Page 11 of A Touch of Charm (Miracles on Harley Street #3)

A few hours later, there was nothing for Thea to do but wander through the practice at 87 Harley Street. Stan had gone to retrieve his belongings from the Langleys’—the earl and his countess with whom he’d stayed since he’d arrived in London—while Mary took her midmorning nap on the armchair in the oculist’s treatment room.

Thea returned to Andre’s room diagonally across the hall, leaving the doors open to hear Mary if she woke up. Or worse, if she snuck up on her, curious as she was.

Thea had a strong desire to be near Andre, ideally alone.

Andre was gathering Mary’s folded muslin bandages and putting them in a neat pile on a metal tray. Since no patient was in sight, Thea ventured into the room to speak with him.

She eyed the skeleton that hung from a nail on the wall.

“Is this real?”

“Yes,” Andre answered.

“Who is it?” She rubbed her hands uncomfortably.

“I beg your pardon?”

“If this is a real person, then who is it?”

“I don’t know.” Andre leaned back and eyed her curiously, as if there were a stain on her collar. “Every group of students is assigned a skeleton at the university. We had to study every detail of human anatomy, and when Alfie and I finished the anatomy course, we purchased the skeleton for a small fee.”

“So you know what all the parts of this are called?” Thea stepped closer to the bones and noticed they were connected with metal pins and wires. She lifted the skeleton’s hand, which didn’t feel real. There was little left of a person, and the hand felt like a thing, a model of what may be inside a human or what may have been a human long ago. “What’s this called?”

“The fossa or the attachment?” Andre asked with a swift glance at the second bone of the index finger.

“All of it. Everything has a name, right?”

“This is the tuberosity of the distal phalanges.”

Thea blinked at his explanation. “All of these protrusions have names?”

“Of course. The grooves, too.”

“Why?”

“Well, think about how you’d localize an injury or a fracture.”

Thea let go of the skeleton’s hand and opened her left palm, inspecting it closely and trailing her right index finger along the lines on her palm. “What about these folds? Do they have names, too?”

“This is the anterior palmar view, with many names.” Andre put his hand under hers as if she were a precious treasure he barely dared to touch.

She looked at him, unsure what to say.

“But there’s a big difference between the mere skeleton and a living person.”

“Blood and flesh, as they say in English?”

“It’s not that simple.” He gently turned her hand over, and she instinctively held it at the ready to receive a kiss on the knuckles. It was an impulse she’d learned and honed over the years, almost like the habit that betrayed her mannerisms as a high-born lady.

Andre seemed unperturbed by her gesture and didn’t seem to give it as much thought as she did. He aptly guided her hand and articulated her wrist. Thea gasped at the depth of his knowledge. He ought to know every bone, muscle, vein, and fiber—and yet Thea wished he’d discover her anew as she was discovering him with a new awareness.

“Innervation is the main difference between the living and everything else. See, here?”

He trailed the index finger of his other hand over a line that started very thin and then disappeared over the back of Thea’s hand. A shiver followed the light trail of his touch, and Thea’s insides quivered with something he couldn’t quite name. He turned her hand over and bent her wrist to expose the lines. Under his expert gaze, a jolt of excitement made her break into goosebumps. He must have noticed, for he first inspected her cheek, then his gaze moved to her neck, and finally he looked ather face as a whole. Of course, a doctor would know everything about the body.

And this doctor affected every fiber of her being with only a chaste touch and scorching look.

“You can’t always see them, but the veins and arteries constantly pump blood through your body.” He showed her the branched veins of her wrist and then turned her hand back over.

Thea felt the air drain from her lungs as if her pulse had quickened under his gaze. She felt breathless in a way she had never felt before when she was near him.

A long pause followed, and she grew restless under his intent gaze. He knew everything about the human body, and she didn’t know why her response to him was so strong and how to handle the fervor building in her stomach. Her body seemed to react to Andre in a completely unfamiliar way.

“Thank you for explaining this to me,” Thea marveled.

Then he bent down and placed a kiss on her knuckle, lingering for an instant longer than she’d expected.

“I’m always at your service, Your Royal Highness,” Andre said. He didn’t quite say it the way most people, who knew who she was, would. An undercurrent of mischief made the tiny hairs on Thea’s neck prick up.

*

Andre thought she was exquisite. He’d seen his fair share of nice girls and pretty women, and he’d had enough unchaste encounters to allow him to deepen his knowledge of female anatomy to the level of ultimate mastery. But none of them had prepared him for how Thea’s intelligent eyes met his. No, they didn’t just meet; they connected. They were linking his soul to hers so profoundly that it almost ached not to stare at her. It wasn’t nice, of course, staring… and yet, she sparkled with a curiosity about the human body that awakened his most basic urges, for he knew all too well he could show her just what her body was capable of—over and over again he wished to hold her and let her reach the peak— Stop !

Andre shook his head, hoping these ideas would leave his mind.

He was not worthy of a princess, and she’d been set aside for a Habsburg prince—not a Habsburg bastard.

He sighed and took heart, but he already knew his would break.

She was beautiful, but not because of her dark-rimmed eyes, lush curly hair, or perfect smile—Andre was fascinated by her thoughts about the world and her questions.

“How long did it take for you to learn everything about his body?” Thea asked, trying to direct his attention back to the skeleton.

“It is a she. Well, it was. This woman has been dead for more than fifty years. I don’t know where she came from, but she had a short life.”

The crinkled her forehead. “How do you know that?”

“I don’t know, but she probably never had a baby.”

“Why not?”

“Her hips are wide and open, so she was of child-bearing age, but they are still connected at the pubic symphysis, so no baby has passed through her birth canal yet. It’s not a certainty but a likelihood.”

Thea cocked her head and made a grimace that spoke volumes of her innocence.

“Her spine was very straight, and there was much cartilage to protect the vertebrae, so she was healthy and strong until her death.” Now Thea looked sad and flattened her lips into a frown, so Andre continued with what he knew: bones. “If you ask Felix, he can narrow her age further based on her teeth.”

“Because they were healthy?”

“No, because she didn’t have all of them yet.”

Thea’s eyes flew to the skeleton’s mouth, and she noticed the largest back teeth were lower than they should be. They hadn’t grown yet.

“That’s so sad,” she said, eyeing the skeleton as if it were a recently deceased friend.

“Yes, it is unfortunate. She didn’t die of a sudden injury, so perhaps she had an infection. The traces are long gone.”

“And yet, she’s continuing to serve people.”

“What do you mean?” Andre asked the question even though he knew the answer. But if she did and had concluded what he’d learned no sooner than in his second year of studies, she was much more intelligent than him.

“You’re performing miracles; I’m in awe of you,” Thea said. Her dark eyes sparkled in the very shimmery gold of the lightest parts of her blonde curls. She had such a sense of perfection that Andre almost felt she wasn’t real. She was too good to be true.

And certainly out of his reach no matter how close she stood to him.

“You can’t stay here,” Andre stepped back, tasting the words he wished he hadn’t uttered.

Thea let her hands drop to her sides and blushed.

“I mean, this is not adequate for a princess. Not even for Mary.”

She swallowed visibly and lifted her chin in defiance.

“I already arranged for a room at Cloverdale House,” Andre added. “On Abbotsberry Road.”

“What is that, a hotel? I’m afraid I can’t pay for it.”

“No, Cloverdale House is going to be the rehabilitation center I spoke of earlier. It’s a grand estate in London, near Pall Mall.”

Why was speaking so difficult when Thea looked at him so intently?

Andre raked his hand through his hair only to realize she followed his every motion.

“So the oculist’s room you slept in last night, Nick’s room, remember?” An unexpected compulsion seized Andre to present Thea to the others, the physicians who were both his confidants and companions—much akin to a gentleman’s desire to acquaint a lady with his family. Yet, he mused inwardly, with a touch of humility, there was naught of significance or grandeur to parade before them. He had no claim on the princess.

“Of course I do.” She narrowed her brows.

Stop rambling and get on with it.

“Well, he recently married a duke’s daughter, an heiress. She wishes to convert Cloverdale House into a rehabilitation center, but a few patients have arrived early, since Nick and Pippa’s wedding. It’s still in the transitional phase, but the building and the grounds are much more suitable for you. There’s a staff and gardens—abutting a park—and Pall Mall is only a short walk away.” It’s so much better for a princess than this.

Andre waved at his treatment room, set up to be practical, easily cleaned, and bright. It was not the elegant ballroom with sparkling chandelier he’d imagine for the princess. And yet, even in his modest practice, her eyes sparkled brighter than even the crystal chandeliers at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

“It’s a nicer prison to keep me safe for as long as Stan wishes, isn’t it?”

“It’s big but safe. And elegant. Plus Stan could have a nurse when I’m not there.”

No, it’s a way for me to see you every day.

Thea quirked a brow that was so un-princess-like that Andre nearly laughed out loud.

“I arranged for a room for Stan so that I can look after him every day. There’s a nurse and at least one of the doctors there at all times.”

“Who’s there now? If you are here and the others are still at the wedding,”

“Dr. Rosen, the surgeon, and his wife, Nurse Shira. They remained there with two wounded soldiers. Those are the first two patients. I am going to see them later this afternoon, too.”

“So this would be the best for Stan? A hospital?”

“A rehabilitation center,” Andre corrected her.

“Why don’t you call it a hospital? It seems like one to me,” Thea said.

Andre cocked his head. “Because there are certain patients in need of higher levels of care.” Privacy. Diplomatic neutrality while they recover, too.

Thea sucked her cheeks in. “Because they don’t wish to be found?”

Andre pressed his lips into a line. “I assure you of my utmost discretion regarding patients.”

“I see. I’ll be hidden among other aristocrats. Wounded war officers?”

Andre bent down and took the bag he’d packed with a new ledger and a few other things he thought he’d need when he started seeing the patients at Cloverdale House.

“There’s room for Mary, too. And her parents could pick her up there when they return.” Andre saw that Thea looked a little unconvinced. “It’s lovely. Let’s go, I’ll show you.”

There’s more to me than this treatment room.