Roses and Flames

Chapter 7

Ambrosia’s lips were on his cheeks, first one, then the other, in a pair of sisterly but forceful kisses.

Patrick froze, body and mind stunned to immobility. With preparation, he had controlled his first reaction to her nearness. But this sudden and complete contact was simply too much. His arms had come halfway up to hug her before he had managed to stop them and now they poked stiffly out at the elbows, afraid to touch her, unable to show any answering response.

“Ambrose,” he managed in a tone as stiff as his posture.” Have you learned no decorum at all in the last six years?”

“Not a whit, Pat,” she said, with a laugh.” You did not think that you would escape me so easily, did you?”

“Of course not.” Hadn’t he tried, going nearly to the ends of the earth to do so? If that had been a failure then what was he to do now?

“I would have greeted you properly, had you given me the chance,” he responded with a lie. He reached up and pried her arms away from his neck, stepping away from her.

She gave him a dour frown, meant to be an imitation of his own expression, he was sure. Then she laughed again,” because we must always be proper, mustn’t we, Dr. Hastings?”

He took another step back to dodge the second embrace he knew was coming, taking her hands to avoid the feeling of her body wriggling against his.” We are no longer children, Ambrosia.”

“I should hope not,” and then she gave him a look which proved that she was quite aware that she, at least had grown up into a desirable young woman.” I have been out for Two Seasons now.”

“And kept half men in London dangling from your reticule strings, I don’t doubt.” Lud, but she was pretty enough to do it. Hair as straight and as smooth as spun gold, her eyes as blue as the first flowers of spring and lips that made his mouth water to just taste them. And he might have known the contours of her body, had he taken the opportunity to touch her as she had kissed him.

The thought nearly brought him down to his knees.

She shrugged as if it did not matter to her what other men thought and gave him the sort of the look with lowered lashes and slanted eyes, that told a man that the woman before him cared only about him.

“And what is your diagnosis, Doctor, now that you had a chance to examine me?”

“You look well,” he said, cursing the inadequacy of words.

She pouted and the temptress dissolved into his old friend, swinging her arms as though inviting him to play.” If that is all I shall have all out of you, then I must say that I have been told by the other men that I am quite the prettiest girl of the Season.”

“And that is why Duke of Mayburry has offered for you,” reminding them both how much had changed.

She frowned, but did not let go of his hands,” As of yet I have not accepted any offers.”

“Your father told me that, just now. He said that you are keeping the poor fellow on tenterhooks waiting for your answer. It is the most unfair of you, Ambrosia.”

“It is the most unfair of Father to even pressure me on the subject. My heart breaks at the thought that Anastasia is there all alone and widowed with no one of us to even help her through this difficult times. And here he wants me to answer to the Duke so that he can say that both his daughters are now settled off,” said Ambrosia.

She smiled again,” I would much rather you tell me what you think of my marrying, after we had some time together.”

“I stand by my earlier conclusion,” he said. It made him sound like one of those pompous asses who would rather stick to a bad diagnosis than admit the possibility of error.” Congratulations are in order. Your father says that the Duke is a fine man and I have no reason to doubt it.”

She gave him a dark, rather vague look, and then smiled.” How nice to know that you and my father are in perfect agreement on the subject of my future happiness. So since you are dead set on seeing me married, I am guessing that you have come prepared right?”

He had fallen into trap of some kind, he was sure. And here was one more proof of the fact that she was no longer the transparent child that he had left, who could not even keep a secret. Before him was a woman, clearly angry at her misstep, but unwilling to tell him what he had said or how he was to make amends.

“Prepared?” he asked cautiously, looking for some hint in her reaction.

“To celebrate my imminent engagement,” she finished, still waiting. She then gave out an exasperated sigh to show that he was utterly hopeless.” By giving me some token to commemorate the event.”

“A gift?” Her audacity startled a smile from him and a momentary loss of control.

“My gift,” she said firmly.” You cannot possibly think that you have been away for so long. All the missed birthdays, Christmases and a possible engagement and I would let you go just like that. And to let me believe that you have brought me nothing. Must I search your pockets to find it?”

He thought of her hands, moving familiarly over his body, and said hurriedly,” Of course not. I have it here, of course.”

He had nothing.

He was just saying that because he did not wish for her hands on his body, roaming about familiarly.

There had been a gold chain which he had bought for her in Minorca and then could not raise the nerve to send it to her. He had carried it around in his pocket for a year, imagining the way that it was going to look against the skin of her throat. Then he had realized that it was only making the memories more vivid and graphic, and had thrown it in the bay.

“Well?” She had noticed his moment of pause and confusion and was tugging upon his lapel, like an eager little child once again.

Patrick thrust his hand in the pocket and brought out the first thing he found, an inlaid wood case that held a small brass spyglass.

“This. I had it with me nearly the whole time. At sea they are dead useful. I thought, perhaps you could use it in the country. Watch the birds, perhaps.”

Any other woman in London would have thrust that thing back at him in disgust, pointing out that he had not even taken the time to polish the barrel.

But not his Ambrose. When she opened the box, her face lit as though she had been handed over a casket of jewels. Then she pulled out the glass and gave it a hurried wipe against the skirt to shine it and then extended it to put it against her eye.

“Oh Pat, it is wonderful.” She pulled him to the nearest window and peered out through it, looking as she always had , into the distance as if she could see the future.

She took it away from her face and grinned at him. The expression was so like the way he remembered that his heart hurt. She was standing beside him again, so that an accidental touch was inevitable. He withdrew quickly, ignoring the flood of memories that the nearness brought.

She seemed to be unmoved by her discomfort, sighing in pleasure as her vision improved dramatically. Then she said,” I shall take it to the country of course. And to the Hyde Park and to the opera.”He laughed at her enthusiasm.

“If you actually need a glass in town, I shall buy you a lorgnette. With such a monstrous thing pressed to your eye, you will look like a privateer.”

She let out a derisive puff of air.” What do I care what people think? It will be so much easier to see the stage.” She gave a sly grin.

“And I shall be able to spy on other members of the audience. That is the real reason that we go to the theatre. Nothing in London shall escape me. I share the gossip the next day with them and then I shall show them my telescope. In a week, all the smart girls will have them.”

“Wicked creature.”

Without thinking, he reached up and tugged on one of her honey coloured lock. She had not changed one bit in his absence, still fresh faced, curious and so alive that he could feel her vitality coursing in the air around them.

“Let’s go and watch something.”

She took his hand and her fingers intertwining with his own, pulling him back into the house and towards the doors that led to the garden that had been their haven.

And he was lost.