Scarred Beginnings (11 page)

Delphine
pushed his gown from his shoulders and then began speaking in low tones to him.

“Tell me if anything is remotely uncomfortable. I’m going to start by covering your face with a gentle cream.” David was about to protest that his face could only have certain types of cream on it when she spoke again. “It’s okay. I already have the medical records needed. I won’t put any
thing on you that will irritate your skin. Now try to relax and just let me know if you are in any discomfort at all.”

The woman’s fingers were warm as they brushed lightly across the
skin of his face. She moved them firmly under his chin and for the merest moment he thought he might laugh, he was incredibly ticklish on his neck but the sensation wasn’t anything like a tickle. She used the whole of her hand in the most relaxing way, moving the muscles along his jaw, making small circular movements down over his cheekbones with her thumbs and then up to the bridge of his misshapen nose. By the time she had reached his temples he was completely under her thrall and nothing could have made him move from the bed.

“God! That’s wonderful. So relaxing,” he murmured quietly, not want to break the spell.

“Good, now close your eyes.” Her gentle accent wafted over him. Similar to Geraldine’s but not quite the same. He wished that she wasn’t quite so close, he could almost hear her breathing as Delphine warmed the cream on his skin and he could think of nothing but how good he felt as Geraldine’s perfume crossed the room and wafted around him.

Delphine
moved her fingertips across his eyelids, down the centre of his nose and back around to beneath his ears. Her hands slid down under his chin, along the column of his throat and splayed out over the tops of his shoulders before swirling back up to his face again.

David didn’t know when he dropped off to sleep. One moment he was awake with the soft cream being massaged gently into his scrubby chin and the next he was somewhere on a cloud of white fluffiness, his whole body suspended in a warm cocoon of relaxation. He felt himself breathing deeply and he could hear
Delphine’s gentle voices explaining what she was doing but he could do nothing to rouse himself and if the truth be told he didn’t want to.

At some point he began to dream
. He wasn’t sure if he wanted a dream like this. He knew it couldn’t be real but it felt so damned good he let himself fall into it.

Geraldine leaned
over him and kissed him gently on the lips. She turned so that she was above him and began trailing her tongue down his neck. It was only as she reached his chest that he realized she was naked, her full, succulent breasts just inches from his face, her ripe, rose tinged nipples grazing across his lips as she kissed downwards over his rippling pectorals.

The air rushed out of him as she pressed a nipple closer and he opened his mouth. Sh
e lowered the juicy morsel and he closed his lips over her warm skin, sucking greedily on the tightened bud of pleasure. He tried to raise his hands to touch her other breast, wanting to feel the weight of the glorious mound in his palm as he licked at her delicious flesh but something prevented him. He reluctantly released Geraldine’s breast from his greedy lips, turned his head to look down at his hands and saw that they were chained to something on the floor. He turned his head slightly more, desperate to get rid of the confining weight and then reeled back as he saw burning tyres lying on the ground beneath the bed. His arms chained to them, holding him to the metal frame as the flames licked higher and higher towards his fingers.

He began to struggle against his bonds but the bright burning flames seared his palms now and he began screaming. He couldn’t lose any other part of his body. He couldn’
t let his hands burn. How would he hold Geraldine in his arms? How would he caress her tender skin or touch her silky hair? He writhed frantically against the chains and suddenly he felt something cool pressing against his forehead.

Calmness overcame him as an angel
called his name and slid her gentle hands to his shoulders, shaking him gently. He heard Geraldine speaking to him and he struggled to wake but suddenly there was another face staring at him.

Short dark hair, grey
green eyes, a perfectly straight nose, high cheekbones and a fashionably dimpled chin covered with dark stubble. Perfectly arched lips split into a wide, non threatening smile. The man spoke in a deep French accent.

“Hello David
, you ugly bastard. I’m Jules and you can go and rot in hell!” and then he suddenly pulled out a huge, serrated knife and began sawing off David’s hands.

The vision disappeared and David shot bolt upright on the bed, screaming for the man to stop cutting him as Geraldine fought to keep him from falling to the floor. Heart pounding he looked around the room wildly. No flames, no chains, no huge knife. Delphine stood against the wall pulling in great lungsful of air while Geraldine spoke to him softly and held his shoulders firmly.

“David, it’s okay.
Stop shouting. You were just dreaming.”

David wiped his hand across his sweating brow.

“I know. I knew I was dreaming but I couldn’t stop it.” His words came out fast, almost jumbled, such was his distress. “Christ! That was awful. I thought I was burning again.” He gulped noisily as Delphine handed him a glass of water.

“I’m sorry,” She gasped, obviously still frightened by his outburst.

David immediately calmed down. It wasn’t this woman’s fault he had bad dreams. It was hardly surprising given what he had been through but it did make him think.

“Not your fault
Delphine. The facial was actually gorgeous, but we definitely need to rethink something if it makes you drop off to sleep like that. I could have hurt you.”

Geraldine shook her head.

“You were only shouting and thrashing about a little. I was more worried that you were dreaming something dreadful and would fall from the bed.” David looked at her carefully for the first time in a week as he wondered if he had shouted any names. There were some new stress lines around her eyes and she wasn’t smiling.

David couldn’t bear her concern. He
had to lighten the atmosphere. He quirked up the corner of his mouth.

“It wasn’t all bad, you know. There were some definite plus points to the dream. Two very particular ones that I wouldn’t have minded making a better acquaintance with.” He couldn’t help dropping
his gaze to her chest and when he tore it back up to her eyes again she was blushing furiously. She stepped away from the bed as David swung his legs over the side. Delphine passed him a towel and he quickly wiped his clammy face. His fingers touched his skin and he smiled widely.

“That actually
feels wonderful. Best it’s felt since I was burned.” He frowned slightly. “We’re going to need a discussion about this. Obviously the facial was great but you can’t have guys like me going off into random dreams like that. We’re trained killers, anything could happen. Let’s go and talk to Ellen and see if she has any ideas.” He levered himself from the bed and walked out of the door still in the dressing gown.

Ellen was talking to the pool guy, peering at the various samples of water held in vials in his hand. She looked up as David approached.

“What was all the shouting about? Did Delphine tickle you?” She stared at his face. “Wow, you look good, your skin is all smooth.”

David felt his own cheeks again. They
did feel good. He smiled grimly at Ellen.

“Yes, trouble is that it came at the cost of a nasty dream. I could have hurt
Delphine if Geraldine hadn’t woken me in time. We’re going to have to see what we can do. I had no idea that a simple face massage would send you off to sleep like that. It was beyond relaxing.”

Immediately concerned
Ellen quickly finished with the pool man and then led them all back into the kitchen. She made tea and coffee while they sat around the table.

“So what do we do? That dream might have just been you. Not everyone reacts in the same way. I bet some people don’t even fall asleep.”

David snorted in derision.

“Have you ever had one of those
facial things? I never felt more relaxed in my life. In any case, I don’t think we should take that chance. I think Delphine and Nicole should either have someone with them or maybe the guest could have a chaperone.”

Geraldine spoke up.

“I may not be able to be there every time. If anyone needs my assistance with anything else that is my main concern.”

Ellen nodded and then looked at
Delphine.

“Is there anything you can do to stop clients dropping off? Can you bring an assistant with you
or do you have any other suggestions?”

Delphine
shrugged.

“I never tried keeping someone awake. The whole point is that you relax.
Nearly all my clients fall to sleep at some point. I might be able to find an assistant though.”

David snorted again.

“Forget it. No offense intended but you’d need about five women of your size to hold back one of us guys if we had real intentions of hurting you.”

Geraldine sipped her tea and then spoke up again.

“But you weren’t trying to ‘urt anyone. I only woke you because you seemed so distressed. You were struggling on the bed but you weren’t attempting to do anything else. Maybe we ‘ave over reacted ‘ere.”

David glanced at her. Her deep green eyes looked right back at him and his heart jolted as he
tried to keep his mind away from the dangers of the dream. The thought of how her delicious breasts would feel against his lips was something he didn’t want to have on his mind right now.

“Perhaps
you’re right. We just need something in case of emergency, if Delphine still feels comfortable giving the massage after my stupid display. The treatment room’s quite big; we could always have Nicole and Delphine in doing massage and facial at the same time. I don’t think our boys would mind and it could kill two birds with one stone actually.

I was thinking this morning about our reputation. This massage thing is great but if anyone wants to slander us then that would be one of the easiest ways to do it. Just send out a rumour
, however untrue, about the nature of our services and we’ll be closed down. If there were two guys in the room I think they would probably talk to one another rather than go to sleep anyway but at least if the women were working on two clients they would have the back up of each other if one of the guests fell to sleep and had awful dreams. We would certainly be more secure in our reputation. We could put a panic alarm in too.” He wiped his hand over his brow again as he thought of his awful dream.

Ellen frowned
curiously at her brother.

“What were you dreaming about anyway? You never had
many dreams when you were at home, not even after your injuries.”

David shrugged. He could hardly confess to dreaming about fondling Geraldine’s
ample breasts and he didn’t even want to think about the last part of the dream. It was bad enough having his hands cut off but the fact that Geraldine’s boyfriend was doing the surgery was too much to bear.

“It was nothing. Just weird that’s all.”
He dismissed Ellen’s concern but glanced up at Geraldine. She gave him one quick flick of her green eyes and then kept them down and didn’t say anymore.

Nicole came in a few minutes later and David went back down to the treatment room with the three women in tow. This time he had to remove his prosthetics and they all laughed as they agreed that having no legs was a distinct disadvantage if you were going to attack someone. David hid a smile as he conceded that even Ellen was probably able to outrun him. Maybe they wouldn’t need a chaperone after all.

The massage was almost as relaxing as the facial and D
avid had to fight to keep awake but he couldn’t face any more dreams of burning body parts, horribly handsome Jules or Geraldine’s delectable breasts. He managed to keep his gaze fixed on a tiny spot of dirt on the ceiling, promising himself that he would get the ladders and wipe it off before the day was out while agreeing that both the types of relaxation method were perfect for their clients and their partners.

Chapter Eleven

Only another
two weeks to go and the château would be opening its doors. Even in his desolation, David felt that he was doing something good. They would be fully booked for the New Year’s ball with guests arriving from four in the afternoon onwards. Several of his former colleagues were coming with their families and he was looking forward to seeing them.

All of his friends had messaged
and asked how his love life was going. Denial seemed easier than the truth. He answered with bravado that he didn’t have a clue what they were on about. He was just good friends with all of the staff.

He swallowed the lie every time he said it, hating himself for being duped but not really blaming Geraldine. It hadn’t been her fault that he had expected
far more than she could possibly give.

He didn’t kid himself that he was over her, he didn’t think that would ever happen but he kept his emotions under strict control whenever she was about. The only time he came near to losing it was when
she announced over the breakfast table that Jules was interested in viewing the château. Apparently he’d played in the ruins when he was younger and was desperate to see what they had made of it.

Ellen couldn’t wait to meet the man and told Geraldine that Jules
was welcome anytime but Geraldine arranged for him to come the very next afternoon.

David made sure he was well out of the way. He spent the whole afternoon from lunchtime until dark sawing huge logs
that could be used for one of their corporate activities. He arrived back at the château as night fell, exhausted and sweaty, filthy with mud and algae from the trees only to find that Jules had been invited to stay for dinner.

He marched furiously up the stairs to his room and spent the next hour
sitting in the shower ignoring the sting of the scrapes and bruises on his body. Cutting the trees by hand had seemed a good idea at the time. Now, when he was tired and hungry but fighting his pride he wasn’t sure that he shouldn’t have waited until Joe arrived to help him.

Exhaustion swept over him as h
e dumped his towel in the linens basket. Still damp, he threw himself on the bed and lay there staring up at the canopy while he contemplated what he was going to do. His choices were limited given the state of his body and while he knew that money was never going to be a problem he had hoped for something worthwhile.

He had thought that the project was going to be his work for the rest of his life, had wanted it to be but he now realized that he would have to leave. Watching Geraldine fall in love with another man
wasn’t something he could bear to see happen in front of him. He groaned as he thought of her in another man’s arms and fury swept through him.

He cursed the warlords that had forced the boy to blow himself up
, cursed Steve for saving his life, cursed Ellen for insisting that he came here and he cursed himself most of all for being so stupid as to fall in love.

Bitter tears leaked out onto the pillow but he just let them fall. He had to leave the place, couldn’t stand being there any longer. He knew he couldn’t just leave like a thief in the night. Ellen would be devastated, but he had to leave before New Year. Geraldine would be here and he had already seen Jules’s name on the guest list beside Geraldine’s.
His gut burned as he thought of her dancing with the man, his arms around her, his hands on her body and later when they went to her room. He held back the bile that rose into his throat as images of the perfect Jules doing unspeakable things to the woman he loved swept through his mind.

The woman he loved!
He covered his face with his hands and groaned as realization dawned on him. It had sneaked up on him, lured him in and captured him as quickly as sliding down the zip wire. It wasn’t going to do him any good moaning about it but he couldn’t stay there and see her in the arms of another man. It would be impossible; his heart would be ripped from his body if he saw it.

He wondered if he could get his old job back in the army. Richards would probably have him but he didn’t know if he’d be allowed now he had resigned his position.
He couldn’t really see that as being a viable option. There was no way he would pass the physical they used for ordinary recruits.

Maybe he could do something similar to Ellen but at a different ch
âteau. He had considered perhaps a facility for rehabilitation but hadn’t gone any further than think about it. Maybe he could now. Thanks to his legacy it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford it and if he made it an international facility he could probably raise some government funding anyway.

He rolled over in the bed as the phone rang beside him. It was an internal call from the kitchen, Ellen no doubt wondering why he hadn’t come down for dinner, but he just couldn’t sit there and watch while Geraldine and Jules
made moon eyes at one another.

He picked up the phone.

“I’m too tired. I cut those eight trees up by hand. Do you think you could just make me a sandwich and I’ll come and get it in an hour or so?” He asked after Ellen told him that they were about to eat. There was a short silence and then she agreed quietly.

He put the phone do
wn and crawled under the covers. The sheet stuck on his still slightly damp body and he lugged it up over his shoulder. Physically and emotionally exhausted, he curled into a ball and pulled the spare pillow in front of him, cradling it with his body, holding it gently against him as he would a woman, the woman he loved, the woman he would never now have.

He blinked blearily as sunlight streamed in through the open curtains. His arms were still wrapped around the pillow and he pushed it away as he sat up. He looked at the clock on his night stand and raised his eyebrows when he saw that it was gone ten in the morning. Over twelve hours sleep. He must have been more tired than he thought.

He
rubbed his eyes and frowned at the covered plate that sat beside the clock. He lifted the foil and then the top slice of bread. Smoked ham and mustard sandwiches lay there, slightly curled and dry at the edges. He didn’t care; he’d never been a fussy eater. He was hungry and the sandwiches were still edible. He picked one up and munched on the crust for a few moments. Ellen must have brought it up to him on her way to bed when he hadn’t appeared to collect it.

He
thought about his decision to leave and scratched absently at his thigh as he wondered how long it would take to pack his things. He only needed a small bag to tide him over for a few days until he could decide what to do next. Ellen would keep his things in his suite until he had decided on his next course of action.

He scratched his other thigh as he brought the second sandwich to his lips and then he put it down
again. His thighs really were itching. Hurting in fact. He gingerly lifted the duvet and stared in horror as he saw the skin covering the ends of his thigh bones.

It was red raw, splitting in places, the skin flaking dryly. He lunged for the phone
in panic.

“Ellen!” He shouted into the receiver
when she picked up.

“She ‘as gone to the market
, David. Can I ‘elp you? ‘as something ‘appened.” Geraldine’s voice sounded thick and slightly strange.

David gulped. He didn’t want her anywhere near him but he couldn’t sort this out on his own.
He had hoped Ellen would have an idea of what to do but he didn’t have any alternative. If the skin on his stumps was failing he would need further surgery.

Panic nearly overcame him. He couldn’t make his voice work at all. He gulped air like a fish and nearly choked as he heard Geraldine suddenly say in a far more confident tone of voice.

“David, stay calm, I’ll be with you in two minutes. Put the phone down and try to keep calm.”

He slammed the phone back into its cradle and breathed deeply as he stared at his skin.
What in God’s name had happened overnight?
Panic rose in his chest again as his legs throbbed painfully. They seemed to be becoming redder before his very eyes. Sweat broke out on his brow and then suddenly cooled as Geraldine burst through the door and rushed to his side.

She took one look at his face and then dropped her gaze to his naked body. Her eyes didn’t linger but opened in horror as she saw the ends of his legs.

She leaned forwards and gently lay her hand on his burning skin. It was swollen and tender. He winced as she touched him with feather like fingers.

“Mon Dieu! What ‘
ave you done? David, did you not rinse after your shower last night? After all that work in the forest they must have been really sweaty and tender. I hope you didn’t spend too long under the ‘ot water. Did you dry them properly and use your cream and powders?”

David shook his
head numbly, still too panicked to speak.

Geraldine took a deep breath
as she scolded him with her eyes.

“Foolish man! You know ‘
ow important it is to keep your skin in top condition.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She spoke rapid French to someone at the end of the line before she pocketed the phone once again and bent to look closely at what remained of his legs.

David swallowed noisily.

“Am I going to lose more of them? I can’t face it Geraldine, I just can’t go through all that again.” his voice nearly broke with the strain.

Geraldine stood back and stared
grimly at him. She wasn’t going to hide the facts.

“
I hope not but you ‘ave not helped yourself ‘ere. The skin is infected and you are going to have to remain flat on your back for a few days. I just called the doctor. You need a full dose of antibiotics immediately. He’s bringing them up right away.” She turned to leave the room but David lunged forwards and caught her hand.

“Where are you going? You can’t leave me.” The fear in his voice was audible to his own ears.

Geraldine smiled down at him gently. She gripped his hand back tightly for a second and then released it.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to get my bag. I have some proper cleanser and antibiotic cream in there. I’ll probably have to dress them for you too
as soon as the doctor ‘as taken a look. Now let me go and I’ll be back in just a few minutes, I promise. In the mean time you might want to put on some underwear or the doctor might think you’re swollen in other places too and give you some medicine to reduce that as well.” She gave him a cheeky wink as she disappeared out of the door.

David
looked down at himself and for the first time since he had woken realized his state of undress. Heat suffused his cheeks but then he frowned.
What on earth was she talking about? Swollen in other places where
? He looked absolutely normal everywhere else. He stared down at his body for a long moment. Okay chest covered with a light dusting of hair, flat stomach with defined muscles, a well-proportioned but perfectly normal manhood lying at rest at the moment. He stopped there and gulped. Then his head shot up and his mouth dropped open as he suddenly realized what she had meant. He had been lying there as naked as the day he was born and in his panic never even thought about his nudity. She had clearly copped an eyeful. He’d always known that he was well endowed but for his nurse to mention it was a bit of a surprise. It was even more of a surprise as she had a boyfriend.

He rolled to his side and pulled at the
nearest nightstand drawer, grabbed out a pair of boxers and dragged them on, wincing again as they touched his tender skin, moments before she returned to the room with her bag in hand.

The next few hours were torture. The doctor arrived and after a brief
and painful examination confirmed Geraldine’s first diagnosis. Both his legs were badly infected. His own sweat from his work in the forest had softened the skin around his bones. He had made a bad situation worse when he stupidly left soap on his already delicate skin. It had dried his already tender flesh so much that the abraded layers had cracked in the night, splitting, flaking and weeping in places.

The doctor left a huge bottle of tablets and released him into Geraldine’s care. Ellen arrived home
from the market a few moments later and flew up the stairs after hearing what had happened from the departing doctor.

She then sat o
n the end of the bed yelling at her brother, telling David off while Geraldine gently cleansed his sore skin, then spread a generous amount of antibiotic cream on his limbs using feathering strokes to apply it to the places that throbbed the most.

He gritted his teeth as not only his skin throbbed at her tender touch. Only Geraldine’s swift placement of a thick towel saved him from the ultimate embarrassment in front of his sister and he sighed with relief as she left the room still berating him for his foolishness and disregard for his health.

Silence enveloped them as Geraldine continued working on his skin. She concentrated hard on his thighs as the silence deepened and then David suddenly spoke before he could change his mind.

“I’m leaving. As soon as this has cleared up, I’m going back to England. I made a massive mistake coming here and I want you to know that I’m sorry I put you in this position.”