Page 31 of A Touch of Charm (Miracles on Harley Street #3)
A ndre let Thea find her brother while he brought the discharge papers to Anna, who was standing with a crutch under her arm in the room where he’d found her.
Found her… Andre considered the words. He never expected to find his sister again.
“Anna, there you are!” A short, half-bald man arrived empty-handed but for a smug grin.
This was the husband who’d cheated on Anna and whom she’d caught with a mistress? This?
Andre balled his fists, but Anna squeezed his arm and put on a fake smile.
“Husband…” she said to the man, who was notably shorter than her, and twitched.
His eyes darted from her to Andre and back but when Anna narrowed her gaze, he jerked his head back as if he’d been stung.
“May I present to you Dr. Andre Fernando von Dürer?”
Etiquette required Andre to bow to her sister’s husband, but he couldn’t get himself to bow to the cheating, twitching figure before him. It was almost comical that he gave Andre a once-over and had to look up for it. A meager man like that should treat his sister like a queen, not discard her and break her heart. For a broken heart, one needs to fall in love first. Anna didn’t seem to love this man beyond the excellent sentiment of tolerating his presence.
Paul reached out, and she jerked back.
Oh, she couldn’t bear his touch.
Andre’s insides churned at the sight of his sister’s unhappy marriage. This was not what he’d wished for her. Love, passion, devotion, and a man with integrity were the least she deserved.
“So I heard,” Paul started, showing his crooked teeth. “Your brother is a doctor.”
He twitched again and tugged at the back seams of his breeches.
Anna pretended to be impervious to the jerking movements of her husband. Her smile faltered, replaced by a fleeting grimace, as she cast a sidelong glance, her expression carefully schooled to neutrality.
“ Was ist mit dem Hampelmann? ” What is it with the jumping jack? Andre whispered to Anna.
She burst into laughter.
Andre joined her.
It was just when they were like children, and Andre’s heart swelled with love for his long-lost sister. Oh, how he’d missed his family.
“ Wahrscheinlich hat er sich wieder was eingefangen. ” He probably caught something again.
“What are you saying to him?” Paul demanded in a tone Andre didn’t appreciate when his sister was addressed.
“Do you suffer from an itch?” Andre asked Paul.
The man narrowed his eyes, but Andre paid more attention to his sister’s grimace. No woman should feel disgust for her husband. How could he help his sister out of this union?
“It’s been going on for a while,” Paul admitted. “Have you an ointment for it?”
Andre’s eyes met Anna’s, but she crinkled her lips and gave a faint shake of her head.
Good, at least you don’t have it.
“I’d need to examine you before I can make a diagnosis.”
At first, Paul stood stiffly in the room, but the silence, which couldn’t have been more than a second, stretched into what felt like an awkward hour.
“May we leave you here for a moment?” Andre asked his sister.
“Certainly, I shall have another cup of tea.” Anna’s hand slid down Andre’s arm, and she sank back into the armchair.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Andre considered the Hippocratic Oath he’d sworn in the exam room at Cloverdale House. “First, do no harm” was its essence. Yet, he wished for nothing more than to rip Paul’s arms out for how he treated his little sister.
“You have a boil,” Andre said as he dropped his probe into the metal bucket prepared for dirty instruments. The instruments would be carried outside in the bucket and rinsed with boiling water before being touched by hand.
Paul pulled his breeches back up and tied the laces.
He didn’t seem rueful for having contracted a disease that was a testament to his indiscretions.
“Does your mistress have it, too?” Andre asked. His duty as a doctor was to stop any spread of infection and warn his patients—even if his instinct was to let this particular man suffer.
“How dare you imply infidelity? Why don’t you ask whether your sister gave me this?” Paul fastened the last button and sucked his belly in like a rooster. “Perhaps she’s the one—”
Andre rose from the chair, dashed around the desk, and towered over Paul, balling his fists so tightly that his palms hurt. “You listen to me very carefully—”
“My lord.” Paul looked up at Andre with a vicious stare. “You’re a mere physician. Address me with my title, bastard.”
Andre was seething with rage.
“That is Dr. Andre Fernando von Dürer for you, Paul.” Andre dragged the last word out as if it were an insult to the lord. “I would strike you that you’d spit your teeth further than you can see, milord, but I know that you feel it where I wouldn’t even slap you. It’ll always come back.”
Paul’s eyes grew wide. “You know—”
“I know because I studied medicine. I am a man of science. You pretend to be a man of honor, but you have nothing to show for it, not even your own wife’s respect or affection.”
Paul formed his lips as if to speak, but nothing came out.
He leaned in slightly, his voice lowering to a near growl. “You owe her an apology. Not for her sake, but for yours. Otherwise…” He allowed the unspoken threat to linger, not needing to finish it.
Andre straightened, smoothing his cuff with deliberate precision, his gaze slicing through the man like steel. His temper was banked—for now. “Consider this your only warning. Anna is under my protection. Do not forget it.”
The man swallowed hard, his face pale and taut. He gave a jerky nod but did not speak further, his confidence thoroughly shaken by the weight of each of Andre’s words.
Andre tilted his head, his lips curling into another chilling smile—one that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Just give me the ointment. That’s your job.” Paul still had a self-indulgent smugness that provoked Andre even further.
“It’s not.”
“You’re a mere doctor, a bastard. I’m a lord. Give me the ointment.”
“Exactly, I am a doctor. I’m not an apothecary. And if you’d like me to ensure that my friend, the apothecary, gives you the right medicine, you’ll have to ask for it as a patient.”
“It’s a disgrace. How dare you?”
“How. Dare. You. Cheating on my sister, sullying your line, and now you’re threatening me when it is you in need of my medicine?”
“But I am—”
“Titled? You’re en titled. But you have not earned my respect. Even though I may not have a title, I’m a hundred times a better man than you’ll ever be. And I am a very, very, very dangerous man when my little sister is imperiled.”
“I’ve done nothing to imperil her or the baby.”
“And you will do nothing. Do you understand my words?”
Paul raised a brow.
“I will make myself very clear. You will uphold the clause and support her and the child, but you will never interfere with their lives. Should you as much as breathe in the direction of my sister’s bed chambers, I will come to you at night. Not bound by the duties of my profession or any rules that keep me from inflicting upon you what I know you deserve.”
“You have no right to stop me from visiting my wife.”
“I do! As your doctor and hers, I’m bound to ensure that neither of you imperil your health. If you were to cross me or my pregnant sister, or the baby when he or she is born, there’s no way to tell how far I will go to protect my sister. I lost her once and will not risk it again. I’m not ever going to turn away from my family again. You’ll have to get past me—but you won’t—do you understand?”
“But she’s bearing my heir!”
“Yes, she might be. And she’s bearing my niece or nephew. They are under my protection.”
“And under my roof!”
“You can take the roof but not them. What will you do with a roof, hm?”
Paul didn’t respond.
“Then our roles are defined. Are there any questions?”
“Your mother told me that she missed you.” Paul tsked. “I didn’t realize it was a hound she’d been looking for.”
“Better a hound than a rat spreading disease wherever it goes. Now, get out.”
“I’ll take Anna with—”
“You’ll not remove a patient from this rehabilitation center without the doctor’s explicit permission. And that doctor is me.”
With these words, Andre opened the door, and Paul huffed as he left.