Charlotte refreshed the cold napkin she’d placed on John’s forehead and smiled at his sigh of relief. It was the third such sound he’d made since arriving in the quiet library, and as one who’d suffered plenty of head strain, she could relate.
“How long do you suppose we can hide in here before our absence is noted?” She sat next to him on the leather sofa, one elbow resting on the back of it, facing him.
“Hmm. Considering the attentiveness of not only our esteemed hostess but also my mother, I’d guess we have another twenty minutes before tongues begin wagging.”
She laughed quietly. “Perhaps nobody saw us enter the home at all.”
“Wishful thinking, my dear.”
“It wouldn’t be seemly for the director of the Criminal Investigation Department to be sullied by his association with the scandalous lady doctor who spent four years in America doing who knows what.”
He lifted the side of his makeshift bandage and tilted his head, cracking open one eye. “My reputation can only be enhanced by keeping company with the smartest, most stunningly beautiful woman in London.”
To her surprise, she felt sheepish at his compliment and her cheeks warmed. To hide it, she wrinkled her nose at him. “I don’t remember you as one who plied women with false flattery, John Ellis.”
“False?” He snorted and repositioned the cloth over his eyes. “I don’t remember you being one who lacks self-awareness, Dr. Duvall.”
“Smartest?” She laughed softly. “Perhaps I’ll own that one.”
“The other is equally true, and I would have you know that, as well.” He reached over and found her fingers, giving them a squeeze. “The world is not kind, but sometimes we are cruelest to ourselves.” He rested his hand on her leg.
She smiled and lowered her head on her arm, which was still crooked on the back of the sofa. “I am sorry for anyone who cannot boast of an acquaintance with you, Director.”
He chuckled. “Ah, words that can be spoken only by one who is fond of another. Plenty of people wish they could not boast of an acquaintance with me.”
“How are you feeling?” She was close to him and, despite the low light in the room, had a clear view of his profile.
Handsome as sin, this one.
She wondered if she should tell him that. He’d paid her a very nice compliment after all, even if it was, as he’d said of her, “words spoken by one who is fond of another.”
“I’m feeling fractionally better,” he murmured. He removed the cloth and turned to look at her, still resting their clasped hands against her leg. “Your apothecary-in-a-reticule has come to my rescue. The pain is lessening enough that I should be able to stand in the ballroom without embarrassing myself.”
“Good. We should return, then.”
“We should.” He smiled, and she had the absurd thought that he was close enough to lean in for a kiss.
“Scandal,” she murmured, her lips curving upward.
“Indeed.” He paused. “You and I are so very similar, Charlotte,” he whispered. “I suppose that accounts for our friendship.”
“Similar, how?”
“We are driven, obsessively so, to succeed. We’ve taken obscure paths despite the good opinions of those around us.” He drew his brows lightly together, his eyes tired but clear. “We’ve little time for the customary pursuits that polite society requires.”
“You speak of marriage and family, of course.” Charlotte thought of her cousins and their children and smiled, surprised to feel a little wistful.
“Some things come at a cost.”
“Yes.” She was growing increasingly aware of the warmth of his body, his arm, his hand on her leg. Her chest slowly rose and fell, and she was loath to move away. “I will cherish my role as the ‘favored aunt,’ then. Nurses are required to remain single to keep their employment, and until convention changes, the same holds for women doctors.” She sighed. “Besides, I’m quite on the shelf, you know.”
He laughed through his nose. “Absurd. You are more alluring than any young girl just out of the schoolroom.”
Her eyes locked on his, and she felt herself sinking into their hazel depths. Her heart thumped in response to his compliment. Rather than indulge it, however, she whispered, “Your personality would crush a girl just out of the schoolroom.”
“Who would I not crush?” His expression was serious but unguarded. Gone was the consummate professional, the man who commanded a room and everything in it with his presence alone.
“Someone equally fierce.”
“Where would I find such a person, I wonder?” He lifted their joined hands and placed his lips on her fingers.
Mercy.
She ought to have guessed he would be potent in his close regard of a woman given his notice of detail, his scrutiny of the individual. When he did settle, the future Mrs. Ellis would be the luckiest woman alive. To have his undivided attention, his unfettered affection—it was certainly more than she could ever expect to find. He was one of few men who didn’t view her as a threat, who didn’t believe her education had made her less feminine.
A voice sounded in the hall, faint, but enough of an interruption that she sat up. He released her hand. She smiled, searching for equilibrium. “I’m sure you’ll find your perfect match.”
He straightened, folding the damp cloth, and arched a brow at her. There it was. His mask was back in place. The vulnerability was gone.
“I don’t suppose you’ll help me find her? You did work at The Marriage Gazette, after all.”
“I did not realize you were looking.” Once again, as she’d noted after the funeral, the thought of him with a wife did not sit well with her.
“Neither did I.”
She tilted her head. “I am confused.”
He gave her a half smile. “As am I. I am not looking.”
“Nor I.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to tell him.
“Good.”
“Good! How could I remain employed after all my hard work if I ruined it with marriage?”
“Indeed.” He nodded seriously.
“Besides, we’ve already established that I’m too busy and much too unconventional to please an average man.” She was talking in circles.
He winked at her. “He’d best be above average, then.”
“Perhaps I ought to make use of The Marriage Gazette for myself,” she muttered.
“I did not think you were looking.”
“I’m not!”
He smiled broadly, and she laughed. Good. They were back on familiar footing. She didn’t know what kind of bewitched web had wound itself around them in the library, but she would be well advised to avoid such close communion in the future. It wouldn’t do at all to develop feelings deeper than friendship for John Ellis.
She rose, and he followed her from the room, offering his arm when they reached the hallway.
“You are feeling better?” she asked.
“Much. This was just what I needed.”