Haunted Hearts

Chapter 10: Approval (1)

The quietness of his words in the midst of the argument had the effect of a boulder falling from the ceiling. She could only stare at him until the words once more came to her lips.

"I-I don't understand." Raeliana's mind clicked with previously ignored facts. She recalled the housekeeper saying that poor old Aaron avoided the schoolroom. She had thought she'd been referring to an elderly befuddled servant; now she realized she'd been speaking of the lord's brother.

"My father specialized in helping the deaf. Why would you summon him if your brother can already hear?"

Noah resumed his seat, leaving her to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room. He pinned her to the thick carpet with his stare.

"Dr. Heinz Ackerman specialized in audiology, correct? He helped deaf people speak. If he could do that, I thought he could help Aaron."

"Your brother never learned to speak?"

Noah started to slide his gaze to the fire. The flames reflected in his spectacles with an almost satanic glee.

"Let's say my brother is... slow. He was born that way. It took many years, but he eventually learned to speak. He lost the ability, however, and now I'm here to take care of him again. I want to bring his speech back."

"He lost the ability?" But how did he lose it? I've never heard of such thing. Was it a blow to the head? A fever? Perhaps he-"

"Fear." Noah's gaze slid back to hers, strangely taking her breath.

"Fear?" she repeated numbly.

"He was frightened so badly that he never spoke again."

The baby hairs stood up on her neck, and she felt goosebumps on her arms. Eventually, her breath came back to her but only in short, thick puffs.

If the afternoon hadn't been full of haunts, she might have been able to control her reaction better. This particular story disturbed her because it was not speculation or the ruminations of old men. It was a fact. Something, a person, an incident, had frightened the speech from this man's brother, and now all she could think of was that novel lying on the floor of the abandoned schoolroom... Ivanhoe.

"You look kind of pale, Miss Ackerman."

She reached behind her for the medieval chair. Slowly, she sank into it. "What frightened him?" Her voice was low and trembling. After looking into this man's eyes, she was not sure if she wanted to know.

His gaze raked over her, studying her as if weighing the possibility of answering or not. Finally, he said, "That's the reason why I want to hear him speak again. I want to know exactly what happened to him. Right now, all I have is a recounting of the day by my old servants. I had hoped that with the right physician, Aaron would be given back the ability to tell me what really happened."

She looked blankly around Noah's elaborate studyroom while her mind raced with images of horror.

She'd been given enough veiled warnings and malevolent forebodings to be impressed by them. She couldn't help wondering if now wasn't the time to bow out and for the first time in her life be grateful she was a woman so she would not have to hang on a man's kind of honor and keep her commitment.

Her gaze trained on Noah's face once more, the one so like Sean. She was grateful for the spectacles. They kept a distance between her and those eyes. Those terrible eyes...

If she left now and returned to London, Sean's kind of thinking would have won. Her unhappy acceptance of the circumstances would only serve to strengthen the prejudice she could see Noah felt for her.

Yes, she was a woman and no physician, but she was the best this man could ever get to help his brother, despite her s*x.

She couldn't leave without a fight, as she had let Sean leave that night long ago, his thinking intact. To let this particular man believe he was correct in his thinking would be ruinous to her pride. She had to stay at Stonegate. She had to prove to someone that her kind, whatever that was, was good enough.

Besides, she had nothing to fear. Noah's story of his brother proved nothing. There was wickedness and evil in the world outside of this castle, so what did it matter that here at Stonegate, evil cast a more obvious shadow? If anything, she could almost take solace in it. Sometimes the worst sort of evil was performed in quiet formal parlors, with all the manners of a courtier.

"Lord Wainwright, I believe I can help Aaron. Unless you plan to take him to London, I am the only one who can. I think it would be best if you let me atleast try." She gave him her most level-minded, serious stare. She could see he was pondering it. She could see he hated the idea.

"You're no physician. It doesn't matter who your father was, you're a woman and of limited use."

His words were like a punch in the gut. It was the expected attitude, but it was still grossly unjust.

She stared at him. "I can help."

His expression hardened, and she realized the battle was lost. He was more like Sean than in mere appearance. There would be no fighting him. She was on his ground, not hers. Looking down at her nightrail, she wasn't even dressed for the battle. And one certainly couldn't argue with a peer when one was further handicapped by being a woman.

Releasing a dark sigh, she rose and walked to the study doors. Disappointment tugged at relief. At least her friend Isabella would rejoice.

"Why did you want this job, Miss Ackerman?"

"She let her hand slip off the carved brass doorknob. The curiousity in his voice seemed to lend her a second chance. She faced him but she was still wary. Backing against the walnut doors, she said, "I thought to come here because I wanted a chance to leave London. My father had recently died, as you know from my letter.

His gaze flickered over her appearance. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. His expression was so hard to read through. A mask with hidden emotions. "The way you signed your answer to my letter, I know only very little about you."

"What is it you need to know about me?" She looked at him, at a loss whether to hope or despair.

"If I give you this job, I don't want an irate husband coming here to drag you away just when Aaron's making progress."

"I do not have a husband." At his knowing look, she stammered, "I-I had expectations once, but it is over and done with now." She wondered why she had volunteered that last piece of information. She could have kicked herself when he asked his next question.