Page 11 of A Touch of Charm
“I can do it later,” Andre said. It really wasn’t a job for a prince.
“No. It’s different here, Thea. Everyone’s the same and pulls their weight.” With these words, Stan went back outside.
“He’s good with horses, don’t worry. I just never expected him to show it—” Thea said with a smile as she shifted under the girl’s weight in her arms. They were an odd sibling pair, not at all haughty or arrogant like many aristocrats of Andre’s acquaintance. They were nice.
Well, Thea was more than nice, and Andre had tried not to dwell on that thought for the last two hours in the carriage. He hadn’t dwelled on her faint violet scent, the shimmering light of the moon, and the orange glow of the lantern reflected in her curly blonde hair. No, he didn’t dwell on any of those aspects, not even the slight bobbing of her chest—No!None of it.
She was a princess. Stan’s sister.
“Here, let’s bring the child to Wendy’s old room. She can sleep there. There’s a connecting door to Nick’s room, where you can sleep.” Andre closed the distance to Thea and bent over her to lift the girl out of her arms. “Nick’s the oculist here but remained at the wedding ball. Wendy is the nurse. They’ve moved out but their rooms are still there, safe and warm.”
Andre gently carried the little girl upstairs, and Thea followed him. When they arrived in Wendy’s room, Thea noticed the furniture was modest, but everything was clean, and the bed looked invitingly soft. Andre set Mary onto the bed and pulled the covers over her. Without needing to say anything, Thea fluffed the pillow and Andre lifted Mary’s feet. They understood each other without the need to speak. Thea had removed Mary’s shoes before Andre lifted her onto the bed. Just when Andre wanted to unfold the knitted throw and lay it over the child, Thea swept in and gently took it from him, laying it over Mary with the warmth of a mother. But she wasn’t a mother; she was a royal of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family. Stan’s sister was beyond his reach, and yet she was so close that he could smell the violet in her clean soapy scent.
He wasn’t sure how, but they were moving in harmony as if they were of one mind.
“How can I help?” Thea asked when Mary was curled up comfortably.
“Your room is here,” Andre pointed to the door that led to Nick’s old bed chamber. He couldn’t go in there knowing that the beautiful princess would sleep there that night. It wasn’t proper.
Thus, once Mary was safely tucked in, Andre walked back downstairs to his treatment room, where the coachman waited, beads of sweat on his forehead betraying his pain.
As Thea moved to follow Andre, he thought he ought to tell her not to. Witnessing the driver’s injury was not a matter for princesses.
But he didn’t say a word.
And before Andre could make sense of why he wanted to impress the princess, since he shouldn’t wish to dwell on any of her qualities, not even her beauty, he heard a groan.
The driver waited, his face pale but resolute on the treatment bed. Andre rolled up his sleeves and prepared to tend to the man’s injuries, grateful for the familiar tasks that gave his hands purpose—and kept his mind from wandering too far.
Not that his thoughts needed to go very far—Thea was right behind him.
*
The streets outsidewere silent save for the occasional clatter of a distant carriage, and Thea felt like a thief in the middle of the night. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much excitement in one night.
Despite the late hour, the doctor’s treatment room was brightly lit with the gas lamp in the ceiling. A doctor needs light, Thea thought, even though this type of lamp was a rare luxury. His patients must either be very rich and pay him well, or he was that committed to his work that he refused to do it under candlelight. He needed to see well, regardless of the time of day, Thea decided. It was dark outside, and Andre left the curtain closed.
At first, Thea stood in the doorway, watching Andre guide the coachman, wincing in pain, to sit up for his examination. Andre’s hands were steady and sure as he supported the man who still cradled his injured arm with a grimace on his weather-beaten face. She watched the doctor’s steady hands and composed expression, her heart pounding and hands trembling in stark contrast.
“Can you sit here, please?” Andre instructed, his voice gently commanding. He helped the coachman into a special position on the table so that Andre was supporting his arm at all times. Thea noted the unnatural angle of the man’s arm. “They’ve landed quite a blow.”
Thea stepped further into the room, feeling a warmth spread over her in what should be a cold, clinical space. Andre glanced up, their eyes locking briefly before he focused on the task at hand.
“What can I do to help?” Thea asked. Andre hesitated momentarily, but she gave him a soft smile and removed her gloves. She set them on the desk, which she assumed was his. “I’m ready.”
“This is not a task for a p—”
Thea put her index finger on her mouth. “I’m just Mary’s governess and eager to make myself useful.”I am not just a princess with a trophy title. I can be useful.
Andre paused and sucked his cheeks in.
Thea gave a reassuring nod.
He sighed. “Could you, please?” He inhaled sharply as if struggling to give a princess order. So she waited, gave a submissive smile that she’d practiced in conversations with Mary’s parents, and folded her hands in front of her stomach.
“I’d like to help. He brought us to safety.” Thea gave the driver a grateful look, and Andre seemed to notice. The driver, however, winced in pain, and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.
“Please fetch me the bandages and splint from the cabinet,” Andre requested, finally putting the patient before the rank that stood between him and Thea. His tone softened when he addressed her as he glanced over his shoulder at a walnut cabinet the size of a door leaning against the wall.
