Chapter Fifteen

T he next morning, John's son Herbert was Dustin's first patient.

The door opened and Dustin heard the rustling of fabric and the clop of a parasol on the parquet. His heart made a flip. Several hours of work were still ahead of him but Dustin couldn't help but think that this was the day he was supposed to leave. The day he'd promised to kiss Lexi if she… Bollocks . Back to work.

He took the instruments out of his patient's mouth and briefly turned to see Wendy disheveled in the door with an authoritative and displeased gleam. "I told her not to come upstairs but she wouldn't listen. She said she had to speak to you now and—"

Dustin saw Lexi over his shoulder. She was flushed, and several hairs had fallen from her bonnet. But she shouldn't be there at all.

He was so glad she was.

His stomach lurched and he thought it best to focus on his little patient. Herbert needed him to place several more fillings. All were small and the damage was better than John had made it out. Nonetheless, this needed to be addressed and the process was work intensive. Dustin was already slowed down because he was using Felix's instruments and not his own.

"I'm ready."

Whatever Lexi referred to, it had to wait.

Except I mustn't let her wait. It's my duty as a gentleman to listen to her.

"I'm with a patient." Dustin handed the boy a glass of water to rinse his mouth. He heard Lexi's footsteps approach and the door shut behind her—more footsteps in the hall. Wendy was gone.

Lexi came closer and looked at Herbert who peeked at her with a cotton roll in his cheek. She turned crimson and croaked, "I'm sorry for the intrusion." She eyed the door but shifted from one leg to another instead of fleeing. "I said, I'm ready," she said as if she'd taken an important decision. Dustin tried to focus on his patient, but the wobble in Lexi's voice irritated him.

Ready? Ready for what? He wanted to ask but he needed to focus on his patient. What couldn't wait that she needed to interrupt this procedure? As much as he wanted to pay attention to her, it was imperative that Herbert get all his attention for now.

Dustin ignored her to the best of his abilities, rolled a new piece of cotton gauze up, and stuffed it gently in the boy's cheek. "Bite on the piece of cork, please. I shall continue," he said, and with a pair of long tweezers he picked up a small ball of rolled-up gold foil to continue stuffing it in the buccal pit he'd cleaned out in Herbert's tooth. All four of the boy's first molars were affected. The gold would always be visible if he laughed. But at least it stopped the decay, and it would last. If there were one good thing he'd leave behind in England, it was saving a young relative's teeth from whatever another quack might have done, especially those who tried to get their hands on the rich boys at Eton.

"It's been two weeks, Dr. Fitzwater. On the hour." Lexi came to stand by the boy's head and bent down trying to wedge herself in Dustin's view. This went too far. He had to protect the child's privacy. "Are those baby teeth?" She surveyed the wooden cassette with the various sizes of gold foil balls. She knew what they were now and was ever so curious. He admired her intelligence and curiosity, but not at this particular moment.

"Miss—" he mustn't give the name of a patient, especially not in front of another. "Lady… ahem … I'm afraid this is not the right time. I'm busy, as you can see."

She paid no attention, stepped to the boy's left side, and peeked into his mouth. "Oh dear. Such a young boy. These are not baby teeth at all, are they?"

The boy squinted at her and mumbled over the cotton-gauze roll and the cork, "I'm not a baby." He was his father's spitting image.

"Indeed, you are not. Sorry for the intrusion," Lexi said with a gentler voice and put her lace-gloved hand on his shoulder. "This will take hours."

The boy shrieked and spat out the cotton.

Dustin sat back on his stool. Bollocks.

"Hours?" The boy asked.

"Sit down, Herbert," Dustin said. "I'll finish. I promised your father I'd finish it before I leave."

"When are you leaving?" Lexi asked.

"In two days." Why was he answering her questions? She shouldn't be here at all. For so many reasons—not the least of which was the fact that seeing her hurt his heart. She was the woman he could never have, even as he could—if only he'd accept his birthright. Which, of course, he never would.

"I'm sorry but this truly cannot wait, Dr. Fitzwater. I need you now." She stepped back; the tone of her voice reminded him that she was, in all reality, a lady and the daughter of a peer. She was used to people acquiescing to her wishes. He supposed he might have been the same way, once upon a time.

Dustin raised a brow. "What's wrong?" He might as well ask since she cared little about patient confidentiality. Plus, it didn't count if the patient broke it and she just had admitted to being his patient. "It cannot be the fillings I placed. They were flawless."

Herbert raised his brows and blinked curiously.

"It's not. I mean, it is my mouth, rather, but… ahem …" She looked over her shoulder at the maid who'd brought Herbert, sitting quietly and unobtrusively in the corner. The epitome of a good servant. One could forget she was there, or even, not see her because she blended into the setting until needed.

It occurred to Dustin that was, in a sense, what he had become.

Lexi stepped close to him and whispered, her words a faint, warm brush over his cheek, "Two weeks have elapsed, and you promised me a kiss."

Dustin's heart made a somersault. So, she hadn't forgotten. And yet, he mustn't… but this was unlike anything had ever happened to him.

First of all, nobody had ever besieged his treatment room. Second, a girl had never outright requested a kiss from him. Third, he'd never been so affected by a girl.

With Lexi, a kiss wouldn't "just" be a kiss anymore. Not with her.

She retrieved her hand from Herbert's shoulder and folded both hands primly in front of her as she lifted her chin. "I'm not leaving without it. You promised me."

"She's pretty. You should kiss her," Herbert said with a boyish smirk that mirrored Dustin's instincts exactly.

Yet, it wasn't allowed. He mustn't.

But he wanted to. Probably more than anything he'd ever wanted. And after he left for Maryland, he'd never get another chance. This was probably the only time he'd ever be able to kiss her.

"A word, please." Dustin walked to the door, opened it, and inclined his head. Lexi went into the hall and stood beside the closed doors. Dustin followed her and shut the door behind them, just as Wendy walked up the stairs with a case of clove oil vials.

"Was just going to bring this to you," she said but the friendliness melted away as her eyes darted from him to Lexi and back. "What's going on?"

"Let my patient know I will be back soon, please. Could you see to his comfort?" Dustin ordered. It occurred to him that he'd used the same impervious tone as Lexi had when she'd said, "I need you now."

It didn't matter. Not with Wendy. She didn't care if he was a duke by birth. Right now, she squinted, her half-grin betraying that she'd put one and one together.

Dustin wasn't sure where to go so the only place that came to his mind was his bedroom, the door to the right.

He led the way, and Lexi followed.

They left Wendy standing perplexed in the corridor.

A moment later, Lexi stood almost menacingly in his room as if her presence were greater now that she was an earl's daughter and not just a girl in pain who needed dental work. She hadn't forgotten his impetuous, foolish offer. Now, she surveyed his surroundings and Dustin longed to tell her he had more to his name than this humble chamber. Or at least he would have if…But no, he mustn't for that would require he step up and take the reins from John, and that would mean he couldn't catch Corrigan and clear his family's name.

"What are you doing here?" he said in a lower voice than intended. Behind him was the bed where he'd thought of her. She shouldn't be here, yet he was so glad she was.

Lexi crossed her arms, uncrossed them, and leaned against the dresser by the wall. She tossed her head and it occurred to him that she was nervous. Brave, foolish—but nervous. Afraid he'd deny her the kiss she sought. "It's been two weeks."

I know.

"Two weeks for what?" Even as he said that he knew playing ignorant wouldn't work. Worse, he knew he needed to hear her say it again. She wanted his kiss.

It was too good to be true. And too bad simultaneously for he'd love to stand before this lovely lady as a duke, not merely as a traveling dentist. Suddenly, the modest life he'd chosen was no longer enough. He wished he could whisk her off to his family seat, Starcliff Castle, and carry her up to his old, opulent room, which could fit the present shabby chamber at least five times over.

He'd ride with her over the hills to the Scottish border and make love to her on the shore of the river Esk.

In the moment, staring into her gorgeous eyes, he longed to stand on the cliffs and overlook his castle, he wanted to offer her more than just himself. But all he had right now was his heart, and he feared giving it to her would do more harm than good. The only title he was permitting himself to show was not the one he'd been born to assume but the one he'd earned—the doctorate.

Lexi cleared her throat but her voice was low like the final metal clang of a fallen xylophone. "You said you'd kiss me in two weeks if nobody else does. The time has come to make good on your promise." She appeared spent as if speaking these words had cost her all her courage. Lexi stepped back but hit the dresser and a soft thud sounded as the piece of furniture knocked against the wall. It was such a small, narrow room, nothing like Starcliff Castle. He put his hands on her hips and slid her over a step or two, so that she pressed against the wall instead of the bureau, lest the sound alert Wendy. He knew she'd be listening.

The force of her words had overwhelmed the atmosphere. No wonder, Dustin thought, none of the debutantes could live up to the grandeur of his home. To see a girl for who she was, he needed to take out the blinding luxury and the unspeakable burdens of the responsibility attached to it.

"Nobody has claimed your first kiss?" he asked.

She shook her head with a sadness that was entirely out of place.

"Do you know what you are saying, Lexi? Alone in my chamber with me?"

"Yes," she whispered, meeting his gaze with a feral hunger and a shameful blinking. She was inexperienced, naive, precious, and yet eager to receive his kiss.

She bit her lower lip, and Dustin saw the bright white edge of her incisors and the perfectly feminine smile line of her front teeth. Just like that, he was at sea and struggled to hold back. He stepped closer, for what else could a man of flesh and blood do when a girl as beautiful as she stood in his room and asked outright to be kissed?

"I need to know how it feels, to kiss a pr—a man of my own choosing. Just this once. Please!" Her voice was a timid whisper but she didn't back away.

"Like Princess Leela?" He'd noticed her eyes were lined again, more heavily this time. She probably wanted to feel like the heroine in her book but she took life into her own hands to make it happen. Oh, how he yearned to introduce her to all the artful lovemaking he'd learned in India.

She nodded vigorously, and her eyes beamed.

It was the worst decision he'd ever made—and he'd made plenty—but still. It felt like the best. "All right." Dustin closed the distance between them.

Lexi pressed herself fully against the wall so her bun came undone. Again, just like it did two weeks ago. And the effect of her hair slowly falling out of her coiffure and onto her shoulders was even stronger today than a fortnight ago. Dustin leaned in but never broke their eye contact.

With her eyes wide, she parted her lips. Dustin's body twitched and he was instantly hard, just as he was last night when he'd dreamed of her. And all the other nights since she'd first come to him.

Then she did the oddest thing. With her eyes shut, she opened her mouth and tilted her head back.

Dustin blinked. "What are you trying to show me?" His heart dropped. Her lips were juicy and pink like a strawberry. Her teeth were a bright white contrast and the most perfect smile line, the most feminine tilt of her canines…her mouth was female perfection as he couldn't even remember seeing drawn in the books on oral aesthetics. She was perfection and he needed to drink from her. He didn't see her as his patient anymore and didn't wish for her to see him as the doctor.

She closed her mouth and smacked her lips. "In my book, Princess Leela tilted her head for Prince Jai to ravish her mouth. I… I…don't know what it—"

Dustin pressed his lips against hers. She let out a sweet breath and parted her lips, granting him instant access.

And he took it.