Page 54 of Prescription for Sin

“Isn’t it magnificent?” Lady Amy sighed, gesturing to the ice-laden branches. “Like something from a fairy story.”

Emma barely heard her, too focused on straining to catch Lady Winona’s breathless questions to Everett about his travels abroad.

Michael nudged her ribs. “You haven’t heard a word we’ve said, have you?”

“Of course I have.” But her attention drifted again as feminine laughter rang out from Everett’s admirers.

Michael glanced at Lady Amy, now deep in conversation with Lord Lex, then lowered his voice. “Really? Then you agree to assist me in amputating Lady Amy’s left foot?”

“Naturally—what?” Emma’s head snapped around.

“Just ensuring you were paying attention,” Michael grinned.

“Why aren’t you pursuing one of the debutantes who keep eyeing you like a sweet they want to devour?”

“You know I only—”

Emma held up her hand for silence as Everett’s cultured tones carried over. Shaking his head, Michael walked ahead with Lady Amy and her brother.

“The Italian countryside is breathtaking in spring…” Everett was saying from a few steps ahead.

“Alas,” she said, just loud enough to carry, “even such a sight lacks beauty when one is accompanied by a liar and a thief.”

Everett turned his head, his lips curving into that infuriating half-smile. “I recall you were an excellent teacher in both arts. In particular, stealing a man’s wits.”

“Hardly stealing when you had none to begin with,” Emma replied evenly.

Everett fell back and lowered his voice. “Perhaps your scientific rigor was compromised by all that...heavy breathing."

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. She moved closer still, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. "The breathing was purely from boredom. Really, watching paint dry would have provided more stimulation."

“Indeed?” His eyes darkened as he leaned closer. “Strange. My observations suggested quite the opposite. Particularly during our more…practical examinations.”

“Dr Moreland!” Lady Winona took him by the arm and led him to an oak tree. “What a fascinating tree! Do tell us about its medicinal properties.”

Emma barely registered her words, caught in the dangerous current between wanting to slap Everett’s smug smile from his face and yanking him behind the nearest tree to remind him it was her he wanted, not Lady Featherbrain. The knowing glint in his eyes told her he read every thought crossing her face.

“Careful, Miss Brown,” he murmured as she brushed past him. “Your professional detachment is showing signs of strain.”

Emma kept her face carefully blank, though her hands had curled into fists at her sides. She moved away with deliberate grace, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing how deeply his words had struck.

“Are you well, Miss Brown?” Lady Amy asked quietly, turning from her conversation with Michael.

Emma felt heat creep up her neck. “Perfectly fine. Thank you. Dr Moreland and I merely have an unresolved professional disagreement.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Michael positioned himself between them, his voice teasing. “Because it looked rather more personal than professional.”

“There was never…” Emma’s voice faltered. “That is to say, there was nothing of consequence between us.”

Lady Amy’s bright eyes danced with amusement. “Oh, I rather think there was something of great consequence indeed.”

Desperate to change the subject, Emma seized on a safer topic. “Lady Amy, did you know Lord Kincaid once spent three hours studying a particularly fascinating wound? His dedication to medical research is quite remarkable.”

The diversion worked. Lady Amy’s face lit with genuine interest. “Do you really? How fascinating! I’ve been reading theories about disease transmission in livestock…”

Their group continued down the snow-dusted path, naturally shifting and realigning like planets in orbit. Emma eventually found herself beside Lord Lex, gratefully losing herself in his tales of travel and passion for blacksmithing. Still, her treacherous eyes kept straying to Everett’s form, surrounded by his admirers with their bobbing feathers and fluttering ribbons.

When they paused to admire a spectacular view across the frost-covered valley, Emma drifted toward a cluster of ice-laden berries, their colour stark as fresh blood against the snow.