Page 7 of Mending the Baron's Sins
It was intense, those eyes unrelenting on her.
“I have seen invalids without legs who still drag themselves out of bed every day. I have seen men too without arms, who insist on caring for themselves.”
“I feel as if your wit is trying to draw me to a conclusion. Would you do me the favor, Miss Byrne, of just getting to this point,” he said, somewhat wryly.
“Locking oneself away in a chamber, in the dark, must do nothing forthis.”She tapped the side of her head.
“My mind?” he whispered and shifted in his seat. It was the first time he hadn’t yet spoken sharply to her.
“Well, let’s see what we can do about this.” She hurried forward and grabbed the curtains, drawing them back from the window to flood the room with morning light. In the corner of the room, the baron winced. “Are you a vampire, my lord? Do you fear the light?”
“Do you have any respect at all? Or do you talk to all your patients in this way?”
“Any patient who thinks because I am a woman, I cannot treat them… perhaps,” she murmured with a small smile, reaching for the window and opening it a crack.
“It’s cold out there.” His voice was deep and sharper than before.
“And it’s also fresh. Ten minutes alone will help circle the air in here. It has a smell.” She looked uncertainly at the vials. “I see my uncle gives you laudanum.” Abruptly, she tidied the vials away. “Well, my lord, perhaps we should proceed with you telling me your symptoms.”
“I thought you were an assistant. Miss Byrne, simply administer the laudanum your uncle has sent you here to do.” He held his hand out toward her. “Then be gone.”
She stiffened in the middle of the room, her arms full of the empty vials as she turned to face him.
“I see you and I will not be easy with one another,” she murmured gently. He lifted an eyebrow, as if agreeing, then his eyes wandered. The moment he looked down at her, her stomach clenched in surprise.
This time, it was not a disparaging look. Far from it. There was curiosity, even heat in that look, which contradicted the now chilly breeze filling the room.
“Raise your eyes, my lord,” she said sharply.
His eyes snapped back to hers, now narrowing.
“I was examining the woman who is to be my healer. That is all.”
Was it?
She returned to tidying away the vials, uncertain why her stomach clenched all the more. Was she disappointed that was the only way he was looking at her? Surely not! Why would she want such a proud and arrogant man to like the look of her?
“Please, give me the laudanum and be gone.” He waved a hand at her once more. “It clearly does neither of us any good to be in one another’s company for long.”
She dropped the vials into a bag and moved them aside, then shifted her focus to her leather bag. Reluctantly, she poured out a fresh dose of laudanum, but kept glancing toward him repeatedly.
“Lethargy?” she asked.
“Every day,” he answered, not looking at her but into the fire now.
“A struggle to get out of bed, is it?”
“What was your first clue?” He gestured to the small distance between him and the bed.
“Foul tempered?”
“Is that a symptom or a personality trait you’re looking for now?” he asked.
She smiled a little. There was something amusing in needling him in such a way. He shifted, apparently shocked she had smiled at all.
“May I ask something more, before I give this to you?” she asked, moving to sit beside him with the laudanum in his hands. He was reaching for it, almost grasping for it like a baby reaching for a teething rattle. “My Lord?” Her voice softened now, and amazingly, this made him stiffen. “Please, let me ask you something.”
He relented, sitting back and nodding curtly once, though his eyes remained on the vial in her hands.
