Bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed it back. If I couldn’t help him sexually, would Felicity have sent him to someone who could? To women who were trained to completely submit in a way I never would?
“Mrs. Salvatici. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
My eyes shot open at the sound of the cultured British voice coming toward me. I jerked to my feet, shaken by the fact I hadn’t heard a door open, hadn’t heard footsteps across the hardwood floor, hadn’t heard anything but my own neurotic fears spinning a million miles per hour in my head.
“Um. Hello.”
I stared wide-eyed at the woman who stopped in front of me. She was several inches taller than me, with wide blue eyes, silky blonde hair that fell in soft waves to the middle of her back, and a slim, perfect body that could’ve just stepped off a catwalk.
She held out her hand. “I’m Abigail Stanton. You can call me Abby.”
Her fingers were long and slim, her nails perfectly manicured, and when her hand closed around mine, she pulled me in and kissed both of my cheeks before I could stop her.
She even smelled perfect—like lilacs.
As she released me and I took in the slim, fitted purple sweater dress that hugged her curves and showed off her breasts and kneehigh black stiletto boots, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of doctor looked and dressed and acted like this. Or if she was even a doctor at all.
“I see Eve has already taken Mr. Salvatici back for his exam.”
“Exam?” Alarm bells rang in my head, and I glanced toward the door Luc and that blonde had disappeared through.
“Don’t worry. It’s not something he can fail. Height, weight, a quick health questionnaire, that’s all.”
Her words didn’t calm my anxiety any. I remembered all too well the questionnaire I’d been told to fill out at that medical exam in New York, all the personal, sexual questions I’d refused to answer. And I couldn’t help but notice the blonde’s name was Eve. Just like the woman who’d tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden.
I swallowed hard and crossed my arms over my chest, wishing I’d worn something sexy now instead of the long black skirt, flats, and chunky sweater. Next to this goddess I looked frumpy and plain.
“You’re a doctor?” I asked, knowing I sounded like a bitch but unable to keep the bite from my voice. “This doesn’t look like any medical office I’ve ever been in.”
“Yes.” She smiled. “I’ve been practicing for nearly ten years. All my clients are thoroughly satisfied.”
Oh holy hell, she had not just said that. I could literally feel the sickness rising in my belly.
Her smile faded. “I should make one thing very clear to you, Mrs. Salvatici. My methods are a bit unorthodox. And while I am able and willing to treat all members of the Entente, I do remain loyal to House Merrick. I’m treating Mr. Salvatici today as a favor to Ms. Merrick.”
Fucking Felicity. Anger welled inside me. She’d known exactly what she’d been doing when she’d given Luc this name. “You know Felicity?”
“Yes.” Abigail’s smile returned. “We’ve been friends for years. I went to university with her at—”
The door near the receptionist’s desk opened, and Luc and the blonde moved back into the room.
Relief whipped through me when he shot me a tight smile. All I wanted to do was grab him and run, but before I could, Abigail said, “Ah, there you are.”
She reached for Luc’s hand, and it was all I could do not to rip her fingers from his the moment they touched.
“I’m Abigail Stanton.”
“Hi.” Luc’s voice was tight, and I could tell he was nervous as he shook the woman’s hand. Luckily, she didn’t try to kiss his cheeks the way she’d kissed mine. Either she sensed his nerves or she felt the death stare I was drilling into her. “Thanks for seeing us on such short notice.”
“I’m glad it worked with my schedule.” Glancing past Luc as he released her hand, she said, “Eve, hold my calls for the remainder of the afternoon. We’re not to be disturbed.”
The remainder of the afternoon? I did not like the sound of that.
Abigail stepped back and held out her arm toward the arched door. “This way, both of you.”
I was relieved I was being included. As Luc reached for my hand and drew me up against him, I told myself nothing bad was going to happen because I wasn’t letting him get away from me in this weird place again.
Abigail’s office didn’t settle my nerves any. I glanced around the vast room as she closed the door behind us, thinking it looked more like a place where ancient rituals were performed than an office, a thought that made me sick to my stomach all over again.
The space was round, with a raised platform on the far side and slim, tall arched stained-glass windows all around. A giant chandelier hung from the peaked ceiling over a wide, mahogany desk set up in front of the windows on the platform. The desk was so big it looked more like an altar than a piece of functional furniture, and I couldn’t look at it because it brought back all kinds of memories I didn’t want to see.
Averting my gaze, I looked to my left, where floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, then to the small sitting area with a leather couch and two plush side chairs around a circular stone coffee table.
Abigail motioned toward the couch. “Can I get you both anything? Coffee, tea, water?”
I was relieved when she didn’t say “me” and sat in the middle of the couch, tugging Luc beside me. “No, thank you.”
“Nothing for me either.”
Luc let go of my fingers and placed his large, warm hand on my leg, lightly tracing a pattern on my inner knee. Desperate to keep touching him, I wrapped both of my arms around his at my side and looked toward Abigail as she sat in one of the plush chairs facing us, making it clear to her we were a team and that I wasn’t about to put up with any of her unorthodox methods.
She crossed one slim leg over the other and folded her hands primly in her lap. “I thought we’d get started with a little history. I understand you two have only been married a few weeks.”
Everything she said set me on edge, but I worked to keep my voice calm when I answered. “Depends on how you look at it. We kind of had two weddings.”
Luc squeezed my knee and looked down at me with a nervous half smile. “I think we count from the second one.”
I was willing to count from the first to convince this chick he was mine and that meant hands off.
“Tell me about your wedding,” Abigail said. “The second one, since that’s what we’re counting.”
I really wanted to put my fist through this woman’s face.
“It was small,” Luc said, rubbing his hand against my knee again. “Intimate. Just a few family and friends. We got married at a chapel on a friend’s property in Italy.”
“It sounds nice.”
“It wasn’t just nice,” I corrected, looking up at him. “It was perfect. We got married at dusk, and when I entered the chapel, I found he’d lined the whole sanctuary with candles and flowers. It was like a dream.”
He looked down at me, and I watched as his eyes softened, as his muscles relaxed, and all those nerves and stress he’d been struggling with the whole way here seemed to slip out of his body. “It was perfect,” he whispered. “My best day ever.”