The Wild Lord (London Scandals Book 1)

  The Wild Lord

  Carrie Lomax

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  I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him…

  Richard III, Act 4, Scene 4

  Chapter 1

  "You wanted to see me, Dr. Patton?"

  Harper Forsythe stopped midway through the door, tucking a honey-brown strand of hair behind her ear. As her eyes adjusted slowly to the gloom, she realized that she had directed her question to the wrong place. The good doctor was not at his desk.

  "Yes, come in, Miss Forsythe. I'm just finishing up with our patient." Dr. Patton sat beside the white-clad form of an adolescent girl lying catatonic on the couch. Long blond hair spilled over the couch and fell nearly to the floor. The effect might have been pretty but for her eerie, vacant stillness. One hand dripped, claw-like, over the edge of the couch, as lifeless as if made from candle wax.

  The doctor’s gentle stubbornness that Camilla could be roused from her catatonic state made Harper grit her teeth to hold her tongue. Privately, Harper considered his efforts to be a waste of time. Camilla Grey was a lost cause.

  Still, she understood the doctor’s uncompromising stubbornness to save a patient. They had argued over her patients, as well.

  England’s most renowned sanatorium director leveraged himself out of his chair with a huff of effort. He shuffled to his desk. "Pass me Yorick and sit, Miss Forsythe. Miss Grey will not disturb us, I'm sure.”

  Harper’s lips resisted a smile. She placed the tips of her fingers around the circumference of the skull sitting on the seat of a battered wingback chair and peered into the gaping sockets. She delicately offered her mentor the skull, then tucked her skirts neatly beneath her and sat primly gazing at the gruesome wall behind Dr. Patton’s desk.

  Brains. At least twenty of them lined the shelves behind the desk, each shriveled specimen sulking in pickling fluid in a glass jar ringed with beeswax.

  “I can see from the look on your face how hopeless you consider her cause. Yet I detect some signs of life in her. Where there is life, there is hope. You'll forgive the curtains." The last was not a question. Harper nodded. Miss Grey curled away from the sun like a snail retracting into its shell.

  The farther he advanced into middle age, the less Dr. Patton seemed inclined to deal with the most intractable of his patients. Miss Grey was the exception. The responsibility for the ongoing care of the more damaged individuals left in the care of Patton's Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed fell increasingly onto the shoulders of his assistants—of which, Harper was the best.

  She had to be. A woman alone in the world, she was lucky to have meaningful employment at all. Harper therefore counted her rewards by watching the seedlings of trust that sprouted in her patients’ eyes rather than pounds sterling.

  Another subtle reward was the doctor’s confidence. The doctor did not call his assistants to his office idly. Something was afoot, and he had chosen her to know about it first. Pride swelled comfortingly in her chest.

  "I received a letter of particular import this morning," he went on, shuffling through the stack of papers on his desk until he found the one he sought. Dr. Patton fished in his pocket for a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles. On his nose, they lent an owlish cast to his appearance.

  "Are you aware of the Earl of Briarcliff?" the doctor asked.

  Harper racked her brains. She had little interaction with the aristocracy, and no time to spare for gossip rags about people she didn't know.

  "I am not."

  Patton appeared unsurprised, aware that his most favored assistant rarely took the time for anything other than her patients. He wagged his head like a shaggy, aging dog.

  “Even the wrongheads know more of the world beyond these walls than you do,” Dr. Patton commented with a sigh.

  Harper raised her chin. “Enlighten me.”

  The doctor settled his bulk into the chair before speaking. Harper shifted in her seat and prepared for one of her employer’s famously long-winded stories.

  “The previous earl of Briarcliff was the present earl’s brother. Both brothers worked for the British government during the Napoleonic Wars. The elder brother was a spy and met a rather grisly death at the hands of the French in early 1808.” He tented his fingers over the round expanse of his belly.

  “The present earl, however, was an ambassador to the Portuguese court. Faced with Napoleon’s armies, the entire court—ten thousand people—fled almost overnight to Brazil, accompanied by British warships. At the time, the earl had with him his two eldest sons, Edward and Richard. Surely you recall reading something of this story as a child?”

  “A little,” Harper said defensively. Thanks to Dr. Patton and his wife, she had received a more than adequate education for a single young woman of few prospects. She thus pretended familiarity with the story, lest she insult their generosity.

  “In the chaos of the departure, the present earl was forced to bring along his children for an unexpected trip to Brazil. Tragically, the eldest son disappeared during a tour of the Amazon rainforest in 1808, not long after the court’s arrival.”

  "How sad. Was he kidnapped? Or simply lost?" Harper asked.

  "No one knows. The interior of the South American continent has never been fully explored, and although expeditions were dispatched, only rumors of the boy were ever unearthed. Until now," the doctor said with a waggle of his eyebrows. Harper rewarded him with an indulgent smile.

  "You really don't read the newspapers, do you?" he asked.

  Harper shook her head once, decisively. "I haven't time. My patients need me."

  "Are you feeling overworked here?"

  Harper blinked at the doctor's question. She had not taken a holiday in years, but that was in part because she had nowhere to go. Her only family, a sister, lived in the north of England, which might as well be the moon given the time and expense it would take to make the journey.

  Ever since the doctor and his wife had given her a home, an education and a purpose here at the asylum, she had never felt the need to be anywhere else. Her secret hope was that the Pattons would leave her the asylum to run as her own someday, when they were old enough to want more peace and rest. It was a hope she dared not voice for its breathtaking audacity—yet.

  "Not at all," she replied honestly.

  "Several of your patients are making remarkable progress. The Kilbourne girl, the one afflicted with severe melancholia, she is nearly ready to be released, is she not?"

  "Yes." The loss of little Jenny would hurt despite her joy at the girl’s recovery. There would be new patients. There were always people who needed help—and that meant there would always be a place for her here at the asylum.

  “Well done. What of Mr. Smith?”

  Harper’s heart sank. Smith believed himself to be persecuted by demons and witches who tortured him without mercy. Nothing Harper had tried in her considerable knowledge of creative treatments could convince him otherwise.

  "I am dismayed to report no progress with Mr. Smith." To Harper her inability to improve his life was the worst sort of personal failure.

  "Some cases are sadly incurable," the doctor commented without judgment. Patton had warned her that she would waste valuable time trying to treat Smith, but Harper had insisted on taking his case. The disorder appeared in late adolescence and progressively deteriorated. Harper had proven powerless to stop it. She glanced at Camilla Grey’s lifeless form.

  In his wisdom, Dr. P
atton had let her try and fail. The next time she had such a patient, she would better direct her efforts into patients for whom there was hope of improvement.

  "Returning to our previous subject, the earl's son has come back from the South American continent with severe disorders. He understands English, or some of it, but he is prone to rages and melancholia. He hasn’t harmed anyone, yet the household is terrified of him.”

  A frisson of anticipation made Harper clench her fingers together in her skirts. Surely the doctor was telling her, in his roundabout way, that he would take the case and be gone for some duration. Any earl was an important client. Dr. Patton must have called her here to say that he was leaving her in charge of the asylum in his absence. This could be her opportunity to show the Pattons that she was capable of managing things. They weren’t getting younger, and she was the closest thing they had to a daughter. If she did well, she would be on solid ground in approaching them to ask for her dream. Harper folded her hands to keep them still. Her foot tapped the air beneath her skirt.

  "The earl understandably wishes to see the firstborn son inherit if his sanity can be restored. He has made me a very, very generous offer for my exclusive services."

  Harper fought a grin and lost. It was exactly as she had imagined.

  “How wonderful for you, Dr. Patton.”

  "Unfortunately, I am entirely too busy with the asylum to accommodate the earl's request."

  Harper's smile faded. Her boot froze mid-tap.

  "In my reply to the earl, I will recommend sending my very best assistant to do an initial evaluation. You."

  Harper felt like a stone thrown over a cliff. "What about my patients?"

  "Miller and Skitchum will divide your patients between them. I will ensure that they follow your instructions to the letter. With Jenny about to be discharged and Mr. Smith receiving maintenance care as you have recommended in your reports, the burden won’t be unmanageable. If need be, I can hire an assistant with the salary I won't be paying you.”

  Harper gasped. “You cannot mean that I am to be replaced.”

  The doctor peered at her over the tops of his silver spectacles. “Harper, dear girl, don’t be so dismayed. This is a tremendous opportunity. I made my name by curing the Duke of Mayham’s son. The money I earned was enough to allow me to start my own asylum."

  “I can't start my own asylum!” Her knuckles turned white as she balled her fists into her skirt. “Who would send patients to a woman doctor? One who is young and untried, at that?"

  The older man rose from his comfortable leather chair, his paunch scraping against the edge of the desk. “You underestimate yourself. You are not untried, Harper. You've been tending your own patients for six years. You can establish your reputation as a healer by curing the Earl of Briarcliff's son. It will take you further than any apprenticeship with me ever could. The boy is disturbed, but surely all he needs is someone to help him acclimate to his natural environment. You can be that person, Harper. Teach Lord Northcote to behave as befits an earl and you will be utterly free of your dependence upon me.”

  “I don't want to be free of you,” Harper declared fiercely. She would not cry here. She could not. “You and Mrs. Patton are my family. You have been my teachers and supporters. Now you want to send me away?”

  “Oh, no, my lyrical little Harp. Nothing like that. I won't force you if you don't want to go. It is only that I hate to see you chained to this place of human suffering when you could do so much good for the world, if you would only stretch your wings.” The doctor was patting her ineffectually on the shoulder. Her face was hot, and she bit her lip to stop it from trembling.

  “If I may speak as a father, in place of the true father you lost…”

  Harper sniffed.

  “I am concerned that you have become too attached to this place. I understand that your childhood was untethered, to say the least. This is the only home you have ever known as your own. But it is not a home for a grown woman. You should have beaux. You should dance and try your hand at being a normal girl. You’re twenty-five years old—”

  “Twenty-six next week.”

  “Of course. I hadn’t forgotten your birthday, dear.”

  “I danced at the Christmas ball. Twice.”

  “It’s June. That was six months ago.” Never one for prolonged contact, the doctor gave her shoulder a final pat and went to his desk. He gathered a sheaf of newspapers together and held them out to her. Harper took them silently.

  “Might I think it over awhile?” she asked.

  “Read them and make an informed decision.” He opened a black journal, palmed the pages flat, dipped his quill and began to write.

  Harper barely registered the little squeak emitted by the catatonic woman on the couch as she closed the door softly behind her.

  She deposited the papers on her desk and locked her room behind her. Out on the manicured grounds of the estate, Harper picked up her skirts and ran for the enormous willow tree that marked the presence of a shallow fishpond. The rustling leaves hung nearly to the ground in a sheltering canopy.

  She couldn’t leave the asylum. It was her whole world.

  Harper picked up a stone and tossed it into the pond. A family of startled ducks quacked indignantly away. If she went to Briarcliff, she would have to assert herself alone, with only distant support from her mentor. Although she understood that she couldn't go through life dependent upon Dr. Patton to make a place for her, the prospect of striking out on her own made her feel about as capable and brave as those ducklings paddling after their mother.

  “Coward,” she muttered.

  And yet…the thought tingled in her imagination, a diamond-bright spark of possibility. Here was a chance to do something important. If she was successful, she could make a real difference for other women who practiced medicine.

  If there were any. She sighed. Maybe Dr. Patton was right. Perhaps it was past time for her to attempt life outside the beautiful confines of her home.

  Harper had worked hard to become the ideal protégé. How could she know if she was truly any good unless she tried?

  Just imagine if she succeeded.

  It would be even easier to make the case that she ought to be named director of the asylum. Triumph or fail, she could always come back here.

  “Heard you were up in the big office about half an hour ago.”

  Harper’s booted foot jerked as she turned. It landed in the edge of the water, leaving a dark spot on the worn leather.

  “Miller. This is my spot.”

  “You don’t own it any more than I do.” A gangly man folded himself onto the river bank a few feet away. “What’s the doctor want with you?”

  “You’ve already invaded my willow tree. Keep your nose out of my business.” Harper rose, her drab skirts falling around her legs in a protective curtain. Parting the hanging willow leaves with two hands, she enjoyed no little satisfaction at hearing them deliver a slap that she didn’t dare attempt.

  Though she’d won a measure of grudging respect from her colleagues, Miller and Skitchum, Harper was by no means friendly with them. Both men held university degrees that she would never be permitted to obtain, yet she had years of experience and close apprenticeship with a master. Only the thinnest veneer of civility masked the toxic mutual jealousy and competitiveness of their working relationship.

  Miller stomped after her, his long legs easily keeping pace.

  Harper glared over her shoulder. “Can’t take a hint, can you?”

  “Can but won’t until I find out what the doctor wanted with you.”

  The walled yard was not large. She headed toward the stables, situated downwind of the house. Two men shoveled horse manure into a wheelbarrow, the pungent scent mixed with the sweetness of early summer air. Her glare deepened. Miller choose the most humiliating work for the patients he liked least. One of Patton’s convictions was the healing power of meaningful work. Miller took that notion and twisted it.

 
; “The wrongheads aren’t too good to shovel horse shit.” Miller caught her disapproval and turned defensive. Fair enough, but it didn’t always have to be the same patients doing the hardest, smelliest work.

  In two long strides, Miller got ahead of her and planted his bean-pole body in her path. Harper stopped short.

  Too bad she wasn’t big enough to run him over. The crown of her bonnet barely topped Miller’s shoulder.

  Harper inhaled a steadying, manure-scented breath before meeting his eyes. She wished they were beady and birdlike. Instead, they exuded warmth and authority. The rest of his face just missed the mark of handsomeness. Bland skin, indifferent nose, thin lips, a jutting chin.

  Yet Miller was a man with good prospects. As a woman with poor prospects, she would be smart to make an ally of him.

  “With all respect, you are deluded if you think our patients are unable to discern how you parcel out the best chores to your favorites.” Harper hardly attempted to conceal her contempt for a man who entertained himself with petty games aimed at humiliating the infirm. Maybe it was harmless, but it spoke volumes about his character.

  “Have a care for your place, Miss Forsythe.”

  “My place here is not in doubt.” Harper’s eyebrows arched gracefully upward.

  Miller took one step closer. He was so quick that she didn’t understand what was happening until his tongue was slithering around in her mouth. His hand was hard on her chin, holding her in place.

  “Gah!” Harper wrenched away. Across the rickyard, one of the patients pointed, muttering to his companion.

  “You’d make a fine wife for an asylum director if you were more biddable. You’re beddable enough, for a know-it-all shrew.” Miller watched her scrub away the unwanted kiss with the back of her hand, his lips a sneer of bewildered contempt.

  Harper leaned down and picked up a glob of mud and manure in her bare hand. She chucked it at his face, only to miss when he sidestepped the missile.

  She reached for another handful. This time she hit him square in the back as he turned away.