Page 27 of A Sight to Behold
“Is this a cone from a palm?” Nick asked, intrigued by the fruit of this little spiky plant.
“It’s a pineapple.”
“Apples don’t grow on pines,” he said, trying not to sound so ignorant.
“You don’t know much about botany, Dr. Folsham, do you?” she said with a smirk, a testament to her intelligence, Nick thought. She was witty and easy to talk to. Come to think of it, he’d never had such a pleasant time speaking to girls besides his sister.
“I’m afraid my studies of human anatomy left me little time for the world of flora.”
“There!” She exclaimed when the thick bulb fruit finally broke off. She laid it on the wooden plank on the side and whack! With a clean cut, she removed the green spiky hat from the top.
“It’s the perfect fruit, Dr. Folsham. Would you like to try it? I only got one this year, this is it.”
It didn’t seem right to accept. There could have been others in the house who enjoyed the fruit. After all, he’d never tried it and didn’t know what he was missing anyway. “Are you certain you wish to share your only pineapple of the year with me?”
She straightened her back and gave him a quizzical look. “Yes.”
It would be rude, then, to reject the offer a second time. “Then it would be my honor.” Nick gave a curt bow and his most charming smile.
That determined, she set the widest part of the machete onto the cutting board, then, like a seesaw, pushed it down and with one clean cut, split the pineapple in two.
“I thought the inside would look like an artichoke,” he marveled when the bright yellow flesh oozed the rose-and-orange-scented aroma that was quite refreshingly unlike anything else he’d ever smelled before.
“It’s not a Cynara and not even a little bit in the genus of thistle—like plants, Dr. Folsham. An artichoke is an in the family ofAsteraceae. They come from the Mediterranean, but pineapples hadn’t been brought to Europe until Christopher Columbus discovered them in South America. The pineapple is also called ‘ananas’ and it’s part of theBromeliaceaefamily.”
Nick swallowed. He didn’t understand a single word of the Latin she spoke but he was in awe for the intelligent tone that Pippa had assumed, speaking of such complex taxonomy of plants as if it were nothing more than a distinction between a rainy day and a sunny day. It was not unlike how he and his colleagues and sister discussed medicine, he supposed, indiscussions peppered with Latin and Greek terminology. After all, botany was just another branch of science—just one he’d never really considered, before this. And to think she’d garnered her knowledge by herself, without a university education, made him admire her even more.
He realized she was waiting for him to speak. He wet his lips with his tongue before saying, “I just thought that it has a rather large stem, like an artichoke and a similar shape.”
She raised her eyebrows with interest. “When have you seen artichokes growing?”
“In France. Also, in Italy.”
“Fascinating. You have traveled quite far, haven’t you?”
Nick shrugged. “Not as far as some of my colleagues.”
“Well, let me give a taste of South America then, Dr. Folsham.” She made another cut and sliced a wedge of pineapple off. “Try it.”
Nick picked the slippery fruit up and brought it to his mouth. It smelled fantastic. Then he opened his mouth to take a bite.
“Stop!” Pippa’s hand wrapped around his and pulled the wedge of fragrant fruit away. “You don’t eat the skin!”
“Oh,” Nick managed to croak as his body hardened as soon as she’d touched his hand. Although the moment was brief and fleeting, he cherished the contact. It had been just like at his office, when he’d examined her eyes. Touching her sent a jolt of power through him, awakening his senses.
“Like this,” she said as she lifted the fruit from his fingers and moved it to her mouth. Her pink lips opened, and the tip of her tongue emerged as she bit into the fleshy yellow fruit. Nick swallowed as his mouth suddenly grew dry. Moments later, juice rolled down her wrist as she bit down and slurped at the fruit. His head swam. But then she raised the remaining piece of pineapple back toward his mouth, holding on to the rind. His knees nearly buckled as he saw how her mouth glistened withthe sweet-smelling juice of this exotic fruit. He wasn’t quite sure how not to stare. Second, he’d usually not bite into a fruit if another person had already taken a bite; Felix would hang him for that.
Yet, he didn’t mind in the moment. It was her only pineapple of the year, after all, and he ought to be grateful that she was sharing it with him. Except that wasn’t it either.
He gulped.
He wished not for the piece of pineapple on the rind but the drop of its juice on her lips… No. He mustn’t even think it. It was wrong. He and she were of two different classes. He needed to—.
And before he could complete the thought, Pippa squeezed the elongated wedge open, holding the edges of the rind together and offering him the yellow flesh. “Here. Try it.” Obediently, he opened his mouth to receive the sweet taste of the fibrous pulp. He was surprised at the tang.
He bit the piece off and Pippa let go of the rind. Nick wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he noticed that she’d shifted from one leg to the other, picked up the machete and sliced another piece.
“I can’t give you more than a third, I promised a piece to my cousin Bea,” Pippa said as she laid out another wedge for him.
