“What body?”
“The exhumed one.”
“Ha,” he barked and returned his attention to his papers. When she didn’t move, however, he glanced back up to see that same, knowing hint of a smile on her face. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious.”
He closed the folder on his desk.
“Weare not doing anything. You’ll not be attending me on that venture.”
To his satisfaction and also his disappointment, her smile disappeared.
“Why not?”
“Because that is a case that does not require your presence.”
“But I would be a great help. I’ve studied the human body excessively this past year as well as the reactions poisons can induce not only in the tissue, but hair and nail folic—”
“Miss Sharpe,” he interrupted, standing up from the wooden chair and placing his fists on the desk before him in an effort to appear both irritated and imposing. “I would not take you to examine a dead man for a million pounds.”
“But why not?”
“Because, it is neither the place, nor the circumstance to which I’ve agreed to let you shadow me. Your field of study will remain firmly with the living and how to treat them.”
“But I can help—”
“And I will not be so cavalier as to have you involved with an active crime investigation. You may have bullied your way into studying medicine, but I refuse to allow you anywhere near the dangerous world of crime that runs rampant in this city. Not only would your aunt have issue with it, but Dr. Barkley would refuse it as well. The danger is too great.”
“What danger?” Grace pressed, coming around the desk, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was crowding him. For the daughter of an earl, she did not behave like one. Or perhaps, by insisting on having her way, she was acting exactly like the offspring of a peer. “I see nothing precarious about examining a body.”
“If the man was poisoned and it’s confirmed, don’t you think that the ones who did so might be angry by the discovery?”
“A fact they should have considered beforehand, if they did poison him.”
James let out an exasperated breath.
“Criminals rarely consider the consequences of their actions, do they?”
“I wouldn’t know, Dr. Hall. I’ve never met a criminal.”
“And you never shall, as long as I’m in charge.”
“In charge?” she repeated, sounding surprised. “You didn’t want me to shadow you in the first place.”
“No, but now that you are, you will abide by my rules, or I will terminate your shadowing.”
“But… That’s not fair!”
Frustration and indignation flashed in her eyes as she gazed at him and James struggled with remembering what exactly he was talking about, because the crease in her brow, mixed withthe challenge in her amber eyes made him feel out of sorts suddenly.
Clearing his throat, he was about to tell her exactly what was unfair when the bell over the front door rang out once more.
Glancing over her shoulder, he saw his first patient. He reached for the folder on his desk, handed it to Grace, careful not to touch her as he did, and stepped around her, although he paused. Unable to help himself, he leaned toward her and spoke softly, just above her ear.
“Get ready for a fight, Miss Sharpe. Mr. Williams hates doctors. And women.”
He inhaled deeply then before walking away and regretted it instantly. She smelled like sunshine and, oddly enough, carline thistle, the same that grew all around his boyhood home in Glencoe.
