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She glanced toward the door “What if Hoskins comes in?”

Dorian slid her hand into the opening of his shirt “We’ll tell him it’s a medical treatment,” he said

She turned back to hi in his eyes, desire smoldered, fierce and hot

One day, too soon, the fierceness and heat would turn dangerous—deadly, perhaps

But she would deal with that day when it came, Gwendolyn told herself In thearms

She lifted his hand to her breast “Touch me,” she whispered “Make me mad, too, Dorian”

HE HAD AN attack the next day

They had just finished breakfast when she saw him blink impatiently and brush at the air near his face

He caught hiood,” he said “A reflex, I suppose”

Gwendolyn left her chair and went to hiive you a dose of laudanum, you’ll scarcely notice when the headache starts”

He rose, and went upstairs with her, his expression preoccupied She helped him undress, and noticed that his vision was not so impaired that he couldn’t find her breasts He fondled them while she wrestled with his neckcloth

“You are reot him under the bedclothes “If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect my lord only wished to lure me into his bedchamber”

“I wish it were a trick,” he said, blinking up at her “But there the daht, Gwen They are not like ghosts, after all You described it better ‘Like colliding with a lamppost,’ you said ‘First you see stars, then the pain hits’ I should like to knohat it was that persuaded my brain I’d suffered a blow to the head”

She knew, all too well

I told you he itation, Kneebones had said

He was a real doctor, with decades of experience He understood the malady, had studied Dorian’s mother for months

You sahat the news about his family did to him: three attacks in one week

She recalled yesterday’s conversation, and her conscience stabbed

“I can see what it was,” she said tightly “Yesterday, I obliged you to relive the most painful experiences of your life And I was not content with the general picture, was I? I pressed you for details, even about the post-mortem report on your mother I should have realized this was too much strain for you to bear all at once I cannot believe I did not think of that I do wonder where I misplaced my wits”

She started to rabbed her hand “I wonder where you’ve put theot it all backwards, Gwen Our talk yesterday did ood You eased my mind on a hundred different counts”

He tugged her hand “Sit”

“I need to get your laudanum,” she said

“I don’t want it,” he said “Not unless I becoeable That’s the only reason I took it before I wasn’t sure I could trust myself But I can trust you I’m not your first lunatic You’ll knohen I need to be stupefied”

“I also know the pain is dreadful,” she said “I cannot let you lie there and endure it I , Dorian”

He shut his eyes then, and his face set

“It’s started, hasn’t it?” It was a struggle to keep her voice low and even

“I don’t want to be stupefied,” he said levelly “I want my mind clear If I must be incapacitated physically, I should like to use the opportunity to think, while I still can”