Melissa had to bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from laughing in his face. She could already see from his expression that she would only entice him to be even more vile if she did.
“I was not aware that Lord Spurnrose was a child,” she said, holding her head high, forcing herself to meet his eyes even though every second she did filled her more and more with dread.
“My cousin may be a grown man, but he has always had a penchant for trouble,” Mr Spurnrose stated, glowering back at her with a tilt to his lips that suggested he found himself amusing. “And you, Lady Belmont, are the embodiment of trouble.”
At that, Melissa did laugh. She could not help herself.
“I rather believe I like the sound of that, Mr Spurnrose,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders and holding her doctor’s bag in both hands to stop herself from feeling the urge to hit him with it. “If I am trouble, then I shall embrace the compliment willingly.”
Her words seemed to anger the man even more, and she had to clench her jaw to stop herself from saying anything else.
Mr Spurnrose looked as though he was about to offer something else scathing or maybe even just yell at her to leave. But then he sucked in a deep breath and stated, “You shall be pleased to know that your presence is no longer needed as arealdoctor has already been sent for, and he shall surely arrive any moment.”
Melissa’s throat filled with bile at his words. Her stomach clenched, and she couldn’t help imagining the kind of doctor Mr Spurnrose might have hired to come and care for his cousin. Likely by the end of the evening, he would have been cut, bled, and given all manner of strong medicines to make him sleep. Or perhaps worse.
It didn’t bear thinking about. Nausea grew and grew in her stomach as she imagined more and more what the nobleman might experience at the hands of a London quack.
“I would caution against putting all your faith in such men, Mr Spurnrose,” Melissa said even though well aware that her words would likely fall upon deaf ears. Just seeing the look on his face, she could tell that he would no more take her advice than he would accept a bucket of water from her if he were on fire. “Many of them see you only as a means to an end.”
The way he continued to glower at her told her all she needed to know about whether he would take her advice. With a deep sigh, she decided it was not worth the fight. She had done all she could for Lord Spurnrose so far. If she were to remain for much longer, she was certain Mr Spurnrose would make it almost impossible for her to remain. And if she got entirely upon the wrong side of theton,who was to say that she would not find herself with a mob on her hands?
“I shall go, Mr Spurnrose,” she told him calmly, meeting his gaze so he would see she was not afraid of him. “But know this, if Lord Spurnrose requests my help again, I shall not refuse.”
With that, she turned and headed the opposite way down the hall.
“I shall ensure that someone is sent to see you out,” Mr Spurnrose called after her as though he did not trust for her to leave of her own accord. Melissa did not bother to respond, merely rolling her eyes at him instead.
Chapter 17
When the doctor arrived to see Elijah, he couldn’t help looking at his cousin with disgust. The man stood in the bedroom doorway as Doctor Wallis entered the room with his bag, a similar bag to that Lady Belmont carried, though Elijah suspected that the things inside it were not nearly so wonderful as had been in hers.
“Lord Spurnrose, forgive the wait,” the doctor said as he stopped at the end of the bed where Elijah had taken to resting.
After his fall from his horse, he did have to admit being far more sore than he had let on to Lady Belmont. It had been quite the rough and tumble fall from the saddle as the stomach ache had come over him so quickly during a gallop through the fields.
“I had a great distance to travel to be here.”
“Doctor Wallis, though I appreciate your coming, I do believe you have had a wasted journey,” Elijah said in a cool tone, flicking a glare in his cousin’s direction again. “I did not send for any doctor.”
Doctor Wallis looked between him and his cousin silently for a moment before he turned back to Elijah and smiled. “Well, I am here now. Perhaps you might allow me to look you over anyway?”
Elijah cringed at the request. The last thing he wanted was to be poked, prodded, and ordered about by a doctor who had been unable to help him so many times before. And yet he knew that he could not simply brush it off. If word reached his mother that he had turned away a man sent to help ease his suffering, he would never hear the end of it.
“Harold, leave us,” Elijah ordered his cousin, in no mood for any pleasantness. If he had to sit through this ordeal, he would not have his cousin standing by to spectate. He could only imagine the kinds of things that the good doctor might let slip in front of him if he did.
Harold looked for several moments as if he might protest. Then, with only a smile and a nod at the doctor, he said, “I shall await news just outside.”
“There is no need,” Elijah said firmly. “Go about your business. I am certain between myself and Doctor Wallis we can get to the bottom of things.”
Though his cousin did not look entirely happy with the words, he did not protest. Bowing, he removed himself from the room and left Elijah to handle his next task.
“Shall we?” the doctor asked, placing his bag on the bedside table. “Why don’t you tell me of your accident this afternoon?”
And so Elijah did just that, telling the doctor everything save for the fact that one Lady Belmont had been the one to aid him back to his home and help him get cleaned up.
Just thinking of her and how gentle she had been as she cleansed his wounds made him hate Doctor Wallis all the more. The old man, with his balding head and his pockmarked face, was entirely too heavy-handed as he began his examination.
He checked every one of Elijah’s limbs, no more willing to take his word for it that he was unharmed as Lady Belmont had been though she had certainly had a more feminine touch when it came to getting the answers out of him.
