"Not mad. No, not mad at all. It can work."
He stared at her incredulously. "How on earth-"
"Just think of yourself as my doctor as well as my guardian. What was it you said? Fresh air and exercise and cold baths. Trying to engage in useful activities which will take my mind off these desires I have been having. I haven't had any more recently, but that is not to say I shall not backslide. I need you to help me reform my character. Teach me. Help me to be a good wife and mistress of a household."
His manner was brusque. "I know nothing of either. I am a bachelor."
"Surely you had a mother-"
He scowled so fiercely she gasped.
"I'm sorry, Doctor! I merely meant that you would understand what my role was to be based upon-"
"I understand, but it's not possible," he said in a cold tone.
She looked at the raw emotions on his face and said tentatively, "I'm sorry if I have spoke ill-advisedly. My only excuse is that I'm very young and foolish. I would like to be better, though. I would like to learn, be a help to you. Even at the clinic-"
"Unacceptable for a girl like yourself."
She looked at him sharply and said with a lift of her chin, "Unacceptable for girls even younger than me to have to be treated there, but it's a fact of life, is it not?"
He sighed, and sat back in his chair. "Aye, a sad fact indeed."
"Well, then. Perhaps it will be the best thing in the world for me to work there, as a salutary reminder of what my fate could have been, or may even be, if I do not conduct myself in an appropriate manner and curb my lascivious nature."
Blake shot her a look of surprise and anger. "You really are serious about this, aren't you? You honestly want me to be your guardian? After everything that has happened between us?"
She shrugged. "Peter would never have entrusted me to your care if he did not think you were equal to the task. If he did not trust you implicitly to look after me, Doctor. I have no idea what his precise reasons were. He was in desperate case, receiving such last minute orders to ship out so far away, and so quickly. He did the only thing he could think of in the circumstances. This was his first instinct, to trust you, and his instincts about people are generally sound."
"That is true. He was desperate, but he is clever for all that."
She nodded. "After all you've done and told me, I think you're an honest and decent person, sir. I wish to be one as well. We will never speak of what happened at the inn again. Those were two different people. Strangers on the road. It was a wonderfully pleasurable experience, but no harm was done by either of us so far as I can see, and it will never happen again.
"You and I are guardian and ward. As such we will have a decent and respectable relationship until such time as Peter comes home, I attain my majority, or you give me permission to wed.
"Until such time as any of those three events occur, you shall educate me as you see fit. Discipline me as a person who cares for my well-being and does not wish any harm to befall me. Does this seem fair?"
Blake expelled his breath in a rush, his heart hammering in his chest, his loins surging despite his telling himself it was unthinkable.
"It's a huge responsibility, one I would take seriously for the sake of your good self and the love I bear for my friend, your step-brother. But I'm not so sure I'm up to the task. My life is in a state of flux at the moment."
She looked at him inquiringly.
He unbent enough to cease his stiff pacing and sit down in a chair opposite her. "I have just been made heir to a large estate in Somerset, the Jeromes', just as you were told at Mr. Brown's. I will need to spend some time there as well. I can't leave you in Town. However, I'm not sure of my reception in what is supposed to eventually be my new home."
"You do not have to look out for me every moment of the day and night. I am no toddler, sir, though your memory has played tricks upon you and made time stand still since we last saw one another. I can help you, Doctor. At least let me try. I am told I am not without some sense. And my mathematical ability is highly praised."
"Your brother did say he thought you would be of assistance to me in the household. I dismissed the notion at the time, assuming you were very young. But as I have prescribed good sensible activities, perhaps I shall take Peter's suggestion."
"You mean I can stay?" she said with a relieved smile.
"For the moment at least," he said, trying not to look at her bright eyes, her lovely face. Good God, she was a tempting little thing…
For Heaven's sake, he had wanted to make her his mistress, been all set to look for her for that express purpose. He had actually planned to try to ruin her. He, of all people. The sister of one of his dearest friends. What on earth was wrong with him!