Heath nodded, tapping his fingers on his desk. “I need your help with something.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Francis stood a bit taller, as if he had been knighted by the Queen. “Anything you wish, I will aid you to the best of abilities.”
Heath suddenly felt awkward asking but he knew that, at this point, he had little choice. “You are married, yes?”
Francis blinked, the only indication that he was taken aback. “Yes, Your Grace. I have been married for twenty-five years.”
“That is quite a long time,” Heath mused, stalling a bit. His discomfort deepened. “Then you should know how to answer this. If your wife is upset with you, how do you rectify the situation?”
This time, Francis’ brows lifted ever so slightly. Heath quickly shook his head. “No, I suppose it isn’t the same situation since I am not married. I am not even courting. But I find myself at the end of a lady’s anger and I wish to bring peace between us.”
“Ah, I see.” Francis seemed to processing the answer. Heath waited patiently. “If she is not close to you in such a manner, Your Grace, then perhaps you could do something to show your remorse.”
Heath frowned, leaning closer. “Like what?”
“Have you already apologized?”
“I have,” he said with a nod. “And I do not think she has accepted.”
“Then…” Francis hesitated. “Perhaps a gift would best suffice?”
That took Heath by surprise. Gift were seldomly exchanged between men and women of the ton unless they were betrothed, married, or related. And to hear such a suggestion come from someone as upright as Francis was surprising in and of itself.
“Are you certain?” Heath asked, leaning back in the seat as he thought about it.
“I understand that it might be deemed as a bit improper but…if I may…” Heath waved his hand to indicate that he could speak as he wished. Francis continued, “If you are speaking about Lady Meredith, then it seems you two are quite close already. I have served you, My Lord, since you were but a child and so I do know that she is a childhood friend. Perhaps it will not be as improper as you might think.”
“You may be right about that, Francis,” Heath said. He was already imagining it, bringing her an expensive gift and watching her face light up with a smile. Another voice told him that it would not be that easy but he didn’t want to listen to it. “What do you suggest I bring her then?”
“That, Your Grace, will depend on the type of lady she is.”
Heath nodded understandingly. He looked up at Francis’ lined face. “Thank you, Francis. That was quite helpful. You may leave me now.”
“It was a pleasure, Your Grace.” Francis bowed deeply and left.
A gift was truly all it would take for Meredith to forgive him? Something about the idea felt wrong, but Heath didn’t care. He was willing to do anything to make her forgive him. Anything to lift that weight off his chest.
So, without another second of hesitation, he left to find whatever he could to make Meredith look at him with delight again.
Chapter 17
The physician was terribly cold. He had redonned his coat, but even so, his fingers trembled as he cleaned her wound. He didn’t complain in the slightest, however. He only talked to her.
“I have not told you my name, have I?” he asked conversationally. “My name is Mr. William Miller. And I take it you’re are Lady Meredith?”
She glanced at him then, surprised that he knew her name. But then she returned her attention out the window, the only spot in her bedchamber that gave her comfort. It seemed that when she was sitting by a window, letting the cold air settle into her bones, she felt as if that was where she belonged.
A piece of her felt a little bad that she was subjecting Mr. Miller to such harsh conditions, but his smile told her that he wasn’t as uncomfortable as she thought he might be. “Forgive me,” he said. “Your maid is the one who informed me of your name. But now that I think of it, perhaps I was overstepping my boundaries. I am far too used to knowing the people that I treat, I am afraid.”
Meredith said nothing, didn’t even look at Annalise who stood silently in the corner of the room. That was certainly something she was used to. Keeping her silence despite the people constantly trying to draw a conversation out of her. The past few days had nearly made her forget who she’d once been.
“I cannot help but wonder how you happened to get a wound such as this,” Mr. Miller went on. At this point, Meredith thought he was only trying to fill the silence while he worked. “I have quite the curious mind, you see. I suppose that is why I decided to learn medical science, to answer the questions I’d always asked myself when I was younger. My own research will yield something great one day, but until then, I will continue to ask those questions. I hope that is not a bother to you.”
Meredith looked at him. His eyes were focused on the bandage he was currently applying to the wound, but then he looked up and caught her eyes. He grinned and Meredith sharply averted her gaze.
“It seems I’m not the only curious mind in this room. If there is something you would like to ask me, My Lady, then you may go ahead and do so.”
She did want to ask him a question, but she refused to let it out.
But perhaps Mr. Miller was a man who could read minds as well as he could administer medicine, because then he said, “Does it have anything to do with His Grace, perhaps?”
She couldn’t have hidden her reaction if she’d tried. Meredith caught his grin out of the corner of her eye.
“His Grace is quite a clumsy man, it appears,” Mr. Miller went on. He was finished now, but he made a show of packing his things into his satchel. “I remember a time when I was constantly called to this manor to take care of the Duke’s wounds. It was quite a miracle to see him recover from them all, though I suppose his skin is riddled with scars now.”
Meredith swallowed. Her gaze was trained out the window, but she saw nothing. The very thought of Heath hurt, bedridden, nursing a wound that he had gotten doing those terrible activities…it made her both sad and upset.
“If you cannot handle the pain, My Lady,” Mr. Miller went on. “You may have two teaspoons of this laudanum.” He rested it on the end table behind her. “If we take care of this properly, perhaps it will not scar. Now, then, I will take my leave.”
He bowed and turned away. Meredith didn’t watch him go, but she listened both he and Annalise left. Once she was certain she was all alone, she let out a long sigh.
Unbidden, Heath popped into her head. She’d thought of him punching that man senseless so many times that the memory no longer horrified her. Now, it only made her worried. She’d decided to have breakfast with him earlier, just to make sure he hadn’t busted his knuckles open. The moment she’d seen that he hadn’t, she’d left.
Not because she was afraid of him. But she was afraid of how much she wanted to be near him, despite all she’d seen. Despite the nightmares, despite the stark reality of who he was, Meredith wanted things to go back to how they had been before.
There was a knock on her door. Meredith stiffened, but she didn’t turn away from the window.
“Meredith?” Her heart thudded at the sound of Heath’s voice, her head whipped around to stare at the door. She swallowed. “I’m coming in,” he warned.
Meredith’s heart began to race. She turned her back to the door, holding her breath.
The door opened. She heard his soft footfalls, coming a stop a short distance behind her.
“I have something for you,” he told her. Meredith slid her eyes to the side, listening without a word. There came the sound of the footsteps once again, then a sound she could not decipher. And then, his hands appeared on either side of her, a dazzling ruby necklace dripping from his fingertips.
Meredith held her breath, her eyes going wide. She didn’t know what to do, her mind going black. A shudder rushed through her at the feel of the cold metal against her bare neck, then the warmth of his fing
ers as he clasped it.
“Would you turn so I may see it on you? I’m sure you look lovely in it.”
As quickly as she could, Meredith unclasped the necklace from her neck and tossed it aside.
“Enough of this!” came Heath’s hiss.
The bark had her jumping, turning around to look at him with a gasp on her lips. He was frowning, anger streaking across his face.
“Do you know how long I searched for a necklace such as that?” he shouted. Heath stalked away her, his hands flying to his hair. When he looked back at her, his shoulders sagged as he released a long breath. His tone was softer when he spoke again. “I have been all over London trying to find something to apologize to you with but I didn’t think on it enough, apparently. Now that I see your face, I know this was a terrible idea but…I’m just sick and tired of the silence, Meredith.”
Her own breed of anger clogged all her senses, had her shooting out of her seat without a thought. “What did you think a necklace would have done? Do you think I would have thrown my arms around and you and thank you for being so kind and wonderful after everything?”
“It would have been something, at the very least. Moping around the manor is only making things worse.”
“Whose fault do you think this is?” She was shouting again, her voice growing raw. But it felt good to react. It felt good to do anything other than cry. She advanced on him, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Had you not done something so horrible then it wouldn’t be so difficult for me to even look at you!”
“What was I supposed to do?” To her slight surprise, Heath lowered his voice, but that didn’t lessen his anger in the slightest. “Was I supposed to calmly ask that man to let go of you? Was I supposed to tap him on the shoulder, get down on my knees, and beg him to hand you over to me?”
“You certainly did not need to punch him over and over again until you disfigured his face.”
“Very well, then.” Heath threw his hands up, then crossed them. Meredith braced herself for the accusations that were about to come. “I did take it too far. I will admit that. But had you not been there in the first place, you would not have found yourself in such a position. What could have possessed you to sneak out of the manor to follow me?”
“You were being far too secretive for my liking,” she defended. “I could not help myself. And no matter what you say, I do not regret it. After what I saw, I’m happy I followed you.” Even though Meredith was still struggling to come to terms with it she had needed to know.
He narrowed his eyes. His jaw was ticking, a movement that filled Meredith the sudden urge to reach up and touch him. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the yearning coursing through her. Standing so close to him, taking stock of his broad shoulders, and the hardened jaw, and the mussed hair. She wanted him to kiss her just as much as she wanted him to step away from her.
The thought frightened her.
“What did you see?” he asked her.
“You robbed someone. And the way you went about it was…was so unnecessarily violent that I could hardly believe my eyes. Why do you do it, Heath? You are wealthy so I know it is not for money. Do you truly enjoy harming people and taking things from others?”
Meredith was growing a bit hysterical now. She hated the rush of emotion but she couldn’t help it.
“I cannot believe I nearly fell for your act. I almost thought that you were not as bad as you tried to make yourself seem but you truly are as dark on the inside as you wanted me to believe. Well, then, worry not, Heath. I will fool myself no longer. During my stay here, there is no need for us to cross paths anymore.”
“I never pretended in front of you, Meredith.” His tone was almost gentle.. “I was completely myself. If you thought I was someone different than who I truly am, it is your mistake.”
Hearing those words hurt her more than she thought it would. She nodded, refusing to let the tears threatening to form to come to the fore. “You are right. You are completely right.”
She tried taking a step back, to return to her seat by the window, but he caught her hand. Meredith tugged angrily at it, hating the fact that she was about to cry again. For once, she didn’t want to cry. She wanted to cling on to that sweet, sweet anger.
“But, it is my fault,” Heath said, his tone soft. Meredith looked at him in alarm. “I should not have reacted the way I did after all that happened. I should have…reacted in a calmer manner. I should not have accused you of trying to harm yourself in such a forceful manner. And, when I apologized, I should have done it more sincerely. I know that now.”
Meredith couldn’t look away even if she tried. She watched, in awe, as the anger and frustration rushed out of him in one go.
“I…” And to make matters even curiouser, he seemed to be struggling to find his words. Her body went warm, suddenly overly aware of his fingers encircling her wrist. She shouldn’t be reacting like this to the sight of him trying to apologize, but she wanted to wrap her arms around him, she wanted to put this situation aside so she could just be with him.
She stared at his lips, holding her breath.
“I apologize, Meredith,” he said, looking into her eyes. Meredith knew her face was red, but she couldn’t look away. “For frightening you, for handling this situation so badly, and for thinking that simply giving you a ruby necklace would suffice when I should have known better.”
Meredith knew she should say something. She forgave him. She would forget everything that had happened. Anything. But when he stepped closer to her, all thoughts fled her mind.
“Do you not know what to say, Meredith?” he asked. His own gaze dipped to her lips. “Or are you thinking of something else?”
Meredith was thinking of only one thing. And she was certain he was thinking about the same thing.
What little space that was left between them was bridged in an instant. Heath reached a hand up to cup her chin, tilting her head up to his. “Do you forgive me, Meredith?”
“I forgive you.” Her voice was but a whisper, yet it brought a smile from him.
“Wonderful. Now that I know that, I do not need to hesitate to do this.”
Meredith saw the kiss coming. And still, she was wholly unprepared for it. Heath pressed his lips gently against hers, if she were a fragile doll that needed to be handled with care. Slowly, tenderly, he ran his hand around to the back of her neck and cupped her there as he kissed her deeper, a soft moan in the back of his throat.
Meredith’s body was utterly still. She knew she should react, knew that she should lean into this kiss and accept it. It mattered not that it was her first kiss. All that mattered that it was with Heath, that it was somehow fitting for this monumental moment to be with the man who’d once been her friend. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss him back, but she didn’t know how.
But when he began to lean away, Meredith was no longer that fragile doll. She was a woman in every sense of the word, who had needs that were threatening to consume every inch of her. She didn’t want to part from him just yet and so she grasped the back of his head, keeping him there.
Heath smiled, and took that as his chance to deepen the kiss. He brushed his tongue against her lips, a quite question. She opened up with ease. There was no longer any hint of shyness within her, no uncertainty. It felt right and she melted into his arms without any protest, moaning herself when he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her to his body.
The press of her tender bust against his hard chest was enough to drive her arousal through the ceiling. She was trembling with the force of it now, completely unsure of how to handle it. So she left it in Heath’s hands. She left him to deal with the passion between them as he saw fit.
And he did not disappoint.
It seemed to consume him with as much fervor as it did her, which was clear through the urgency in his movements. One of his hands no longer rested on her waist, but slid down to her bum and cupped her there. Meredith didn’t think she could get
enough of it, but then he broke away from her lips and lowered his head to her neck instead. The moment his tongue touched the heated skin there, she broke.
His hands continued their exploration of her body, drifting toward her bust now. Meredith was gasping, eyes closed as he nibbled on her neck. He ran his tongue up to her ear and she shuddered, feeling things she’d never felt before. Every inch of her body was reacting to him, places that only seemed to act in such a manner when she was around him. And he was taking advantage of it. He seemed to know exactly what to do, exactly how to make her go soft in his hands.
When he’d pulled her dress up and his hand slipped under her dress, Meredith gasped. She pulled away a little, but didn’t fight his arm that kept her there. He broke away from her neck, his clouded eyes looking down at her. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked her.
Captive to the Kiss of a Wicked Duke: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 13
