Heated embarrassment flooded her cheeks, and when Melissa turned her gaze up to his, she found amusement blazing in the depths of his forest-green eyes.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to startle you,” Lord Spurnrose announced, holding onto her arms just above her elbows as though he did not wish to release her.
“You … you did not,” Melissa said, struggling to speak past the sudden lump in her throat. Barely, she managed to stop herself from tapping Flit with her heel to show how annoyed she was at his not having alerted her to the viscount’s presence sooner. It was not truly the spaniel’s fault. She ought to have been far more alert herself. Having spent the last few years in relative isolation, she had learned to be wary when out alone, no matter the situation, yet Lord Spurnrose always appeared able to surprise her.
Lord Spurnrose cocked his head slightly, and the corner of his lips twitched upwards with amusement. Clearly, he was not convinced. Yet he did not force the subject. Instead, he smiled and gently released her when she urged herself from his grip.
Being close to the viscount was dangerous. In the few seconds she had felt his touch, she was already consumed by the desire to lean on her tiptoes and kiss him, to welcome him affectionately.
No!she told herself sternly.He is nothing but a patient.
Yet even as she told herself so, she couldn’t help remembering how she had kissed him that night and how it had felt to have him hold her.
Forcing herself to dip her gaze, she bowed her head and took a step away. “I am glad to see you so well, My Lord.”
“And I you, Lady Belmont.”
The way he said her name made her quiver. The lump that formed in her throat was next to impossible to ignore.
With great restraint, she forced herself to lift her gaze to look in his eye once more. “To what do I owe the pleasure, My Lord?”
He continued to smile at her silently for a moment, examining her face closely, leaving her feeling quite uneasy. She did not feel at all judged by him. In fact, she felt quite the opposite. She felt desired, and that was perhaps even worse.
Doctor Redditch’s eyes upon her had been scathing and angry, and she had had no trouble keeping her distance from him, but this was entirely different. The way Lord Spurnrose looked at her made her want to step back into his arms and never leave his embrace.
Almost as if he felt her conflicting feelings, Flit stepped between them, nudging her leg with his shoulder as though silently urging her away from the nobleman. And yet, Melissa couldn’t bring herself to move or even suggest that Lord Spurnrose should leave.
She could barely even blink as she looked him dead in the eye and saw the affection reflected there.
“Lady Belmont, I wished to come and thank you,” Lord Spurnrose explained, his gaze filling with further emotion. Melissa had to bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from reacting to it. His gaze threatened to pull her into oblivion. “I know you are the reason for my cousin’s new treatment plan, the reason I am feeling the best I have felt in my entire life.”
Melissa’s throat constricted. The emotion coming off him in waves was almost too much to handle. It was not only gratitude. It was something else that made her heart skip a beat, and she knew that the longer she remained there, the more danger she was in.
“I only advised what I would advise any patient, to take care of themselves,” Melissa insisted with a shrug of her shoulders. “It was no big …”
Lord Spurnrose shook his head and took a step forwards, forcing a surprised Flit to squirm out from between their legs.
Lord Spurnrose gripped Melissa’s forearms as though he could not bear the thought of giving her a chance to escape. Their gazes met, and his eyes upon hers made her breathless. She saw a wealth of affection and emotion in his eyes, the likes of which she had only ever seen once before in the eyes of her late husband.
No, this cannot be happening!she protested to herself though she could not even attempt to break away from his grip.
“You have given me back a life I thought lost to me,” Lord Spurnrose announced, and his hands gripped firmly upon her arms, locking her into place. “That was no small feat, Lady Belmont. You succeeded where so many had failed and have given me more than I could ever repay you for.”
Tears pricked the corners of Melissa’s eyes, emotion threatening to overwhelm her, and before she knew what she was doing, she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed the nobleman. Their lips connected, their bodies entwined, and for a few seconds, they simply held each other.
Melissa did not think; she simply felt. Passion, desire, love, and longing all mixed into one, and when she pulled back just enough to break her lips from his, she kept her eyes closed and smiled.
When she felt his forehead rest against her own, his warm and sweet breath tickled the tip of her nose, and she could not bring herself to break away any further. Not until he whispered the words that shocked her to the core.
“Marry me?”
“Excuse me?” Melissa exclaimed, pulling back. With his arms wrapped around her, she found it almost impossible to break away, even as horror threatened to overwhelm everything else.
For a second, she allowed herself to believe she had imagined it, but when Lord Spurnrose opened his eyes and smiled down at her, she knew that she hadn’t.
“Marry me, Lady Belmont, and I shall spend the rest of my life trying to find ways to show you how grateful I am to you,” Lord Spurnrose announced, and this time Melissa found the strength to pull away from him.
Utterly shocked by his words, she took several steps back and glowered at him. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t say such things. My treating your ailment is not reason enough to marry!”
