Page 10 of Seduced by an Irresistible Lady
The driver of the coach beat the horses with his whip, and they started moving. Miss Justina nodded her head and stood as the coach rode out of the compound. Miss Justina turned around and walked back to the house. Just as she was moving out of view, she looked up to Helena and her mother. She waved, and Helena waved back. Then she went in.
The sun had sunk to the horizon. Night was drawing closer. Helena was about to ask about her sister when another carriage rode into the compound. Before the carriage had properly stopped, the door was flung open, and her sister jumped out in typical character.
“You still have a lot of coaching to do,” Helena said.
The Baroness chuckled.
“I am thinking of getting her a tutor who will teach her music, arts, and generally coach her in the mannerisms of a woman of breeding. She still sees herself as a child, Melanie,” her mother said.
“A very playful child,” Helena added.
She turned around and walked to the door.
“I am going to my chamber, Mother,” Helena said.
“I am here with my husband. Do send Melanie to see me.”
Helena nodded and went out the door. She walked gently and noiselessly till she got outside her father’s chambers. She walked down the dark corridor, using her intuition to note where to turn. When she got to her room’s door, she saw a steward lighting the lamps hanging on the corridor walls. She walked into her room and met Miss Justina inside. She had already lit the two lamps in her room. Helena walked to her bed and eased her shoes off her feet. She lay her back down and stared at the dark ceiling.
“Get some warm water into my bathroom, Justina. I want to have a bath and turn in early,” Helena said.
“I’ll do that, ma’am.”
“Then do tell Melanie mother said she wants to see her tonight.”
Miss Justina nodded and walked out of the room. Helena stood up and loosened her dress at the side. She pushed the dress down her body, allowing it to pool at her feet. She removed her legs from the pool and lay back on the bed with just her shift and underwear while her mind wandered back to the handsome doctor.
“I hope to meet him at the Somerset ball. I would love a dance with him,” Helena said aloud.
One eyelid closed, she pushed it back up.
I need to wait for Justina to bring the warm water.
Chapter 3
Dished Up
Dr Frederick unlocked the door to his private chambers which held his bedroom, his laboratory, and his reading room. The house was only two other rooms asides those, the sitting room and playroom, asides the bathroom which was connected to his bedroom. He heard Mister Frank making a ruckus of rearranging the tools back after washing as he normally did. Dr Frederick removed the black jacket he had put on later in the day and placed it on the arm of a chair in his reading room. He walked into his bedroom and shed all his clothes, leaving just his inner shorts, and returned to the reading room. He couldn’t see clearly as darkness had set in.
This is not a place where one can walk without proper illumination.
“Frank, you need to light those lanterns,” he shouted.
“I am trying to do that, sir,” Mister Frank, his dresser, answered.
After some time, the door opened, letting in Mister Frank holding a lit torch. He used it to light the lanterns in the room and entered Dr Frederick’s bedroom. Dr Frederick picked up a lit lantern and walked to his reading table where sat three unread journals. One was from a colleague in Scotland, and two were from the Council of English Physicians. He had meant to read them, but he was always busy.
“Someone is always falling sick,” he said.
He opened the first page, and there was a diagram of a woman with a thick mane of hair. This reminded him instantly of Miss Helena Sinclair’s red mass of hair. His insides warmed up as he thought about her. She was strikingly beautiful, a diamond of first water. She was bold and had caught his gaze full on, only dropping her eyes a few times. He had felt like she was seeing him from inside out when their eyes met in the sitting room. Her eyes were so colourless that he thought they were blank, but the intensity with which she held his gaze made him alert to her. Her lips were bloody red. When he had bent to kiss her hand, he had been tempted to lay his lips on those red edges. Dr Frederick was not sure he could attend the balls that were sure to soon start because he had too much research to do, but he would love to frequent the ones she attended. He wanted to see her again.
Her father was suffering from insomnia that looked to be due to a shocking event. The man didn’t tell him much largely because he was too tired to talk. The Baron was already breaking into a fever, so Dr Frederick had been forced to prescribe a very potent draught for him. A steward had followed Mister Frank home to get it while he went to attend to another family.
“Sir, you need to let things be. I don’t know what is disturbing you so much to take away your sleep all of a sudden, but you need to take your mind off it for now. Things will work themselves out,” he had told the Baron.
The Baroness stood at the other side of her husband as he lay down on his bed. Their hands were clasped tightly together. Her face held every worrying crease that Dr Frederick had seen on a human being.
Love is powerful. Nothing feels empathy like love.
