A Warriner to Tempt Her by Virginia Heath

Author:Virginia Heath [Heath, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Harlequin - Historical
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-11-06T18:53:04+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Bella avoided him for the rest of the week, or he avoided her. Either way, they were like ships passing in the night. A brief hello. The odd question. Nothing longer than a few seconds snatched between other tasks which they both found more pressing to do whenever they were close by. He went back to using her title and she stiffly replied with his. To compound the issue, aside from Molly and her rapidly healing broken leg, the infirmary was as silent as a grave. The outbreak of chickenpox had been minor and, with no new patients suffering that or any other ailment, there was precious little for Bella to do. Despite that, she still came to the foundling home religiously every day, admitting to herself the draw was more to do with the handsome and now decidedly aloof doctor than the desire either to improve her own mental state or to quench her thirst for knowledge. If nothing else, the fraught atmosphere had served to occupy her thoughts to such an extent, the incident rarely skittered across her mind. She was too busy chastising herself for being such an irrational and pathetic dolt.

Joe now seemed to occupy her mind as if he had moved in and had no intention of moving out again. During the day, Bella spent most of her time hoping to see him and wishing she knew how to undo the damage she had done to their relationship. At night, wholly different thoughts occupied her head, usually revolving around their almost-kiss and scandalously wondering what it would have felt like if he had kissed her.

As depressing as it was, she did take heart it was progress of sorts. A few short months ago the merest thought of a kiss would have been abhorrent, because it would require being in close contact with a man. However, now that Bella had been in close contact to Joe and had liked it, the prospect wasn’t quite so daunting. No doubt it helped that her assailant had not tried to kiss her. He had been too busy clamping his filthy hand over her mouth in case she screamed, and too eager to violate her body, to try. It also helped that she had never been kissed before by any man, so, like driving a curricle or mixing medicines, it had begun to intrigue her. Although only with him.

Dr Joseph Warriner.

The man who had no desire to kiss her back and, thanks to her irrational, panicked behaviour, no longer showed any great desire to speak to her either.

Bella sighed and glanced at the mantel clock for the fourth time in as many minutes. It was nearly five minutes to ten o’clock. With any luck, there would be a decent enough crowd in the market square ready to hear Joe’s speech about the threat of smallpox and the need for immediate vaccinations, a crowd large enough that he wouldn’t notice her watching from afar.

Since Monday, notices had been posted around

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