“Of course, if you are too busy, Doctor, I fully understand.” She cinched her reticule drawstring tight, a prim smile sliding ambiguously across her lips.
Sudden loss punched him in the gut, and against his better judgment, he shook his head. “I am never too busy for you, Miss Balfour, though I do have one stop to make before I am free. Would you like to come along?”
“That depends upon where.” Her nose lifted like a hare sensing danger—a quality that no doubt served her well during her travels to foreign countries, but did she really think he’d lead her amiss?
An unaccountable sadness draped over him at the thought. He shook it off by shoving the prescription into his pocket. “Nothing too disreputable. I was just on my way to the Hatchett Inn, which isn’t far from St. Brandon’s Hill, a place I’ve been meaning to explore.”
“I cannot refuse St. Brandon’s.” She smiled in full. “My nurse used to take me there as a young child, and it happens to be on my route home.”
“All right, then, shall we?”
She fell into step at his side. “I hope it isn’t too serious a case that awaits you at the inn.”
“I suppose there’s a possibility of someone choking on a fish bone, but other than that, I am merely dropping off this portfolio of notes for a meeting Mr. Peckwood is conducting.” He lifted a bound swath of papers. “Afraid I didn’t finish them up in time before the doctor left the office.”
She peered over at him, brow sinking. “If they are your notes, should you not be staying for the meeting?”
“As senior partner, Mr. Peckwood felt the information would be better received from him. He’s angling for investors to finance a new procedure he’s working on.”
“Well then, I hope he at least credits you for your labours.”
Not likely. From what he’d come to know of Peckwood, if there were any glory to be had, the man would garner it all for himself. A little too forcefully, Graham kicked a piece of broken cobble out of the way. The fragment skittered across the street and bounced off a rain barrel.
“Sometimes, Miss Balfour, it is better to remain in the shadows. And here we are.” He held open the blackened oak door of the Hatchett Inn.
The strong scent of ale and sausage drifted out, growing stronger as they stepped into a public room so ancient, a worn depression in the floorboards led them directly to the counter. Graham caught the barkeep’s eye with a jut of his jaw, and the big-bellied man ambled over.
“What’ll it be, sir?”
“See that this is given to Mr. Peckwood at once, please. He is expecting it.” Graham handed over the folio.
“Aye, the doctor said as much when he arrived. I’ll get it to him straightaway.”
“Thank you.” Officially finished with his errand, Graham turned to Miss Balfour and offered his arm. “Now then, shall we take our medicine in the great outdoors?”
“Ready when you are.” She grinned as she rested her fingertips lightly on his sleeve.
A mere five minutes later, they reached St. Brandon’s Hill, a rolling stretch of wildness, dotted with trees and trails, rising ever upwards, impervious to the city surrounding it. As much as he loved the ocean, he could get used to this bit of beguiling green—just as he could get used to the woman at his side.
She peered up at him, her brown eyes luminous in the brilliant afternoon. “You know more about my family than I do of yours. Have you any nearby?”
“None nearby, nor far off, I’m afraid.”
“Oh.” A wave of compassion washed over her face. “I hope I didn’t overstep in asking.”
“Not at all. Yours is a genuine inquiry, a sign of your inquisitive mind, not of a gossiper bent on collecting seeds to sow far and wide.” He smiled, which widened into a full-fledged grin as her cheeks pinked a most becoming shade. “But in effort to satisfy you, I have no siblings. My father died when I was a small child, and I lived with my mother until I joined the navy at fifteen.”
Her fingers pressed into his sleeve. “So young?”
“Other than my mother, there was nothing to keep me on land.” He shrugged. “And I figured, why not get paid to learn a vocation?”
She stopped, her head tilting to a curious angle. “I wonder, sir, if you are more a businessman than a doctor.”
“To be a success, one must be both in this profession.”
He tensed as she studied his face, her brown gaze shifting from one eye to the other. A ridiculous response on his part, for this slight woman could not possibly proclaim him a success or a failure. She hardly knew him. So why the sudden urge to change that? To share with her things he’d never share with anyone else?
“Well.” An intoxicating smile lifted her lips. “I am sure your mother would have been proud of you.”
