Chapter Nineteen

L ater that evening after Nick had kissed the aristocratic beauty in the arboretum, he still couldn't get his racing heart to rest. He tossed and turned in bed but couldn't get the image of her pretty pink and swollen lips out of his mind.

Or the reaction of his own body.

When he did finally fall into a fitful sleep, it wasn't restful. Instead, it was full of Pippa, and they did more than just kiss. He'd awakened, bathed in sweat. He pulled his sleep shirt off and tossed it in the corner of the room. The lights from the street had been unlit; it must have been after five in the morning. Not a sound besides the rustling of his covers was audible. The whole house was silent. He had to get some more sleep. If he didn't get enough rest, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his work in the morning.

Nick pulled the covers over his ears and pressed his face into his pillow. Not that the pressure from the fluffy feather bunch could force him to sleep, but the image from his dream couldn't be erased.

He groaned.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her in his dream, and his mind came up with a new variation of what he'd do to her next. Not that he ever would. Or could.

Well, he had.

But not really.

Definitely not as he had in his dream. He opened his eyes and blinked. If only…but he couldn't. Nick closed his eyes again and there she was. In this image, Pippa had just taken a bite of the pineapple, and the juice had spilled down her lips to her chin. Nick wrapped his hand around the back of her head and pulled her in, licking the sweet nectar off, kissing the juice away until she dropped her head backward and granted him access to her perky little breasts.

Nick pulled the covers tightly on his head to make sure the wicked images from his mind couldn't fly out into the world. He mustn't think it. He mustn't imagine it.

And yet, the idea of nudging her breasts, one and then the other out of one of her little, thin silk dresses and taking them, each in turn, in his mouth made his body hard as a plank of wood. He wasn't comfortable in the big bed, and his erection throbbed with the need to… no. No !

Pippa Pemberton, Lady Philippa Pemberton, was a well-born girl who was off limits.

But she was so beautiful.

Her eyes were marbled with hues of blues that Nick had never seen in nature.

Her hair was softer than unspun mulberry silk.

And her lush lips had been so hot when he felt them swell under his kiss.

She'd welcomed his tongue, and he could not help but return to the image in his dream: the moonlit greenhouse and nothing but the sound of their moans as he kissed her breasts. Glistening with the sweat of their exploration and the tingle of her skin on his, Nick returned to the land of his imagination. There, and only there, Nick could allow himself to lay the gorgeous beauty down on his coat, generously spread out on the table to cushion her as he climbed over her. He'd slowly but deliberately take each of her swollen nipples in his mouth, like berries he couldn't resist.

He'd kissed her breasts as he peeled the rest of the clothes off her body. She'd moaned his name and wrapped her long, lithe legs around him, and suddenly—it was such a good dream—Nick was naked atop her. He'd propped himself up on his elbows on the sides of her head and looked into her beautiful eyes as he pushed himself into her. Engulfed in her heat and wetness, deeper and deeper, he sank into her and dropped his mouth back onto hers. He felt her tongue in his mouth, which he opened wide as he started to—

"Nick!" Someone called him. "Nick!"

The dream was over, but Nick was still in a daze. The morning light assaulted his tired eyes, and his head spun with the forbidden passion he'd imagined all night.

"Nick!" Wendy's voice resonated through the hall. She knocked on his door and then burst in. "I've been calling you—"

He jumped out of bed and rubbed his eyes. She was his little sister, of course, but he didn't want to tell her what he'd done lest she worry about their future and the consequences of his transgression.

"What happened here?" Wendy asked as she picked up his sleep shirt from the floor and eyed his covers in disarray. "Did you wrestle a bear in this bed?"

"A bear? No. A demon, yes. I couldn't sleep," he grumbled.

"Well, you have a patient waiting for you downstairs," Wendy said as she tossed his shirt in the wicker basket for the laundress to wash.

At first, Nick's impulse was to dress and hurry to his exam room, but then he realized there shouldn't be anyone on his schedule. "It's Saturday." He walked to his nightstand and picked up his pocket watch. "And…it's ten past seven in the morning!"

"Yes, that's why I came to fetch you. It seems necessary for you to attend to this patient right away." She smiled with an amused gleam in her eyes before she left the room. Sure, it could be funny to her—she didn't toss and turn in frustration all night. He quickly dressed and stormed to the shared dressing room on the first floor, where Alfie was shaving his face over the wash bowl.

"Hey!" Alfie protested when Nick pushed him out of the way brushed his teeth, and stormed downstairs.

A patient had been waiting for him indeed.

He urgently needed to tend to this one.

But it wasn't the emergency Wendy made it out to be.

*

When Nick walked into his office, buttoning the last button of his clean shirt, he was still thinking about the dream he'd had last night. It was unlike him to be so taken by a girl. In all his life, he'd been able to put his work first and focus on the tasks at hand, his studies, his apprenticeships, complicated cases, and calculations. But this week, he couldn't recognize himself. He'd fallen over a girl and smashed a cream cake on her with custard and all. Then he'd walked across Town to bring her home safely, the cream still on his coat. She'd shown up to his office and he'd examined her eyes. And then he'd delivered the glasses she'd needed in person.

Nick shook his head. He'd never hand delivered glasses before; he wasn't in the habit of making house calls for such trivial matters. Especially not the kind in an orangery filled with exotic plants in the middle of London where he'd had a fantastic kiss. And then an even better one the next day outside of said estate, one where he didn't belong.

He didn't belong with the beautiful duke's daughter and yet, nothing could stop him from thinking of Pippa since all of this had happened.

Except that there was one person that could get him to stop thinking about her and speaking to her instead. The sight of his treatment room almost knocked him out of his loosely strapped boots.

"L—Lady Pemberton," Nick stuttered. Hadn't Wendy said a patient… oh, Wendy couldn't possibly know… but why did his little sister send him downstairs so urgently? Could she have deduced what he couldn't even understand himself?

"Dr. Folsham, I bid you a good morning." Pippa stood primly in a beautiful dress, her hands in a muff, and a thin pelisse hanging over her arm. Her reticule was the same color as her bonnet, and she looked refreshed, clean, and… Nick stepped a little closer… she smelled so good.

He gave himself a mental slap in the face and took a deep breath to steady himself. His body was still tense from the night. Hard and tense.

"Is something amiss, Lady Pemberton?" Nick glanced at the door and could have sworn he'd seen Wendy's silhouette rush by. A floorboard creaked.

"Dr. Folsham," Pippa started.

"Nick."

She glanced toward the door. "Nick," she said more quietly, with a smile building on her face. Her cheeks grew adorably rosy. Nick's breeches were too tight to hide her effect on him, and he walked around to his chair to hide behind the wooden backrest.

"You said I should visit you if I have any concerns about my vision."

"What is the matter with your vision?" Erection forgotten, Nick rushed to her, put his index finger under her chin, and nudged her face upward so that he could look into her eyes.

She met his gaze, and her pupils widened. A lot.

She was happy to see him.

And then she licked her lips, and her gaze fell to his mouth.

Nick swallowed. "What's wrong, Pippa?"

"You said that I could—"

"Of course, you can. What's with your eyes? They look very good to me."

"They haven't seen… ahem … I haven't seen you, and so…" She dropped her gaze, but Nick still had his index finger on her chin. He cupped her cheek gingerly and smiled. Oh no, after such a night, he didn't have the energy to suppress the glee bubbling within him. He didn't even care if Wendy heard any of this. She'd find out sooner or later.

Pippa had clumsily asked to see him.

At seven in the morning on a Saturday.

That couldn't have been a coincidence; she knew he had no patients.

"Are you hungry?"

She licked her lips and nodded, her eyes on his mouth.

A rustle outside. Wendy . His curious little sister was too nosy to spend the morning with Pippa here.

"I mean, have you had breakfast yet?" Nick asked, hinting toward the door.

Pippa immediately stepped back and brushed a nonexistent strand of hair behind her ear. "Not yet. Cousin Bea is visiting the Countess of Langley, and I snuck away."

"Without a chaperone?" Nick turned and looked over his shoulder. Wendy was behind the door; he could see her shadow. "Shall I call my sister to join us?" He spoke loudly enough for Wendy to hear, not that she'd miss a word anyhow since she was busying herself with something just beyond the walls to Nick's treatment room. He could hear her.

Pippa shook her head.

All right, she wanted to be alone with him. That suited him better. "Would you care to join me for a pastry, perhaps?" Nick asked, again loudly enough for the rustling outside his door to pause.

"Yes, please," Pippa said, smiling at him. She'd caught on.

*

Minutes later, Nick offered Pippa his arm, and she placed her delicate hand on the crook of his elbow. He shuddered with pleasure and pinched his buttocks together, hoping to give the raging erection in his breeches a little more room to breathe. This was agony, pure torture. And yet, he was so glad to have the blonde beauty on his arm that he didn't care.

Pippa stood tall and slender, surprising Nick with her choice of pelisse. As she fastened it, the garment elegantly outlined the curves of her figure. He couldn't help but admire her beauty; she was just the right height for him, tall enough to meet his gaze yet slightly shorter, allowing for effortless moments when he leaned in to kiss her—if he dared.

Nick tensed his arm to ensure she had a good grip.

And she did the most adorable thing and squeezed him back.

"Where are you taking me?" Pippa broke the silence.

"Our French patisserie is just around the corner. I have a standing order of madeleines."

"Oh, how wonderful," she said, but her voice drooped.

"Why does this disappoint you?"

"Oh, it doesn't."

"Pippa," Nick halted. "Tell me."

She moved her eyes, shook her head, and finally raised her brows as if she had had a whole conversation with herself. "I can't say."

"I promise to keep your secrets; I'm a doctor."

That made her eyes smile, but it didn't quite reach her mouth. She tried to fight it with little success as her lips grew pointy and curled into a smile. "Well, madeleines for breakfast go by too quickly. I was hoping to spend more time with you."

"I would like that very much," Nick said with the charm he thought he'd entirely lost around this beauty, for up until now he'd behaved like an overcome green boy in her presence.

Arm in arm, they walked part way down the street but when they turned the corner toward the practice, Pippa stopped. He didn't want the time with her to end but didn't dare suggest turning the other direction for a stroll in the park.

"Let's go somewhere else."

"Where?" Nick hoped she wouldn't suggest returning to 87 Harley Street because he didn't want to be there. He wanted to be somewhere far away, just with the beauty who had just let go of his arm. He immediately missed her touch.

"Could you hire a hack?" she asked.

Said and done.

"Where are you taking me?" Nick asked when Pippa handed the driver a small card and a few shillings.

"Only about an hour outside of Town."

"What? Where?" Excitement bubbled within him, but Nick thought he should at least act coy and feign a modicum of concern for propriety.

"To a little house in the country. It's not far." Pippa cringed when she said that.

"You're a bad liar, aren't you?" Nick chuckled.

With an enchanting twitch, her nose crumpled. "I suppose so."

"I like that about you quite a bit." Nick leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. "So, if I'm going to be in this carriage for a while, I'll make myself comfortable."

"Are you not upset that I am abducting you?" Pippa asked cheekily once the carriage rolled down the smooth streets in Marylebone and headed to the city's outskirts.

Nick shrugged.

"You are?" Alarm pierced her voice.

He gave her a lazy smile, stretched his legs, and crossed his feet from the opposite bench, where he was seated. "Do I look worried to you?"

She inclined her head and surveyed him from across the little cabin. His feet nearly touched her thighs, but he was careful not to make contact lest it be unwelcome.

On second thought, she was ogling him quite intensely from the three-feet distance between them. "You look very nice like this."

He was so happy to be alone with her.

"What do you mean?" Nick tried to respond with nonchalance, but his heart made a flip. He wasn't in his usual attire since he'd expected to find an emergency patient in his office. He'd only pulled his woolen coat over the plain white shirt and wore simple beige breeches and brown boots.

"You don't look like a doctor today."

"I'm always a doctor."

"Yes, I know. But you look like a boy." It would have been an insult from anyone else, but not how Pippa said it. Admiration and something else that Nick didn't dare consider desire colored her voice. Not yet.

"I'm a boy. A man, actually. And you are a lady."

"I'm a woman," she corrected him.

He straightened and sat up and squinted at her. "I don't think you are yet."

Alarm made her eyes grow wide.

An uncomfortable pause followed.

"You are a man, though, so you have been with other women before?" Pippa asked shyly, wringing her hands.

"I am. I have."

"I thought so." She turned to look out the window. They'd left London behind and were on a cobblestone road heading past some fields. But Nick didn't care for the green hills outside, nor the air that cleared of London's soot. He hoped for a different kind of clarity.

"Is there something you wish to ask me, Pippa?"

She swallowed. "Yes, indeed."