Page 57 of The Scent of Intuition
“No! Who would tell me that your veil had small yellow flowers embroidered along the edges and a few white tassels in the back to hold it down? Or that you always had stacks of books and maps before you?”
Bea gasped and her arms drooped to the sides.
“How would I know that the apprentice—also veiled—brought you honey to sweeten the awful-tasting tea that Master Varier had delivered to you every day?”
“That was you?” She closed the distance to Alfie and surveyed his eyes as if she could find a glimmer of her past in them.
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Confusion mixed with anger pierced her voice.
“I didn’t realize it had been you all along. We never spoke until Pippa and Nick wanted me to make the ipecac for your uncle.”
The flicker of recognition in Bea’s eyes ignited into a full-blown blaze of enlightenment.
“Y-you spoke English!” Bea clasped her chest with both hands. “You knew about my beast!” The color drained from her face. “Did you understand everything my mother said?”
Alfie pinched his lips. Patient confidentiality turned into a rather muddy area if one was speaking to a patient who’d been treated by one’s master…oh drat! This wasn’t a conflict of interest but a conflicted love interest.
“I wasn’t supposed to speak with the lady, but I was chosen for the task to ensure that I understood and that I could comply. Most of what I did was carry sacks of dried herbs, berries, and leaves at that time. Master Varier only let me mix in hisrasashala, his laboratory.”
“So you know about my beast? How long have you…?”
“I didn’t know it was you. My residency was confidential and there were so many rules I was required to follow. I wasn’t allowed to speak with you, for one. I was supposed to be as invisible as the servants fanning the air around you.”
“But you did speak. I remember it.”
Alfie couldn’t suppress a slight smile. The fact that she remembered meant more to him than he ought to admit. “I brought you honey, and I snuck cinnamon into your tea to make it taste a little less bitter.”I also remember that time my thumb accidentally brushed over your hand and the jolt I felt.
It was nothing compared to kissing you.
Bea stood seemingly puzzled under the myrtle. The foliage overhead had the shape of a large umbrella made of many elliptical leaves. But the woman standing under the canopy took his breath away. She sucked her lower lip in.
He’d given her much to think about and he wasn’t yet sure what to do with the revelation of their shared encounters more than three years ago. All he knew was that he wanted to hold her now.
Distraction.
Good idea. He had to distract himself.
From what exactly? He’d nearly forgotten why he was alone in the Orangery with the girl he’d admired from afar and dreamed of for all this time, only to find out that she was the same who’d let him steal some of the most sizzling kisses he’d ever…I want to kiss you again.
The simple muslin dress accentuated her cleavage, and even though there was nothing more exposed than a lady ought, the light layers of dusty pink fabric brought out the copper hues in her hair and the flush on her cheeks. A cream-colored layer of something delicate stuck out of her cleavage, and Alfie imagined the sheer layers of a chemise, how he’d lift it slowly and bunch it over her hips.
He reached up and tried to pull a myrtle branch down to pluck off some leaves, but he was just a few inches too short, perhaps three.
*
The one timeshe’d been allowed to travel with her parents, Bea had been isolated from the locals. After months on the schooners with Father discussing diplomatic relations with the captain and her mother forcing Bea to practice her watercolor and embroidery in her cabin all alone.
She’d been forced to wear a veil even though it had been stifling hot at the Residence. Her mother had wanted to hide the rash, but he knew… he’d seen her… and somehow, Bea wasn’t ashamed anymore.
This explained everything.
“So you completed your apprenticeship, came back to England, and started a practice?”
“That’s making it sound rather simple, but yes.” Alfie followed her.
“And the ointment smells like the tea! I recognized it right away but thought it was a coincidence!”
