From inside came the butler. Rushing forwards, the man took Lord Spurnrose from Melissa before she could give any kind of protest. “Please, allow me to help you, My Lord. I saw you from the window.”
Glancing at the house, Melissa thought she saw a curtain twitch in one of the downstairs windows. The sensation in her gut suggested she knew exactly who had seen them from the window, and it most definitely hadn’t been the butler himself. Undoubtedly, the man had been sent out to help remove the lord from her vicious grip.
The fool couldn’t even bring himself to come and help his cousin,Melissa thought, bile rising in the back of her throat.
Though she could feel a great sense of impending trouble, Melissa would not be shooed away from the house so easily. Besides, this was Lord Spurnrose’s house, and he seemed to be showing no attempt at trying to stop her from entering.
“We should get Lord Spurnrose inside so I can properly examine him,” Melissa suggested. The butler looked from her to the man now hanging off him instead and then back again as though he was seeking some excuse to decline the offer.
Then he nodded and said, “Of course, My Lady.”
Melissa glanced at the window where she had seen the curtain flickering and wondered whether Mr Spurnrose might still be watching them. If he were, she couldn’t see any sign of him.
As she followed Lord Spurnrose and his butler into the house, she could only hope that the nobleman’s cousin would not attempt to cause trouble. All she had done so far was help the lord, yet at every turn, there seemed to be someone who wished to try to stop her.
When she made it into the manor entryway, Melissa held her breath, half-expecting Mr Spurnrose to come accusing her of witchery all over again, demanding that she escort herself from the house and never return. Instead, when nothing happened, she turned to Betty, who appeared behind her. “Thank you, Betty. Could you go and see if Lord Spurnrose’s horse makes it safely back to the stables?”
“Of course, My Lady.”
“And take Flit with you?” Melissa suggested. The thought of either her dog or her maid having to witness a confrontation between herself and Mr Spurnrose made her uncomfortable, and she would much rather deal with such things on her own.
That being said, she hoped she would not see him at all.
“Please help Lord Spurnrose to his chambers so I might examine him properly,” Melissa instructed the butler. For a second, she thought that the lord or even the butler might protest, but the two simply looked at each other before they began to make their way awkwardly up the stairs.
Chapter 16
“Thank you. I can take it from here,” Melissa instructed the butler as soon as they made it into the lord’s chambers and he was settled comfortably in an armchair beside the empty fireplace.
Again, the butler looked to his lord as though he was awaiting further instructions, but when Lord Spurnrose simply gave a curt nod, the butler bowed and returned to the door. “I shall not be far if you need anything.”
“Thank you,” Lord Spurnrose said, nodding again to the man.
The butler hesitated for a moment longer before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.
“Anyone would think that a man and a woman should not be left alone together in a bedroom,” Lord Spurnrose commented with amusement in his tone. Melissa, who had crouched before him to open her doctor’s bag, turned her gaze up and gave him a sadistic smirk.
“Something tells me they are right, though I do not think you will have nearly as much fun right now as people might believe.”
With that, she pulled a bottle of rubbing alcohol from her bag along with some fresh cloth.
“What exactly do you intend to do with that?” Lord Spurnrose asked, his face growing pale as though he already sensed he knew what was coming.
“As I said before, I need to examine you and ensure you do not have any wounds left unattended,” Melissa explained. She had already noticed a smear of blood upon his forehead and hairline, and before he could stop her, she reached up and brushed back his auburn locks to reveal a slight grazed cut obviously inflicted upon him during his fall.
He winced the second she dabbed it with an alcohol-soaked cloth. Pulling back, he glowered at her and said, “Do you like to cause pain?”
“Only to those who are too stubborn to allow me to help them,” Melissa responded, tipping the bottle again to ensure the cloth remained wet. “Now tell me, Lord Spurnrose, do you have any more injuries, or am I to search for them by force?”
The spark that flashed across his gaze then made a shiver run down the length of Melissa’s spine. It was not one of fear or disgust but, in fact, quite the opposite. She was suddenly filled with desire as she easily imagined the words he wanted to say to her in response. Yet he didn’t need to say them because she could practically hear herself screaming them, her insides telling her that she would have loved to rip the clothes from Lord Spurnrose’s back just so that she could take in every glorious inch of him.
Lord Spurnrose pursed his lips at her, and she was so certain that he would offer some lewd remark that she braced herself. Instead, he started to unbutton his jacket, his gaze never leaving hers.
The heat that built within her was growing harder and harder to ignore, and she felt it sizzling deep in her gut, travelling further still to pool between her thighs.
He did not stop at removing his jacket. Melissa could do nothing but crouch and watch as he took off his shirt and undershirt too. The way his muscular torso and arms rippled as he moved caused her to bite her lip. Only when he looked at her again could she quickly stop herself from doing so any further.
Taking him in properly, she could see that he did indeed have a few cuts and scrapes that needed tending to. Luckily for her, professionalism always seemed to win out, and she quickly started to dab away with her alcohol-soaked cloth. Only the sound of his hissing under his breath told her how much the treatment stung.
