Andre as if demanding to know what was happening. This must be the nurse he’d mentioned.
“Your Royal Highness,” the nurse took a bow. It was all wrong, but Thea appreciated the gesture and gave a friendly nod. More and more people knew that she was a princess. Even though Andre’s friends were probably not dangerous, Thea worried that there was danger still lurking somewhere.
*
Andre wasn’t pleasedby the interruption either. A kiss like that—a kiss that left a man’s mind and body in utter chaos—deserved far more than the bubbly intrusion of Mary’s cheerful chatter. Still, he couldn’t deny a flicker of relief as her arrival dissolved Stan’s makeshift interrogation. Any reprieve from Stan’s suspicious glare was welcome, though Andre was sharply aware of why he had been so quick to corner him—he’d do the same in his place if his sister had been caught with… but one glance at Thea’s lingering flush, the soft bloom on her cheeks, and any fool could guess what had transpired. And as for himself—he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his body insistent on betraying him in a manner most unbefitting of a gentleman. Stiff didn’t begin to describe it; bracing himself was perhaps closer to the truth. But even now, despite the interruption and his predicament, he couldn’t bring himself to regret a single moment of what had just passed between Thea and him.
“Who needs my help?” Mary asked, ready to take a patient.
“Euhm…” Stan grimaced and shot Andre a look for help. “Miss Folsham is back. Nurse Wendy.”
Was Stan stammering her name as Wendy entered the room?
Andre narrowed his gaze.
Interesting, a moment ago, he could have threatened Andre.
“We should look at the stitches,” Andre said as he rose from behind his desk. “It’s good to have you back, Wendy,” he added, and she came to the treatment bed near the wall. “Stan?”
Andre seemed to purposefully not look at Thea lest he betray something.
“I need to see, I’m the assistant nurse!” Mary declared, twirling in her white apron.
Andre suppressed a chuckle and searched Thea’s face for help, but she had none to offer.
Wendy retrieved a bowl, a bottle of witch hazel, a few bandages, and a tray with other supplies from a cabinet. Then she paused and gave Andre a look.
He nodded in Stan’s direction. “Would you like me to clear the room for you?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Everyone was backand the practice had filled with bustling energy. But then Thea noticed that Stan’s eyes had wandered to the nurse.
Interesting.
This was mainly because the nurse diligently focused on folding and refolding a towel that Andre then reached for to spread on the treatment bed.
Thea narrowed her eyes and waited for Stan’s reaction.
