Page 9 of A Touch of Charm (Miracles on Harley Street #3)

A fter Thea and Mary freshened up in the morning, Thea took Mary back downstairs to the oculist’s treatment room, where Andre said they could find paper and quill to pen a note for Mary’s parents. Stan looked feverish and tired even though he’d slept all night.

Mary found a large flat case with an arrangement of lenses. Next to each was a small piece of paper glued onto the velvet lining with numbers written on it.

“Oh, this is fun,” Mary declared as she switched them with each other in the case. “Can you put them back in order?”

“Mary, don’t do that!” Thea rushed to the girl’s side. “What is this even?”

“It says on the side of the tray,” Mary pointed at the edge. “Re-…reef—”

“Refractive Lenses,” Thea read aloud. “Oh, don’t mix them up! This is for eyeglasses.”

“I want to make some!” Mary cheerfully said, but Thea tried to keep track of which lenses Mary had already switched, but it was too late. “Let’s make spectacles!” Mary held two lenses over her eyes and looked like a big fish.

“Do you know where I can find a piece of paper to leave the oculist a note?” Thea asked Stan. “We need to leave him a note to warn him that they are out of order.”

“I promised Andre that we’d stay at the rehabilitation center for a while,” Stan said with a solemn look when he buttoned his coat. “It’s the best for all of us.”

“I have to let Mary’s parents know where she is and that she’s safe,” Thea said, scanning the room for said paper and a quill.

“We can send them a messenger. Should I arrange for Mary to return to—”

“No, I am staying with Miss Thea!” Mary hopped off the stool and seemed to forget about the lenses. “I’m not leaving for Europe, so I can be a nurse here!” She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the floor. “I already slept in the nurse’s bed last night.”

Stan arched a brow and looked at Thea as if she’d said it, but all she could do was shake her head.

“Miss Mary,” Stan cleared his throat.

“I’m her governess,” Thea interrupted as sternly as she could muster, even though she rather wanted to burst out laughing at Stan’s fake look. “I can only return her to the care of her parents, nobody else. And since they are due to travel to Europe, Mary stays with me,” Thea said.

“She’s my princess!” Mary said, crossing her arms.

All eyes shot to the little girl.

“You heard us last night?” Thea asked with a stern look that hardly hid her astonishment.

Mary beamed at her. “I have my own princess!”

Stan’s mien sobered as if Mary didn’t understand what a princess was. No matter how much Thea loved her brothers, as the only girl, she felt on an island alone at sea when it came to feminine things—like the universal fascination with being a princess.

Thea tucked a thought into her mind about telling Mary that a princess had many more responsibilities than fairy tales suggested, such as strolling in gardens, dancing at balls, or holding audiences. Judging my Mary’s twinkling eyes, twirling in imaginary gowns was her priority in all things princess. But there was time to explain a real princess’s life another day.

“For now, I’m your governess.” Thea flattened her lips into a line.

“I know! That’s even better! I’m the only girl in the world with a princess governess!” Mary twirled and danced through the room until she seemed to grow dizzy and bumped into Andre, who’d just entered.

Even though she didn’t mean to, Thea burst out laughing.

“Ouff!” Andre exclaimed when Mary crashed into him, seemingly dizzy from twirling in her pretend ballgown, but the impact seemed somewhat overstated. He bent down and picked Mary up.

“What was that all about?” His face brightened immediately when his eyes met Thea’s, but she still shook in mirth.

“I’m the only girl in the world with her own governess princess!” Mary declared, and Andre smiled.

“She’s rather extraordinary, Miss Mary. I agree that you are the luckiest girl in the world.”

And even though Andre avoided Thea’s gaze, she gasped and forgot to laugh.

“I’ll be a doctor today,” Mary declared when Andre held her back. “Where’s my first patient?”

Andre chuckled. “You need to study medicine before you can be a doctor.”

“Oh, they won’t let me. I’m a girl,” Mary said. “Let’s pretend today!”

Thea didn’t like that. “You will make them let you because you will know so much, and be so smart that they won’t deny you a place at university.”

With a skeptical glance, Stan surveyed the scene while moving his injured shoulder ever so slightly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he silently communicated his discontent and pain.

“Where did you study?” Mary asked as she cupped Andre’s face.

“In Vienna,” Andre answered.

“Then I must learn German in addition to Latin, Miss Thea… ahem, Princess—”

“Yes, dear. And I shall help you to learn everything that I can. But until then, why don’t you begin as Dr. Fernando’s assistant?”

Stan let out a groan of disapproval but didn’t say anything else.

“I could be a nurse!” Mary clapped her hands together, and Andre shot Thea a look.

“Nurses know almost as much as doctors, sometimes even more,” Andre said, which only earned him a frown.

“I want to be your nurse today!” Mary said, pursing her lips when Andre set her down.

He smiled and extended a hand to her as if asking the little girl to dance. “It would be my honor, Miss Mary, if you agreed to be my nurse until the real nurse, Wendy Folsham, returns.”

Mary put her hand in Andre’s, and he escorted her out of the room and down the hall. Thea followed them and felt the smile melt away. She’d never been jealous, but there was a tinge of envy that she couldn’t deny, for she wished it was her hand in that of the dashing doctor.

Again. Thea thought she had to banish this infatuation from her mind. She couldn’t possibly fall for the doctor, could she?

A few minutes later, still pondering Andre’s most pleasing physique, she couldn’t recall why it was that she didn’t merely throw herself into his arms. Ideally naked.

No, she mustn’t.

She was a princess on the run, trying to escape a loveless union with a Habsburg prince from Austria.

She wasn’t free to let love fall where it may.

But could one stop it from falling, then? Didn’t the Romans already say, “Alea iacta est?” The die is cast. It was a phrase attributed to Julius Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon River, signifying a point of no return. She wasn’t going back either, so forward and onward was the only way.

Could she follow her heart?

Thea felt heat creep to her face as she stood quietly in the doorway of Andre’s treatment room, watching him work with an intent focus that captivated and comforted her.

Mary unfolded and refolded a muslin. Andre said he’d need it as a bandage soon.

While Andre tended to his patient, he also gave Mary a barrage of useless instructions for the “important help” he needed from his would-be nurse, which made her feel vital and proud. Thea could see it in her expression and demeanor. Somehow, Andre had inspired Mary to learn in a way that Thea hadn’t. He was brilliant.

Truly amazing.

And oh so handsome and kind.

Thea shut her eyes and exhaled deeply. The die was cast.

She’d escaped to England, but now there was truly no return.

She was falling for Andre.