Chapter 32

"It will work perfectly, won't it? How long will it take to cure the wound completely?"

Ava cast a hopeful glance at the little pot in her hand. A thick, dark green colored ointment inside the pot gleaming in the candle, its exotic scent filled the air in Madam Nora's little cottage.

"Certainly, it will cure any kind of wound in two or three days. Just try and you'll see the magic."

Nora answered without the littlest doubt. The fortune teller strained her eyes at her in a mysterious gaze.

"Get yourself prepared, young lady."

"For what?"

"Turn and twist of fate. It's coming your way, there's no stopping it, there's no escaping it."

Another absurd, indecipherable prophecy. She better went home now, before the night fell. Certainly she didn't want to experience another terror like the last time she left this place. It didn't stop her to come here again, though. Because she had to do it. She brought her pistol now, in her small reticule. Delilah was right. She had to bring it anywhere she went. Anywhere. Ava put a pouch full of coins on the madam's desk, intended to leave as soon as possible.

The madam's prophecy was highly dubious but the efficacy of her potions had been proven by many. On her way to the madam's house a few days ago, some villagers told her enthusiastically about how the madam's medication had saved their lives when the doctors already gave up on hope. She recalled a woman's story about his son. In an attempt to escape from a locked burning house, the man had broken his hand severely by crushing the door with his fist. The doctor suggested amputation but the man refused the procedure. Desperate to help her son, the woman came to Madam Nora and got her magic ointment. The man's hand recovered quickly and now he could do anything with his hand like nothing ever happened before.

She wished this medication would work its magic on him. She prayed he would completely recover from his injury and he would draw and paint and create many artworks exceedingly well as he did before.

As if she could read her mind, the madam reassured her.

"You needn't worry, child. He will be healed. My ointment will work."

Ava felt a shiver creeping up her nape. This woman knew the person she wanted to help was a man.

"But what cures the flesh, cannot cure the soul. His soul has been tainted by a fatal malady, and he would be tortured, he would be maddened, he would be breaking down, he would be incurable..."

Is this woman saying that the duke has some kind of mental illness? She couldn't imagine a man like him as a lunatic. She took a moment to think about him. She didn't see any symptoms. He looked totally sane.

"Do you mean something bad will happen to him? Will he be all right?"

"Oh, he will be fine, he will be all right because you will save his soul. You're

the only one who can be his remedy."

She had no idea how to save someone's soul nor to remedy any sort of disease. If only the madam knew who she was talking about, she wouldn't rattle pure nonsense like this. Ava asked for leave politely and hurried away. She had a more important thing to do rather than listening to some blithering prophecy.

*****

After a series of consideration, Ashton concluded decidedly that his interest in her was purely sensual and artistical, nothing more. For a moment, it occurred to him that it might be something more, because something she had awakened in him. But after he thought about it further, what she had awakened was purely desire of the flesh, and it was totally normal.

He was a man, young and virile, he had a healthy sexual drive. And she was a young woman, with a beautiful face and a beautiful shape. Yesterday he had seen too much of her naked skin, certainly she would have that effect on him. Any woman would do.

He should stop overanalyze about it, about everything, including the reason why he was standing here again today, before the lake outside his studio, as if he was waiting for something to come over him. He should enter the studio once he had arrived and settled himself inside, having his own personal time, instead of standing here in the cold air, staring at nothing across the lake. He chose to ignore all the voices from the back of his mind. He reminded himself, he would not overanalyze.

A peculiar sensation surrounded him, and he wasn't surprised at all. He expelled a long breath, and started to overanalyze again, trying to convey what was in his sigh. Irritation, he decided. To his dismay, it felt more like a sigh of relief, for what he was expecting had come at last.

"You've been invading my place and my privacy as well in these past three days."

He said it in a crisp voice. Something held him from turning to her. A sudden alarm that warned him, he was in danger of falling to the coming attraction.

Nonsense. She meant nothing to him but an artistic object. He turned to face her and met a pair of siren eyes. She was standing about twenty feet away from him. A relatively safe distance, but those eyes surely had a pervasive charm because he felt awestruck. He turned away his gaze quickly as if a bright sunlight was burning his eyes. Better looked the other way.

Doubt and fear flooded her instantly. He seemed completely unwelcome. He even refused to look at her. He stared at a distance across the empty road, as if she was nothing worth his attention.

"In case you forget about it, I ordered you to stay away from my properties. I haven't changed my mind on the matter."

She gripped her skirt unconsciously, trying to hold on to anything to strengthen her will. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the little gesture.

"I'm responsible for your current situation. I have to do something to redeem it."

"I'm afraid I don't care about your troubled conscience. You only cause me a continuous disturbance by keep coming here."

She held her gaze focused on his, praying God would be on her side. She might not have the littlest bit of doubt if she wanted to make it happen.

"I promise I will never disturb you again after this, but please allow me to do something to you before I leave."

She took a little pot from her pocket.

"Let me put this medicine on you."

He didn't answer her, he didn't even spare a glance. He remained perfectly still, staring at nothing in the distance. He was completely ignoring her.

Fine. If he thought he could shut her out with this insult, then he was wrong. She had prepared for rejection and worse. She would not give up so easily. Taking a deep breath and squeezing her fingers into fist, she marched toward him with a direct, purposeful stride, eyes focused on his face in a firm, resolute gaze.

From a sideway glance, he saw her striding towards him in a determined pace. As she got near, his heartbeat's rhythm matched the quick tapping sound of her steps. Damn her, what did she think she was doing? He would make her learn the consequences of challenging him.

She was coming over him like a tidal wave, she didn't slow down her pace until she was so close, he thought she was going to crash him. He almost took a step back when she halted just half a feet away from him. He was glad he didn't do so. The world must have turned upside down if he was scared off by a silly chit.

He turned to see her in bursting anger, meaning to flare up at her rightaway, but the second his gaze fell on her face, his heart weakened. She was the fairest creature he had ever seen. He couldn't remember any woman comparable to her. He swallowed back an angry shout.

"Please! I will never ask for anything to you again after this. I promise I will disappear from your life forever. But please let me put this medicine on you right now."

Didn't she know with that look on her face, a man would give anything she asked for?

Anything at all. A man would give her the world.

But he was certainly not that man. He lowered his gaze on her in an irritated gesture.

"Do whatever you please, if it could bring you peace. After you're done, I want mine as well. You'll stop stalking me and never set foot again in any of my properties. If you still want to live anywhere in my domain, it's strictly required for you to stay out of my sight."