The Fire's Center (24 page)

But as Quentin continued to stare at Riona, Lucien again felt a terrible pang of jealousy, worsened by the fact that Riona had finished serving the guests, and Charles Durance was now monopolising Riona’s attention.

"Don’t be ridiculous, Charles is even older than me, and very shy, whilst Quentin is happily married to Antoinette," he scolded himself, and smiled as Riona looked imploringly at him to come and rescue her.

"Oh Riona, there you are," Lucien exclaimed, inserting himself between the handsome pair. "Have you met Mrs. Sturgess and Mrs. Allen yet? They’ll be helping with the fete, and the women’s committee they are setting up," Lucien said as he rescued her.

He gripped her strongly by the hand, savouring the contact, and led her in the direction of the two women.

As they went, Riona couldn’t help but notice that Dr. O’Carroll had backed Antoinette into a corner.

"Thank you for rescuing me," she whispered as she cast an anxious glance at the other couple.

"Charles is very earnest, but rather dull, isn’t he? But it wasn’t a complete lie. I do want you to meet the women’s committee. The fete will be a great fund-raising opportunity if we all pull together."

"Fine, but I think you had better rescue your sister-in-law now. It looks like she's being subject to a medical discussion by Dr. O’Carroll, and you know how squeamish she is," Riona warned, conscious of the lie, but not willing to voice her uneasiness about Dr. O’Carroll’s deportment towards women.

She hoped she was wrong, though her instincts were generally sound. She told herself that she might have taken his remarks too much to heart, and it would do no good to cause friction at this early stage of the proceedings.

"Always thinking of others." Lucien smiled fondly, patting her on the shoulder, and after making the appropriate introductions, he left her.

Riona consulted with Mrs. Sturgess and Mrs. Allen for some time, but soon the mountain of food at last began to run out. After making sure that every last crumb was distributed to the poor, Riona organised her last surprise of the day, hundreds of milk containers to be distributed all over the Liberties with the address of the clinic written on each.

"Some of them will be able to read, I'm sure," Riona had said to Lucien, "and it's the least we can do for all the people who are working and couldn’t come to the opening."

As the crowd began to dwindle and darkness fell, various people invited Lucien to supper, but he was reluctant to go, for no mention of Riona coming as well had been made, especially not by his bachelor friends.

Charles Durance asked shyly then, including Riona in the invitation, but Lucien declined for them both on the grounds that it was already late in the evening, and the clinic would be well and truly open for business in the morning.

"An early start, you know, Charles. Some other time, thanks all the same."

"I’ll hold you to that," Charles called as he entered his carriage, his attractive pale blue eyes resting on Riona’s face for a trifle longer than necessary.

Lucien handed Riona into his coach, and they chatted happily about how the day had gone until they arrive home.

As soon as they were inside the foyer, he ordered a bath for her.

She began to argue it wasn't necessary to trouble the servants.

Lucien insisted, "You were exposed to hundreds of the poor today, so no arguments."

"All right, I'll get in the tub, and will even submit to lice lotion, but you have to give me a bone test in exchange."

Lucien raised his eyebrows until she added, "Here, sit outside the door and test me while I soak. Then when I’m finished, you can come have your bath."

"Don’t you want the bath in your room upstairs?"

"I think it’s silly the servants having to climb a whole extra flight of stairs, don’t you? Besides, we’ve shared before, haven’t we?"

"All right, I’ll just get my dressing gown."

Riona ran upstairs for hers, and tapped on Lucien’s dressing room door.

"Go on through," he said, waving her forward.

Lucien sat in the dressing room on a low chair while Riona soaked away the day’s tension and recited her list. Then she dried herself off, pulled on her dressing gown, and submitted gracefully to the lice lotion and the comb.

Then she sat in the dressing room whilst Lucien soaked, and he tested her on some of the books he had noticed her studying recently. He couldn’t help but be impressed with how much she had picked up.

"You're really coming along well," he praised through the slightly open door. "I hope your aren’t overdoing the studying!"

"Not at all. I just want to be ready for when they allow me to go in to view a surgery."

Lucien warned, "It may be some time before that happens, you know. Even now they are pretty reluctant, though I’ve been doing my best to wry to win them around. You can get a bit more experience under your belt at the clinic first, before we ask them again, eh?"

"All right," Riona agreed and then stood up as Lucien came out of the bathroom and held out the lotion for her to use on him.

"I think we are going to have to make this bath a permanent part of the day. I’ve never seen such filth," Lucien remarked as he sat still and allowed her to work carefully on his hair.

"I know, I know, it's appalling, isn’t it. But the idea of the water tank from the roof is a good one. If only we could do the same with the hot."

"We’ll wait and see, shall we? Oh, by the way, Mrs. Sturgess and Mrs. Allen will be coming over for an informal supper with their husbands on Sunday at about seven, to discuss the last minute lists for the arrangements," Lucien informed her.

 
Riona frowned. "Last minute? I thought the fete wouldn’t be for another five weeks."

He nodded. "I know that, but they want to make sure everyone signs their name to specific duties and responsibilities at a meeting they are having at Mrs. Allen’s house on Monday.

"Then we have to send the tickets to the printers. So the programme and other items will also have to be finalised and printed, and the publicity sent out to the papers and posted on the walls.

"I'm sure you will agree that the food part that we promised to supervise will be crucial. You and Mrs. Kinsella will have to consult with Antoinette, and we will need to have some idea of the cost, and the amounts and so on. "

"I’ll do my best, Lucien, but it feels like the loaves and fishes," Riona sighed.

Lucien put his hands around her slender waist as he stood up. "Riona, I'm sure you will be up to it." He pecked her on the cheek, and then suddenly pulled her in close.

Riona was painfully aware of the fact that they were only in their dressing gowns, and felt the act required some comment.

"What was that for?" she asked timidly.

"Just an embrace to say thank you," Lucien shrugged as he released her and walked across the room. "I suppose I can’t say it often enough. In the past week you’ve been here you’ve done everything, from the most complicated down to the dirtiest tasks, all without a murmur of complaint. Everyone likes and admires you."

"Not your sister in-law." Riona ducked her head as she stooped to tidy away their used towels, which she put in the bathroom.

Lucien was waiting for her when she came out of the bathroom. He cupped her chin with his long slender fingers.

"Look at me, Riona. No, not at the floor, look at
me
," he commanded gently.

Riona dared to meet his eyes, and saw only warmth and kindness there.

"Antoinette is a spiteful, mean, arrogant and petty woman. She is all the things you are not, and certainly none of the things that you are. That's why she is envious of you."

"Envious of
me
?" Riona laughed incredulously. "Why, she's rich, and so beautiful..."

Lucien shook his head. "On the outside perhaps, in a cold, haughty sort of way, and true, she is rich because she married a wealthy man. But she's not well endowed with basic human kindness, warmth, and generosity, and she's certainly not beautiful inside, even if she might be superficially attractive to look at in the eyes of some.

"But you're lovely inside and out. No, don’t blush and look at the floor again, I mean what I say. I saw you hugging and comforting those people today, looking after that frail old woman, and well," he said, holding her close once more, "I suppose I was just wondering if sometimes you needed to be petted and made to feel cared about too."

He rested his chin on the top of her head, and Riona hesitantly began to loop her arms around him, asking, "And you, Lucien, do you need to be petted too?"

Lucien stepped away hastily then. "No one has hugged me since my mother died, over twenty years ago. And I’m too old for such things now," he denied.

Riona came up behind him as he gazed out of the window and wrapped her arms around his midriff. "I don’t think anyone is ever too old for love."

Lucien patted one of her hands, and then disentangled himself from her embrace gently, reluctantly, exercising steely control over his raging emotions. "Thank you, my dear, that was very kind of you."

"No. Thank you for the hug, and the bone test," she added with a grin, lest the moment grow too serious between them.

Then she padded away up the stairs to her own room, her dressing gown trailing along the carpet with a light rustling which caused him to look after Riona until she disappeared.

"Like a butterfly," he reflected, and then headed into his bedroom.

Excited by the days’ events, he found sleep elusive, and couldn’t subdue the disturbing urges which he always tried to quell.

It must be the spring,
he sighed, feeling his loins stir so powerfully, he had all to do not to seek more than a simple embrace from the wonderful woman whom fate had put in his path.

Lucien's lustiness being due to the spring thaw seemed to be borne out the next day, for after a week of cold and gloomy weather, the sun shone down radiantly, causing him to toss and turn and finally seek a cold bath for relief from his surging loins and unseemly visions of his lovely young houseguest.

Riona, feeling restless herself, was up long before six to carry out her studies and attend to Lucien’s correspondence.

Lucien searched for her in the study and eventually found her in the medical room downstairs finishing the last of his letters and updating some of his records.