Chapter Six
July 4, 1817
“No, not that one. The sky-blue with the white daises embroidered on the hem,” Jane directed her maid. Butterflies continued to dance in her belly. Had Finn truly kissed her last night? Well, it wasn’t a real kiss, but that brief touch of lips had been a step in the right direction. When Anna held up the day dress, she nodded. “Yes, that will do. And the darling straw bonnet with the white ribbon and blue silk flowers.” The brim on the headgear was stubby, which meant it wouldn’t obstruct her vision… or anything else she might wish to do while on a drive.
“What does it matter the dress today? Do you have an outing planned?”
“I’m going driving with a… friend.” What exactly was she to Finn beyond that? After she slipped the dress over her head and while Anna did up the short row of buttons, Jane pressed a finger to her lips. That fleeting sensation when his mouth had brushed against hers remained even now. “Besides, aren’t you the one who keeps badgering me to get out of the house more instead of read?”
Anna twisted Jane’s tresses into a loose chignon and secured it with a handful of plain hairpins. “It’s good to take in the air.” She pointed to a pair of sky-blue satin slippers embroidered with white scrollwork. “Best finish your toilette.” Then the maid peered into Jane’s face. “You’re different today.”
She ignored the heat that jumped into her cheeks. “Such gammon. I’m the same person I was yesterday and the day before that.” To avoid meeting her maid’s gaze, she busied herself with her slippers. Then she donned her grandmother’s heart necklace.
“No, it’s definitely something,” Anna continued as she grabbed a white shawl from the cheval mirror where it hung. “You’re more… illuminated I suppose.”
“I don’t know how.” Jane encouraged a few curls from the knot to hang loose at her temples. “I haven’t done anything scandalous.” Except spend time with the major. She took the shawl and her reticule then moved to the door. “Feel free to take the afternoon off. I don’t expect to return home until well after teatime. And there’s not a society event to prepare for tonight.” Hastily, she stepped into the corridor in order to avoid another barrage of questioning. “It’ll be nice to have an at-home this evening.”
She fled to the breakfast room and once arrived, tossed the shawl and reticule into an empty chair. Unfortunately, both her brothers were in attendance, but her heart leapt, for she rarely saw them outside of their work. “What a nice surprise this morning. I thought you would have already gone to the clinic. Why are you here?”
“It’s Friday. We open an hour later. You know this, and I was in the mood for a decent breakfast. Mrs. Halsey is fine enough as a housekeeper, but she’s rather rubbish as a cook.” Royce, her oldest brother, frowned at her before shoveling a large forkful of hamsteak into his mouth.
True, she did know that but had forgotten what day it was, for every extra thought she had lay centered on Finn. Could meeting one man make her lose track of the calendar? She glanced at him with his dark suit and collar not as high as fashion demanded. The black cravat gave him a bit of understated elegance, and the pomade that tamed his auburn hair that wanted to curl had turned his mischievous self into a staid and proper surgeon.
“Pomade again?” She wrinkled her nose as she passed him on the way to the sideboard. “Why? I like you better when your hair is wild.”
He snorted. “Why do you care?”
“You might have better luck with the ladies if you didn’t use that nasty, foul-smelling goo in your hair.” Thank goodness Finn hadn’t resorted to such vanity. She rather liked seeing his hair sticking up in whatever way it would. It gave him more personality. With a slight smile, she filled her plate with all her favorites and brought it to the table, where she took a seat across from both her brothers. A mere eleven months separated them, but they resembled twins so strongly they’d often fooled many a governess and family member in their youth.
“That assumes I’m in the market for a permanent lady,” Royce shot back in between bites of his breakfast. He followed the mouthfuls with a gulp of coffee. “At present, my time is well and truly spoken for, so the women I do select aren’t looking for a commitment.”
“I don’t know how you have time to play the rogue while being a surgeon.” She nodded when the butler hovered at her elbow with a teapot.
Royce sighed. “Leave it alone, little sister. You’ll never understand the inner workings of a man’s mind.”
“Mmhmm.” She popped a bit of toast with marmalade into her mouth and chewed, but her focus was on Finn and what they would talk about this time.
“Jane.” Her brother snapped his fingers until he had her attention.
“I despise when you do that.” He often employed the same on patients who had difficulty concentrating. “It’s quite demeaning.”
He pulled a face. “You’re woolgathering.”
“I’m not.” She hid her smile behind sipping tea. Royce didn’t like not being the center of attention. Perhaps that was why he’d chosen to become a surgeon.
“You were, and you certainly weren’t paying attention to me.” He stared all the harder. “Ah, I see now. You have a new project.”
“I don’t.” Jane didn’t give him a glance, but instead spread marmalade on her toast. Ever since she’d begun working at the clinic, they’d teased her about the people she chose to minister to. “Why must you bedevil me?” Despite him, she couldn’t tamp down the urge to grin. If she’d been alone, she might have hummed a few bars of a favorite song.
“Because it’s entertaining,” her brother went on with a grin. He speared a piece of hamsteak with his fork. “And, you do have a new project. You’re only this happy when you’ve found someone you can fix.”
“I don’t fix people.” But she refused to meet his gaze. It was enough that her other brother Trey kept staring without saying anything.
“Fine, but you work your magic on them, so they will fix themselves.”
Jane took a sip of her tea. She bounced her glance between her red-haired brothers, who both looked back at her with expectation. “It’s not about fixing. I simply wish for your patients to look at life in a different perspective.” Perhaps Royce was right. She did feel happy, but then, Finn had that effect on her even if he was grumpy more than he wasn’t. He had an air about him that made her want to share secrets with him and delve into everything that he was.
Her brother snorted. “Who is it this time?”