Chapter 5

 

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘What’s so funny?’

He took his hand from his mouth. ‘Y-you are,’ he spluttered. The things you say. The way you say them. This frankness about … eh … bodily functions. I suppose that’s what comes of being the daughter of a medical man. Of being a lady apothecary and anatomical artist yourself. Who sketches and paints the naked cadavers of men as well as women.’ There was no mistaking the sparkle in his eyes now. ’Twas a flash of devilish glee.

‘Not much point in drawing subjects with their clothes on,’ she countered. Feeling her body too reacting to their embrace, she folded her arms across her betraying breasts.

‘I suppose not. To answer your question – because I know you like to learn new things – I usually try thinking horrible thoughts. Fortunately,’ he said, ‘which may very well not be the right word, I have a plentiful supply of those in here.’ He tapped his index finger against his temple. ‘Right now I’m thinking about running the gauntlet of the fire-breathing dragon on the other side of this door.’ He nodded towards it. ‘The venomous looks the wee witch gives me could shrivel any man’s ardour.’

‘Robert Catto!’ But she was laughing now too, even if their shared amusement perplexed her. ‘Right now,’ she said, mirroring what he had just said, ‘I’m wondering how we can be finding any of this funny.’

‘Because we have to.’

‘There is that,’ she said, remembering what Joshua had said this morning about sparing Geordie’s blushes. She told Catto the story, adding the words which had leapt into her head at the time.

‘Laughter. Care. Kindness. And I thought that if we can hold on to those, they can carry us through whatever lies ahead of us. Whether the danger comes from the Liddells or … elsewhere. Does that make me impossibly naïve? Or disordered in my wits?’ She wrinkled her nose, thinking about that.

‘Moonstruck?’ he suggested. ‘That makes two of us. We might add two other words. Love. Hope. A very wise young woman recently told me hope can move mountains.’ He stretched out a hand and drew his index finger lightly down her nose, still wrinkled in perplexity. ‘I love it when you do this. Although we need straight faces now. We mustn’t arouse the dragon’s suspicions.’

‘As though we’re going to our executions— Oh. That is a prodigious unfortunate metaphor, is it not?’

‘Let’s try for serious but composed. Do you think we can manage that?’

 

Walking into the kitchen, Christian did her best to look serious but composed. He was absolutely right. They could not afford to look like a man and woman who had emerged from a passionate and mutually arousing embrace only moments before. Betty Gilchrist had sharp eyes, especially when it came to her young mistress. She was standing at the range stirring the big soup pot which bubbled and simmered on it most days. With two large brass lanterns set on high shelves on opposite walls, the room was well-lit.

Turning at their entry, the housekeeper’s attention went straight to Robert Catto. She was directing another ferocious glower at him.

Irritated though she was by that, Christian adopted a pleasant tone of voice. ‘Where did you put the Captain’s coat, Betty?’

‘I hung it up at the back door. Where else would I hae put it?’

‘Is the lantern through in the wee lobby lit?’

‘Aye.’ Betty’s glower hadn’t faded. ‘Seeing as how I assumed this one wouldna be staying here long.’ Unforgiving eyes flickered from Robert Catto back to Christian. ‘I’ve heated up the broth. I’ll tak a plate through tae your faither.’

‘I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. I’ll show the Captain out.’

The only answer she got was another of Betty’s grunts of disapproval.