Blood Blade Sisters Series (28 page)

“No, Taggart, that will be all, thank you.”

He bowed slightly in Brynne’s direction and turned to leave, almost bumping into Lucy on the way out.

“Excuse me, Miss Lucy.”

Lucy flushed prettily as she beamed up at Taggart. “It was my fault entirely. I can be such an oaf sometimes.”

Taggart ducked his head, his lips pulled into a smile that a butler had no business bestowing on his employer’s young sister, and left the room. Lucy’s gaze followed him until he was out of sight.

Richard wondered if he should warn Brynne about keeping an eye on her sister and Mr. Taggart, but judging by the frown on her face, Brynne was already aware of that fact.

Lucy sauntered in. “Coraline is asleep, the poor little dear. I’ve got her all tucked in, snug as a bug.”

“Thank you, Lucy,” Brynne said.

Lucy nodded and spun about, fairly skipping from the room. Brynne opened her mouth to call after her sister, but decided against it. Instead, she turned to Richard. “Well, I’ll leave you to change. I really feel dreadful about…”

Richard waved her off. “Don’t trouble yourself about it at all. I’ve never been vomited on by a more enchanting child.”

A startled laugh erupted from Brynne, a funny, throaty chuckle that had Richard breaking out in a grin. He’d never heard a woman laugh quite like it before. Full-throated, from the belly, deep and pure laughter. Nothing like the simpering, “lady-like” giggles from the ladies in whose company he usually spent his time. Brynne’s laugh was entirely like her; alive, invigorating, and infectious. He could listen to it all day.

“Well, then. I’ll excuse myself while you…change. I’ll make sure Coraline is settled. Perhaps, as you are here already…my cook has promised an especially delectable supper, trying to tempt Coraline to eat. Would you…would you care to join us?”

Richard did his best to hide his flush of pleasure at her hesitant invitation. “I’d be delighted to join you.”

“I’ll go tell Taggart we’ll be one more then.” Brynne gave him a small smile and quickly left.

A few hours with the mysterious Brynne Forrester. He stripped off his reeking shirt. It was beginning to look like a good day after all.

Chapter Eight

Brynne sent Charlie off with her note of apology with a heavy heart. Richard would surely believe she was purposely trying to get out of her agreement to help him with his documents. But while Coraline was feeling better, Lucy was not, and Cora had other engagements that morning and couldn’t keep Coraline for her. She could leave her with Mrs. Krause, but Brynne didn’t want to do that. Mrs. Krause was an excellent housekeeper, but she wasn’t the most nurturing woman when it came to children.

So, there was no help for it. She’d had to desert Richard once again.

Not an hour had passed when there was a knock at the front door. Mrs. Krause opened it to reveal a smiling Richard, his arms laden with boxes. His man, also burdened with a large box, followed him in.

Brynne’s eyes widened. “Are you moving in?”

Mrs. Krause’s jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed in disapproval. Brynne’s stomach sank. Would she never learn to mind her mouth? It was too late. The suggestive comment was out there.

But Richard laughed, immediately easing Brynne’s worries.

“Not today, no,” he said with a wink that sent a bolt of heat straight through her. “I received your note and I thought since you were unable to come to me, perhaps it would be easier if I came to you.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. What a nuisance for you.”

“Not at all. On the contrary, working somewhere other than my office will do me a world of good. I spend far too much time in there.”

Brynne nodded in agreement. That was certainly the truth.

“Perhaps we could work in your library?” Richard suggested, gesturing in that general direction with his overburdened arms.

“Yes, of course.” Brynne chastised herself for leaving them standing in the foyer and led the way to the library.

Richard deposited his boxes on the floor near a desk and then took the box his man was carrying.

“Are these all documents?” Brynne asked, a bit dismayed at how many papers the boxes must contain.

Richard chuckled. “Not quite. These are the documents,” he said, pointing to the boxes by the desk. “But that one is for Coraline.”

“Coraline?”

The child in question chose that moment to come bounding into the room. She ran to Brynne, wrapping Brynne’s knees in her exuberant grasp and gazing at Richard from behind her mother’s skirts.

“Coraline, you remember Dr. Oliver.”

Coraline nodded and gave Richard a shy smile.

Richard knelt by the large box and gestured for Coraline to come to him. “I was wondering if you could help me,” he said to her as he opened the box.

Richard extracted a marionette dressed as a prince and Coraline gasped in delight. “You see, I’ve had this box cluttering up my attic for years and I really need the space. But I hate to say goodbye to all my childhood friends. Would you like to keep them company for me?” He pulled out another dressed as a princess, and a third dressed as a court jester.

Coraline gazed up at Richard in awe, her little face a picture of enchantment. “Yes, sir.”

“Splendid. Perhaps you can get to know them while your mother and I work.”

Coraline nodded eagerly. Richard spent a few minutes helping Coraline set up the small puppet theater that came with them and showing her how to jerk the strings on the puppets to make them move while Brynne watched them play and tried not to blubber.

When Richard left Coraline to her play and came back to begin work on the documents, Brynne grabbed his hand before she could stop herself. “Thank you, Dr. Oliver. That was very kind.”

Richard gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s the least I can do, really, considering that I’ve invaded her home in order to steal her mother away to do my transcribing drudgery.”

Brynne laughed, letting the warmth from Richard’s smile seep into her. “Well, then. Let’s get started.”

“At your pleasure, madam,” he said with a devilish grin.

Brynne couldn’t help but wonder what, exactly, they were starting. Somehow, it felt as though it was much more than a simple secretarial task.

Time would tell, she supposed, as she stole another glance at the handsome doctor. Time would tell.

…

Brynne stared at Richard through the curtain of her eyelashes as he bent his head over the document he was transcribing. His tongue darted out and did a quick swipe of his bottom lip, a scrape of his teeth over the same area—an adorable gesture Brynne noticed he did whenever he was concentrating. The movement of his lips highlighted the dimple in his left cheek, the overall effect of which was Brynne’s complete inability to concentrate on anything other than that full, delicious-looking mouth.

Which was smiling. At her.

Heat flooded Brynne’s cheeks and she immediately dropped her gaze and fumbled about with the papers in front of her. They’d been working on the papers for weeks, Richard coming to her house each morning. His visits had been noticed, and naturally, tongues had been wagging like a pack of puppies with a barnyard of bones, as Cilla would say. But Richard didn’t seem to mind the gossip. And neither, to her surprise, did Brynne. They weren’t doing anything untoward, and she was enjoying his company. Let the Mrs. Morey’s of the world spread the scuttlebutt until they were blue in the face.

The notes Brynne was transcribing were actually rather interesting. Richard’s observations of certain treatments, which remedies worked best, specific cases and patients described with painstaking detail. Every word demonstrated Richard’s love for, and dedication to, his profession.

Brynne absentmindedly chewed on the wooden shaft of her steel-nibbed pen as she perused the papers. The silence in the room caught her attention and she glanced up, catching Richard as he stared at her, his gaze riveted to the wood between her lips. Brynne blushed again, but Richard didn’t drop his gaze. Instead, he laid aside his pen. “Let’s take a break, shall we?”

Brynne nodded. It had been a slow day at the clinic, so Richard had stayed to continue working on the transcriptions and they’d been at it several hours. “A break sounds heavenly.”

Richard tugged on the bell rope that would summon a servant and when Taggart appeared he said, “Is everything ready?”

Taggart nodded. “Yes, sir. Would you like the carriage brought around now?”

“Yes, thank you. And please tell Miss Lucy.”

Taggart nodded and ducked back out the door.

Brynne frowned. “Is what ready? Tell Lucy what?”

Richard held his arm out to her. “We’ve been working so hard on these blasted papers I decided we deserved a treat today.”

He led her out of the library and Brynne’s eyes widened a bit to find Lucy and Coraline waiting for them in the foyer.

Coraline ran up to her mother, bouncing up and down in her excitement. “Picnic, Momma, picnic!”

Brynne took Coraline’s hand and looked up at Richard. “Well, aren’t you full of surprises.”

“It would be unpardonable not to take advantage of such an unseasonably beautiful day.”

When they arrived at the park, a full picnic spread had already been set up for them. Richard had been right about the weather. Despite a slight nip in the air, the skies were clear with a breeze strong enough for kite flying, but not so strong as to ruin their fun. After cramming her lunch down as quickly as possible, Coraline beseeched Lucy to help her fly the kite Richard had presented her with. Richard went with them, helping to get the magnificent rainbow-colored kite airborne.

Brynne’s heart skipped a beat or two as she watched Richard with her daughter. He bent over to help her with the kite string and Coraline laughed, her body nearly trembling with excitement as she watched the kite dip and soar in the sky. Lucy took over after a few moments and Richard made his way back to Brynne.

“You’ll spoil her,” Brynne half-heartedly warned.

Richard chuckled. “She’s an angel. She deserves to be spoiled.” He watched Coraline with genuine affection while she shrieked with delight and Brynne’s heart skipped again.

“Thank you for today. You’ve made her very happy.”

Richard’s gaze turned to Brynne, his blue eyes washing over her with an intensity that nearly took her breath away. “And what of you? Have I made you happy?”

Lucy would probably advise her to play coy. Cilla would be all for keeping her emotions to herself until she was completely sure they couldn’t be used against her. But Brynne didn’t want to play any games. So she simply answered honestly. “Yes. Very happy.”

He took her hand and kissed it before entwining his fingers with hers. “Then it has been my very great pleasure. One which I hope to repeat often.”

Brynne took a tremulous breath, warmth flooding through her. She hoped so, too.

…

Brynne sat across from Richard at her favorite café, wondering how she had managed to get herself into such a position. She was fairly sure Richard was courting her, though she wasn’t sure exactly when that had happened.

He’d rarely missed a morning to work on transcribing his damaged documents. She’d realized after the first page that the task was one he could have easily set to anyone, despite his protestations to the contrary. And the task that might have taken one person a week, at most, had taken the two of them nearly a month to complete. It was obviously a ploy to spend time alone with her, something that Brynne knew she should have discouraged.

But instead of saying anything about it, she’d kept quiet. She wasn’t sure why. With her own home to run, her daughter to care for, and her work at the clinic, she was no longer bored. She enjoyed Richard’s company, but that in and of itself was an excellent reason to have discontinued their little sessions. He might possibly misconstrue her enjoyment of his company for romantic interest. And while she found him attractive, very attractive, every time she even began to envision herself with him, an image of her husband, with his laughing eyes and larger than life personality, would pop into her head and fill her with guilt. Yet, she’d said nothing and had continued to allow Richard to call on her.

Brynne knew many widows married again. But she couldn’t seem to overcome the emotions that overwhelmed her every time she thought of Jake. They’d had such a short time together before he was ripped from her by her sadistic half-brother, his life snuffed out to further Frank’s plans to take over their town.

And then there was Coraline. Brynne had a duty to her. Her life should be devoted to raising her child, teaching her everything she could about her father…not introducing a new man to take his place. No matter how wonderful that man might be.

Now their task was nearly finished. It was for the best, although Brynne’s heart clenched at the notion of giving up her private time with Richard every day. She’d see him in the clinic, yes. But helping him with his patients in a roomful of people wasn’t nearly as intimate as quiet moments spent poring over the files together.

He was, in many ways, Jake’s opposite, in looks and personality. Richard was blond where Jake had been dark. Both men had commanding presences, but while Jake was boisterous and larger-than-life, Richard had a quiet dignity about him that commanded the respect and attention of everyone near him.

But like Jake, Richard could make her head swim with a simple look. Somehow, reacting to another man the way she’d reacted to her husband felt…wrong.

Yet here she was, lunching with him in a public place, where anyone could see them. The gossips were still atwitter about how much time they’d been spending together, closeted alone in the library for hours on end. How that information had gotten out, Brynne didn’t know, but she could guess. The servants’ unofficial underground network was amazing. A person couldn’t do anything in Boston without the whole of the service industry passing it along. They knew
everything
. The notion that one of her staff was spreading details about her private life, however, was disturbing indeed.

There was also Coraline to consider. She was growing very attached to Richard. And he to her, if appearances could be believed. He was so sweet with her daughter that it made Brynne’s heart ache to watch them together. Both with happiness and with misery. Jake should be the one playing with Coraline, reading her stories, making her giggle with his silly antics. But Jake would never be able to do any of those things.

What if Brynne was reading too much into Richard’s intentions? What if he was merely being polite? Or what if Brynne couldn’t get over her issues regarding Jake enough to let Richard into her life, her heart? Coraline would be crushed. Brynne didn’t think her heart would ever recover from losing him either. Because, try as she might to deny it, she was falling in love with Doctor Richard Oliver. And she wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

“What are you thinking about?” Richard asked, his eyes creased with concern.

“It’s nothing.”

He reached out and smoothed a finger over the wrinkle that had formed in her forehead. “It must be something.”

Brynne sighed. No time like the present. “It’s only…I’ve enjoyed our time together. Now that we’ve nearly finished…”

She couldn’t go on. She’d never felt so off-balance, so insecure, in her life. She despised the feeling but couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

Richard took her hand. Brynne glanced at where his hand encompassed hers, her heart skipping a beat or two as she waited for him to say something.

“I’ve been meaning to say something to you for weeks, but could never seem to get up the nerve.”

Brynne raised an eyebrow. Richard might be kind to a fault and sweet and gentle when it came to children, but make no mistake about it—he was a man who knew what he wanted and did not take no for an answer. Brynne had once seen him reduce a vendor who had tried to swindle him to near tears. Richard Oliver was
not
a man who ever lost his nerve.

“I’ve enjoyed our time together as well. I would like to continue to see you, outside the clinic, after we are done with our task.”

He leaned closer to her, so close his breath mingled with her own. His thumb rubbed lazy circles on Brynne’s palm, shooting tingles up her arm and straight into her heart. “Would you like to keep seeing me, Brynne?”