Secret of the Wolf (34 page)

Dr. Bolkonsky, and arrange a later meeting between you and your daughter.”

Ingram pushed past Bolkonsky. He carried himself with the air of a man who was used

to command, and did not like being so addressed by a woman
.

"So Dr. Bolkonsky told me

Miss

Dr. Schell," he said. "But I have been wrongfully

separated from my daughter, whom I love, for two long years." His eyes narrowed in

calculating assessment. "I know that my wife brought May to you with crazy stories born

of her own madness. I don't blame you for believing her; she is very persuasive. But

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now it's time for May to come home, for us to be a family again. I will brook no needless

delays.”

"Needless?" Johanna fought to control her anger, and the instant hostility she felt for

this man. Hostility, and fear—for May's sake. This was a man from whom a woman

might flee in fear for her health. Or her life
.

"You do want what is best for your daughter, Mr. Ingram?" She stepped closer to him,

looking up into his face. "I have worked long with May to overcome her fears—the fears

she has shown ever since she came to me. If you wish her to become hysterical again,

then by all means proceed as you have been.”

Ingram glanced at Bolkonsky in outraged amazement. "This is the doctor you told me

was to be trusted? She—" He broke off, staring toward the door to the bedchamber.

May stood on the threshold, utterly still. Her face had lost all color
.

"May," her father said hoarsely. He opened his arms. "May, my darling—”

With a choking gasp, May bent backward at the waist, her spine forming a sharp curve.

Johanna barely made it to her in time to catch her before she fell. The girl convulsed,

her teeth clicking together
.

Johanna yanked a curtain cord from the window, eased May to the ground, and pushed

the cord into her mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue
.

Bolkonsky dropped to his knees beside her and helped hold May down. In a few

moments it was over. May's face was bathed in sweat; her body was limp. She kept her

eyes tightly closed
.

"Gott in Himmel," Johanna whispered. One bout of hysteria, and all the progress of the

past year was lost. She had been so sure that May was over the fits for good
.

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Arrogance on her own part. Sheer arrogance, hubris, stupidity

May's father came toward them and crouched as if to take May in his arms. Bolkonsky

forestalled him and carried May into the bedchamber himself. Johanna sat beside May,

shielding her from any further male intrusion
.

"Move away at once. Let me be alone with her," Johanna said, adjusting the pillows

under May's head. "She has not had such a fit in over a year; you will have to explain to

Mr. Ingram the severity of her relapse. We expected too much of her, too soon.”

"I must concur with your analysis," Bolkonsky said
.

Johanna didn't allow him to see her surprise at his sudden cooperation. "Then make Mr.

Ingram understand that he cannot take May with him until she has fully adjusted to the

prospect, however much time that may require. Unless he wishes her to become even

more ill." She twisted to meet Bolkonsky's gaze. "Surely you see that she fears her

father. Do you still believe she belongs with him?”

The Russian doctor stroked his chin. "This is a setback, Johanna, but we can still find a

satisfactory conclusion. I will see what I can do.”

"And ask him to leave these rooms so that I can take May back to the buggy. I will not

have her suffer again today.”

Bolkonsky answered with a bow and retreated. The door remained opened a crack

behind him
.

"What the hell is going on?" Ingram demanded. "What's happened to my daughter? I

thought you said this woman cured her.”

"I have no cause to doubt—" Bolkonsky began
.

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"She's useless, a charlatan. I won't have May in her care one minute longer—”

The door closed, shutting off his words. May remained still and mute
.

"All will be well," Johanna murmured, stroking damp hair away from the girl's face. "We'll

be home very soon.”

May opened her eyes. "Where am I?”

"Don't worry about that now. Just rest.”

"I'm not tired." She reached for Johanna's hand. "Are we going now?”

Given what May had just experienced, that was a regular speech. She hardly seemed

aware of what had set off her fit, or why she'd been afraid. Johanna cast up a wordless

prayer of gratitude
.

"Soon," Johanna assured her. Bolkonsky entered the room, hovering in the doorway.

Johanna joined him out of May's hearing
.

"He's gone," Bolkonsky said. "I'll keep you informed as to his decision regarding his

daughter.”

"Sehr gut. I think it best if we postpone any more meetings for at least a week. Mr.

Ingram should return to San Francisco for the time being.”

Bolkonsky didn't reply. His cool stare swept over May. "She seems recovered enough. I

will send you a message at the Haven.”

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Nodding her agreement, Johanna helped May up from the bed and walked her slowly

back to the stable. May showed no further reaction to what had happened, nor made

any reference to Bolkonsky or her father. It was as if they had already ceased to exist

for her
.

And they would soon enough. The time for mere planning was past
.

Oscar galloped out to meet them when they arrived at the Haven, and immediately took

charge of Daisy. Johanna saw May to her room and made sure she was calm and

comfortable, then visited her father and Harper. She made an appointment to talk with

Irene and Lewis before dinner, and then took Mrs. Daugherty aside where they could

not be overheard
.

It was not a great leap of faith to trust the older woman with vital secrets, and Mrs.

Daugherty was canny enough to have understood something of May's reasons for being

at the Haven. She listened to Johanna's brief explanations with a furrowed brow and an

increasingly dark expression
.

"You were right to come to me," she said. "I know just what to do. I've a cousin over in

Sacramento—she's got girls near May's age, and she'd take her in if I asked. Warm-

hearted woman who never turned down a body in need.”

"Like you," Johanna said, clasping Bridget's hands. "I have reason to believe that May's

mother could return for her soon. If we can keep her safe until then—”

"How fast d' we have to get her away?”

"I think I've bought us a week. Time enough for a letter to reach your cousin.”

"Then let me get to writin' it, an' I'll get it out in tomorrow's post.”

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Grateful and relieved, Johanna wandered about the house aimlessly for half an hour

and finally found herself standing in front of Quentin's door
.

Her feet had carried her there without her brain's participation. She knew why. Her mind

was bursting with a thousand concerns she wanted to share with someone who would

understand, her worries for May chief among them. She went to Quentin instinctively, as

once she'd gone to her father
.

He wasn't her father. How could she even consider it, after the events of two nights

ago? If she couldn't treat him as a patient, far less could she confide in him as a peer.

To do so would put them both in jeopardy
.

Nor dared she tell him what had happened at the hotel, given his closeness to May. It

was a grave shortcoming that she felt the need to confess her fears to him
.

To what purpose? So that he might put his arms around her and tell her it would be all

right, as she'd so glibly told May?

So that he might kiss her?

She shivered and rested her forehead against the wood of the door
.

Johanna stood just outside. Quentin could smell her, hear her breathing, sense her

agitation through the flimsy barrier of wood. It was the first and only time she'd sought

him out since he'd gone to her room the night before; he'd made himself scarce, and

she'd been busy with May
.

Visiting with that new male doctor in town
.

The hair rose on the back of his neck, and he smoothed it down with one hand
.

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Jealousy. Wasn't that what had sent him to invade Johanna's most private sanctum?

Johanna had returned from town that day with a spring in her step and eyes alight with

pleasure. Quentin had watched her, reluctant to go too near because of the potency of

his feelings. Afraid to trust himself around her
.

Jealousy. Oh, he'd denied it vehemently to himself. He knew nothing of this Bolkonsky

beyond his name and what little Mrs. Daugherty had told him. He was no physician to

share Johanna's professional life and interests. He had no claim on her—none that

extended beyond his imagination. But he had entered her room, uninvited, as no

gentleman would do. That was where the memories became confused
.

Just like before, as if some outside force had snatched control of his mind and body, he

could recall only scraps of conversation—enough to know that he'd behaved badly.

Enough to send him slinking from her room in shame, and avoid her thereafter
.

What he remembered with painful intensity was arousal—overwhelming, single-minded

lust—and the sight of Johanna's naked body
.

All it took was that one memory, and he felt as he had then. He spread his hand against

the door as if he could touch her flesh. Mold it between his hands. Kiss it in a thousand

ways and a thousand places
.

He groaned. At least he knew he hadn't attempted to ravish her, or he'd have been

ejected from the house. Scant consolation
.

No consolation at all
.

It didn't help that he suspected the situation with Johanna, May, and the mysterious Dr.

Bolkonsky had not turned out as Johanna hoped. Her manner had been considerably

more sober yesterday, after her second meeting with the doctor. And today

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Today she'd taken May to town with her, an extraordinary occurrence in itself. She

certainly hadn't confided in him, but he'd seen her face upon her return, when she was

too preoccupied to notice his presence
.

And May had come directly to him
.

He'd tried to speak with May, to learn why she'd gone with Johanna and what had

transpired, but she hadn't responded to his careful questions
.

Quentin had never made a habit of studying human nature, but his werewolf blood

made it relatively easy to know what humans were feeling. Johanna was no better than

May at hiding her emotions. She was distracted and worried
.

He had added to that burden
.

What was he to Johanna Schell? A source of confusion, of apprehension, perhaps even

of fear. He might be her patient, but he was not her lover, or her keeper
.

He might become her obedient hound, awaiting his chance to roll on his back in abject

apology. A woman might tell a dog what she wouldn't share with a wolf
.

Should he hear that anyone or anything had hurt her or May, hound would become wolf

in an instant
.

And do what? he asked himself, laughing derisively at his own conceit. This wolf's fangs

have been pulled
.

"Quentin? Are you there?”

He leaned into the door, resting his forehead against the wood
.

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"I'm here.”

"We'll be having dinner soon, and a gathering in the parlor afterward. I hope you'll join

us.”

It would be the first such gathering since things had gone so wrong a week ago.

Johanna was striving for a sense of normality
.

"I'll be there," he said. And I'll behave myself—at least enough to learn what is troubling

you and May
.

Her footsteps moved away from the door. So, she was dodging the chance to speak to

him alone
.

Wise, from her perspective. But two people could be alone even in a crowd, and he'd

find a way
.

Dinner was a tense, quiet affair. Even Mrs. Daugherty said little. Afterward, in the parlor,

Lewis made exaggerated efforts to stay far away from Quentin. Irene claimed the entire