The Fire's Center (5 page)

"What you were just saying a minute ago about diseases and how they can be passed on to others was very interesting. I wouldn’t want to pass anything on to you. I would be grateful for a bath at the inn, if we're staying over night, but in the meantime, please don’t sit so close to me," Riona urged.

Lucien was surprised, but he could see she was making the request out of a sincere desire to avoid putting him at risk, rather than from maidenly bashfulness.

He wrapped the cloak more tightly around her, and moved to the opposite side of the carriage, where he resumed his conversation until the coach driver gave a shout that they were approaching Strabane.

"There we are, we’ll soon get you warm and fed."

"I’ll have the bath first and then hurry down to join you."

"No, no, that wouldn’t do at all. Your hair will still be wet, and the downstairs rooms might be chilly and drafty. I think it best if you have your meal in your room," Lucien said as he began to gather up his beaver hat and several other items from the interior of the coach.

"But it seems so rude to not join you after your kind invitation," Riona said shyly.

"Well, we could have the meal by your fireside, if you had no objections. I mean, if it didn’t seem too informal and forward of me to suggest it," Lucien added hastily, as he looked at her sapphire blue eyes, which positively glowed.

"No, not at all. I shall have a good long soak, and we shall have the meal at say, nine?" Riona suggested.

He nodded. "That will certainly give me enough time to do one or two errands here in the town, and get washed and changed myself."

Descending from the coach outside the inn, he helped her down carefully. He took her small parcel from her, and then issued instructions to the inn’s landlord as they made their way up the stairs to their separate rooms.

Riona had seen he was a large man. She now noticed as she walked beside him that Lucien towered over her by at least a foot.

She found this fact comforting rather than threatening. He had a very reassuring manner, and she felt certain that he meant her no harm. It was a luxury for her to let someone else take charge for a change.

Thus she made no demur at any of the arrangements he made for their stay. She could only remark to herself how lucky she was to have met such thoughtful, thorough man, even if she suspected he was also one accustomed to getting his own way.

The landlord beamed and said nothing was too much trouble for Dr. Woulfe. He found them two of the best rooms, right next to one another on the second floor. Servants immediately began scuttling to and fro with hot water to fill Riona’s bath.

After having put her things in her chamber, Lucien went to his own to deposit his personal articles on the bed, then waylaid one of the serving girls.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me if there's a good seamstress in the town?"

"Yes, Maggie Mitchell, who has a small shop just behind Main Street, in a small mews," the girl replied.

"Good. Can you go next door to the young lady’s room, and remove all her articles of clothing from her bundle, and take them downstairs to be boiled and scrubbed? But before you do that, take one of the cleaner articles and bring it here to me, so I can determine her size," Lucien instructed.

The girl stared at him for a minute and then nodded. In a few more minutes she came back with a plain brown dress, not cheap, but certainly having seen better days, and handed it to him.

"Thank you, my dear. Now, I’ll want some hot water up here myself in about half an hour. As soon as I come back with some new clothes, please put them in Miss Connolly’s room. Then help her dress, and make sure she eats. Tell her to start without me, but make sure these items are on her tray."

Lucien listed milk, bread, only a pat of butter, a small amount of fish, some vegetables, and rice, since the girl told him there were no potatoes to be had.

"But no sauces, is that clear?" he insisted.

The girl promised to do as she had been instructed.

Satisfied, Lucien strode out towards the shop the girl had directed him to, leaving Riona to take her bath and settle into her room.

Chapter Three

As luck would have it, as Lucien neared the dressmaker’s shop just off the main street in Strabane, a small lamp was still burning in the window. He entered and quickly made clear to Mrs. Mitchell what he wanted by handing her Riona’s old dress. Fortunately there were several ready-made items for him to choose from which were just about the right size.

Lucien found a pale grey linen dress, and a similar one in an unusual shade of royal blue which reminded him of Riona’s eyes. He also found a lightweight but very feminine flowered calico with a deep neckline, and slightly flouncy sleeves, and several serviceable blouses and skirts. The blouses were white and cream linen and cotton, and the skirts were black, hunter green, and dark navy. Lucien also found some tartan and patterned shawls in colors which complemented the skirts. He then directed Mrs. Mitchell to give him some underthings and stockings, and at the last moment espied a ladies’ dressing gown in gold with a purple paisley floral design, which he also added to the growing pile.

"Would the lady be requiring a cloak, sir?" Mrs. Mitchell asked shyly. "I just got it made this morning, for another customer, you see, but it seems that she thinks with hard times being what they are, she might not be able to afford it."

"By all means, let us see it. I wouldn’t like you to be out of pocket after all your hard work."

It was a solid black cloak, only of a summer weight, but certainly far better than anything Riona might have ever owned. It was made of black worsted wool, and trimmed with velvet frogs down to the waist. The whole cloak was cut in a large circle at the bottom, making it long and flowing, and both the skirt and the hood were lined with silk. The hood was quite deep, and trimmed with a velvet scrolled pattern, making the whole article eye-catchingly feminine.

Lucien knew no woman could fail to be delighted by it, and so he added it to his pile of purchases, and paid for all the items.

He wondered abstractedly as he counted out his notes why his married friends always seemed to complain about the amount their wives spent on clothes. He could recall paying ten times as much for one of his own waistcoats.

The thought of wives suddenly brought him up short. How extraordinary. He had actually gone into a woman’s shop to buy clothing without a trace of embarrassment!

Lucien had always been extremely diffident with the opposite sex, ever since a mild acquaintance with a woman many years before, when he was in his early twenties, and struggling with his medical studies, had nearly forced him to get married. Not that he had behaved improperly in any way. He had simply taken the young lady’s supposed interest in his work as friendship, until he discovered everyone was asking him when the wedding day was to be.

Lucien had been livid when he had found out that Antoinette had been the source of the rumors, and moreover, that she had been telling people that his phase of doctoring was a load of nonsense she would soon talk him out of once they had settled down together.

Lucien had had to quite publicly inform her and everyone else that he had never even held her hand, let alone asked her to marry him, and had gone off to America to complete his medical studies in Boston in order to avoid any unpleasantness from the girl or her family.

He had been somewhat chagrined to find that not long after this incident, his brother Quentin had married the girl in question. At least they seemed to have settled down happily enough, and now had two lovely children and appeared content.

But since that time, Lucien had avoided entanglements of any sort, shunning social occasions in the town unless absolutely necessary, making sure he was never left alone with any young lady, even in a crowded room. He rarely danced, and seldom said more than two words to the daughters of any household he visited.

He even restricted his female patients to those sent to him for special consultation, and he always made sure there was at least one other person in the room when he examined them to prevent any accusation of impropriety.

In truth, Lucien was married to his work, though of late he had begun to wonder if perhaps he had cut himself off too ruthlessly from women in the last few years. Most of his friends were now married and seemed comfortable enough, although he did notice that hardly a single one of the young wives of his acquaintance were even remotely interested in their husbands’ work.

As Lucien strode through Main Street on his way back to the inn, he found himself actually looking forward to telling the slip of a girl he had picked up on the road more about his clinic. But of course, she was only a governess, and one from the wilds of Donegal as well.

She's intelligent, but just how much can she understand of what I'm telling her? She's only trying to be polite
, Lucien thought with a sigh as he mounted the stairs to his room.

A tap at the door just as he was stripping off his jacket and waistcoat heralded the maid with his hot water. He gave her the bundles he had purchased from the dressmaker.

"Lay these out on the bed for her, if you please. I’ll be in shortly."

The girl bobbed a curtsy, and did as she was instructed.

When the maid entered the other bedroom, Riona was still behind the screen soaking in the tub, so she silently laid out the clothes, admiring the gentleman’ taste. The cloak was particularly fine, but the shimmering silk wrap was lovely.

Riona thought she had never seen anything so fine as the purple floral paisley pattern on a gold background. She stepped out of the tub with her hair wrapped in one towel and her body in another, only to find such riches on her bed.

She gaped. "My goodness, where on earth did all these things come from?"

"The gentleman bought them down the road for you, Miss. He says he'll be in to dinner soon, but when the food comes, you are eat it while it's hot."

"Good lord, what on earth should I wear?" Riona wondered aloud.

The maid smiled knowingly. "Put this wrap on first, and then you can decide. But it will be time for bed soon anyway, so perhaps just a skirt and blouse will do, much as I know you’d like to try on everything."

The maid helped Riona into the robe, and then tidied away the towels, while Riona stood by the fire admiring the clothes and trying to decide what to wear.

She felt slightly uneasy at all the money Dr. Woulfe had obviously spent on her, but she honestly couldn’t see any suggestion of lewdness in his behavior, and didn’t like to make a fuss.

After all, Riona concluded, if she was to be working for him in his clinic, she couldn’t really wear any of the clothes she and sisters had had to make do with once poverty had forced them to sell everything of any value in order to eat.