Twin of Fire (Montgomery/Taggert 7) - Page 14
“Such as?” He was advancing on her in slow, steady steps.
“Stay there,” she answered, swallowing hard.
Lee took her arm. “You aren’t afraid of me, are you? Come over here and sit down. I’ve never seen you like this. Not that I don’t like it, but…”
Blair tried to relax, tried to remember that she was supposed to be her sister. If she told Lee now of the trick the twins had been playing on him all evening, he’d be furious—perhaps furious enough to break the engagement. She thought that if she could keep him talking, if they could eat a little, drink very little, then maybe she could get him to take her home. Anything, so long as she didn’t allow this man to touch her.
She took a seat on one of the pillows and helped herself to a raw oyster. “I haven’t seen you very often as Dr. Westfield,” she said, not looking up at him, but she heard the sou
nds of a bottle of champagne being opened.
“Never, as I remember. Have a strawberry,” he said, as he dipped the berry in champagne, ignored her extended hand and put it into her mouth.
He was bringing his mouth to hers when Blair choked on the fruit. Lee handed her a glass which she drank from gratefully. Unfortunately, it was champagne and, almost instantly, she could feel it going to her head.
“Never?” she asked, trying to suppress the lightheaded, dizzy, happy feeling that was beginning to overwhelm her. “That seems like an awfully long time.”
“Too long for most things.” He took her fingertips and began to nibble them.
She pulled away from his touch. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to a bowl.
“Caviar. It’s said to be a wonderful aphrodisiac. Would you like some?”
“No, thank you.” She was drawn to the wineglass that Lee’d refilled. As she sipped it, she said, “How do you prevent peritonitis?”
He moved closer to her, spearing her with his hypnotic eyes. “First, you have to examine the patient.” He put his hand on her stomach and began to move it around in a slow, easy way. “I feel the skin, the warm, alive skin and then I move lower.”
Blair, in one frantic motion, managed to move away, and knocked her glass of champagne over so it ran down the table and onto Lee’s hand.
He pulled back with a laugh. “I’ll put more wood on the fire.”
She thought he seemed awfully pleased with something. “I really think I should go home. It must be awfully late.”
“You haven’t touched your food.” He took a seat on the pillow next to her.
“I’ll eat if you’ll talk. Tell me how you became a doctor. What made you want to do it?”
He paused in putting choice bits of food on her plate and looked at her speculatively.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No, but you’ve never asked me that before.”
Blair wanted to shout that that was because she’d never really talked to him before. She took a deep drink of wine to cover her embarrassment, while Lee put chicken in wine sauce on her plate. “Maybe it was seeing you with the girl tonight.”
He stretched his long, lean form out beside her, inches away, pants tight around his thighs, wine in hand, looking at the fire. “I wanted to save people. Did you know that Mother died not because she was having a baby at forty-five but because the midwife had just come from another delivery and hadn’t washed her hands?”
Blair paused with her fork on the way to her mouth. “No,” she said quietly, “I didn’t know. It must have hurt when Blair asked about aseptic conditions.”
He turned to look at her, smiling. “Blair doesn’t bother me at all. Here, have another oyster.”
Blair didn’t know whether to be glad or offended by his comment that she didn’t bother him at all. “You certainly upset her. Did you know that she thinks you’re just like Mr. Gates?”
Lee’s mouth dropped open a fraction. “What an absurd idea. Why don’t you relax here beside me?”
Blair moved toward him before she even considered what she was doing, but she stopped. Maybe it was the champagne that was making her so forward. Of course, that didn’t explain how she’d behaved on River Street, or in the park, or at the reception. “No, thank you,” she said in a prim little Houston-voice. “I’m quite fine where I am. Do you plan always to work at the Infirmary?”
With a sigh, he looked back at the fire.
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