Temptation by Leda Swann Page A

Queen. Her worry over Teddy must be turning her brain to mush. Of course she was going to marry him. It had been her dream for most of the last year that the revered Dr. Hyde would fall head over heels in love with her and ask her to be his wife. He was a respectable man and a good doctor, and she liked him very well—most of the time, that is.
    As his wife, she would be free to continue to work as a nurse until she was to fall in the family way. He approved of women nurses. That in itself was enough to make him stand out from the crowd. Most of his colleagues acted as if they were doing a favor to the women to allow them to work at the hospital, despite the fact that they worked twice as hard for a fraction of the pay.
    Though it had taken her months to break through his reserve, their friendship was now reaching a crisis point. As the daughter of a bankrupt and a suicide, she knew just how important it was to be considered respectable. Without it, a woman had less than nothing.
    Annoyingly, the way she felt about the doctor this afternoon, she would be quite happy if he were to announce that he had become engaged to the hospital charwoman and was emigrating to Africa to become a missionary. Even if it meant the end to all her dreams.
    He cleared his throat awkwardly. The noise was at least as vulgar as her snort had been, but did she glare at him? No, she did not. Her manners were better than his.
    “Beatrice—” He stopped speaking and cleared his throat again. “Beatrice, I have something to ask you?”
    Had he always been this irritating, and she had just never noticed? Surely not. She must simply be tired and out of sorts. The afternoon sun was too weak to be warm, the grass was too damp to be comfortable, and the wind was too brisk to make sitting outside a pleasure. Even the band was playing out of tune. It was no wonder she was out of patience. “Ask away.”
    He frowned at her flippant reply. “It is a serious question.”
    “To which I will give a serious answer.” She laid her hand comfortingly on his thigh, feeling guilty for having vexed him yet again. He had been a good friend to her and she ought not take her ill humor out on him.
    He picked up her hand in his and held it there. “Beatrice, we have known each other for a year now.”
    His remark did not call for a reply, so she remained silent.
    “From almost the moment I met you, I was impressed with your dedication to your work and your devotion to your patients.”
    “Thank you,” she murmured, feeling more in charity with him. It was always nice to be appreciated.
    “And for some time now we have been growing closer.”
    She smiled at him as if she agreed with his every word. She’d practiced the smile in the mirror in her lodgings until she had it pitch perfect. Men being what they were, she expected to have to use it often.
    “We have.” She infused the words with the feeling that in doing so, all her dreams had come true. The truth was, they had been getting to know one another at a snail’s pace, despite her best efforts to hurry him along. His courting was frustratingly slow and wishy-washy.
    Captain Carterton, wherever he was, would not be such a namby-pamby. He was a man of action who would whisk her off to his private harem and make love to her for three weeks on end, given the chance. His last letters had been quite disturbingly warm.
    “…and I have become very fond of you.”
    His words broke into her daydream about her soldier. When she was married, she wouldn’t have time to write to him anymore, even if he were to survive the war. Marriage would truly spell the end of her naughty fantasies, for she would no longer be able to write to him or to receive his letters. “That’s nice,” she said weakly. It was a pity that marriage would be so restrictive. Writing to the captain and receiving his letters in return had been the highlight of her days.
    “…as I hope you have of me.”
    “Indeed.” His careful manner was