Page 92 of Seduced by an Irresistible Lady

There was no use worrying about it if he could not do anything about it. Dr Frederick told himself to spare no thought for the matter anymore. It wasn’t his concern.

They were almost at the house now, just a few minutes away. Dr Frederick cherished the feel of the breeze against his exposed skin. Leaves on the trees at the edge of the street shook gently. Dr Frederick wished he could just stay home for the day, sit at the back of his house, and watch the leaves and tall trees.

I wish. It’s a pity I have to work. Research awaits me at home even if I had decided to stay.

The curricle stopped at the closed gates. A steward came out from a small stall by the gate. When he saw Dr Frederick, he bowed quickly and pushed the gate open. Dr Frederick nodded back. Mister Frank drove the curricle to the entrance of the house, and Dr Frederick alighted.

“I’ll wait here. Go and park the curricle somewhere. I want you to be with me while I treat the Duke,” Dr Frederick said.

Mister Frank nodded and drove the curricle to the perimeter of the compound. Dr Frederick raised his eyes and saw an open window. There was someone looking down from the window. The sun had risen higher and was shining harder now. Dr Frederick placed a hand over the front of his eyes to protect them from the sun’s glare as he looked upward.

Lord Jeffrey.

Lord Jeffrey was staring down at Dr Frederick with a frown on his face. Dr Frederick removed his hand. He had seen enough. He turned and saw Mister Frank walking up to meet him. Dr Frederick waited till he got up to him before walking to the door and knocking with two quick rasps of his knuckle.

The door opened and a stewardess curtseyed to Dr Frederick.

“This way sir,” she said, leading Dr Frederick and Mister Frank through a passage of corridors and up a flight of stairs till they got to the Duke’s chambers. Dr Frederick had never gone through the way she took him before. When she got to the door, she gestured to him to go in before turning back the way she came.

“Are we to open the door sir? I was thinking we should knock,” Mister Frank said.

“They must have seen me. They’re expecting me,” Dr Frederick said before turning the doorknob and letting him and Mister Frank in.

Roman stood by the inner door and smiled when they came in.

“Dr Frederick, it’s been a while sir,” the steward said as he bowed.

Dr Frederick extended his hand for a handshake. Roman shook Mister Frank’s hand too, after shaking Dr Frederick’s.

“How is the Duke now, Roman?” Dr Frederick said.

“He’s better now, sir. He sleeps better and has more strength.”

“Good,” Dr Frederick replied, “please inform the Duke of my presence.”

“You can go in sir, they’re expecting you,” Roman answered.

Dr Frederick looked knowingly at Mister Frank and pushed the door to the Duke’s room open.

“Dr Frederick.”

The Duke sat on the bed now, smiling as Dr Frederick came into his bedroom. The room remained as he had remembered it. Dr Frederick wiggled his toes as the softness of the rug enticed. He bowed from a distance, observing the Duke furtively.

He looks well. The fact that he is no longer bedridden is doing wonders to his health.

“Dr Frederick, welcome. This would be the first time I would speak to you in person,” the Duke said.

“Yes, Your Grace, it would.”

Dr Frederick wondered where the Duchess was. She was always beside her husband. A door at the side of the room opened, opened in two flaps in fact. Dr Frederick looked at the door because he had never noticed one there since he had been coming to check the Duke. The Duchess walked in through the doors from what looked like a small balcony. She had a solemn look on her face on entering the room, but when her eyes met Dr Frederick’s, she smiled and walked to sit on the other side of the bed beside her husband.

“I feel better than the last time you came, as you would observe,” the Duke said.

“Yes, Your Grace, I do. I need to know a few things to ascertain your correct state of health,” Dr Frederick said.

“Certainly.”

Dr Frederick walked to the Duke and asked that he lay down facing upwards. The Duke complied. Dr Frederick pushed the Duke’s eyelids upwards, looking into his eyes.