Page 57 of Seduced by an Irresistible Lady

Why would I?

If he was being frank; he was only going just because he wanted to feel the waves of warmth once again. The emotion that ran through him any time he was with Miss Helena was indescribable and completely addicting. He only took his balm in case he needed to massage her ankles. He touched the skin of the cushion chair in front of him; it felt like sheep wool. It wasn’t, he was sure. It didn’t look like it. Footsteps from the corridor made him raise his gaze.

“Dr Frederick,” Miss Helena said smiling as she walked in from the corridor with her maid behind her.

Dr Frederick removed his hat with his left hand and bowed gently to Miss Helena. She looked at home and beautiful still. Her lips had a pink tinge today, not as bloody as he had seen them formerly. She was in a short, sky blue gown with a cone-shaped skirt. Her maid was dressed in the same grey overall the stewards he had seen outside wore.

This is the first time she’ll dress like a normal steward.

“Miss Helena, you look well,” Dr Frederick said.

“My continued expectation of your visit threatened to make me less well,” she said.

Dr Frederick smiled.

“So it’s safe to say you will be well now that I am here,” he answered.

Miss Helena nodded. Dr Frederick looked at her stance and took his gaze to her left foot. She stood well on it, placing all her weight on it as normal.

The ankle’s fine.

“So can I get a look at the ankle?”

“Why, of course,” Miss Helena answered.

She turned to her maid.

“Justina, go and get a bowl of warm water and wet towels, Dr Frederick might need them.”

Dr Frederick was about to say he wouldn’t need them, but the maid walked too fast. She was out of the sitting room before he could open his mouth.

“Why don’t we go to the garden? It’s more open, less stuffy,” Miss Helena said.

“That would be fine,” Dr Frederick said.

Miss Helena walked past Dr Frederick carrying a rich scent of spices and a faint whiff of lavender mixed in it. Dr Frederick swallowed and dabbed at the sweat that he felt was forming on his forehead with his handkerchief. He followed her out the door, down the stairwell, and round the back into the garden.

Miss Helena took him past rows of roses and small shrubs. She walked past a small bench and took him around a clutch of short trees. The foliage of the trees was splattered with small red flowers. Dr Frederick saw a much bigger white bench behind those trees. That was where Miss Helena sat, resting her head on the curvy designs of the headrest the bench had. Dr Frederick stood in front of her.

“So how was your week, Doctor?” she asked him.

Dr Frederick bent down in front of her. His eyes were on the same level with hers. Her colourless eyes surprised him with the way they absorbed him. Dr Frederick could see a miniature him in her globes, a swimming image in a sea of clear ice.

“You stare at me like I said something wrong, or is there something wrong?” Miss Helena asked.

Dr Frederick broke their eye lock and cautioned himself. He always teetered at the edge of control anytime he was with Miss Helena.

“No, nothing is wrong. I was just surprised by the colour, or rather lack of colour of your eyes. It is a rare occurrence medically,” Dr Frederick explained.

Helena smiled. Her cheeks reddened deeply, making her look dollish. Dr Frederick folded his fingers into his palms for fear of them moving to touch her in a moment of madness.

Her beauty is pushing me closer to that.

“Doctor, you haven’t answered me. How was your week? We are at the weekend, today is Friday,” she said.

“Yes, we are. My week was calm,” Dr Frederick said.

Miss Helena nodded her head.