“Where is Mrs. Bamford?”
Waylen raises his eyebrows and turns his head away from the woman in his bed. She seems to be out of control, tormented by some kind of aphrodisiac.
“She’s gone out,” the maid answers.
“What?” he demands, “Where?”
Does she think she can just walk away after throwing up all over him? He can’t believe her nerve.
“She didn’t say,” the maid said nervously, “She asked us to deliver a special candle and said…”
The maid pauses abruptly wondering if she should keep talking.
“What?” Waylen demands.
“She said a night of pleasure is better than all the gold in the world. She wishes the best for you and Miss Summer,” the maid lowers her head with embarrassment as she talks, “The candle is meant to increase s.e.x.u.a.l pleasure. She said she’d be here if you change your mind about the divorce.”
Increase s.e.x.u.a.l pleasure? Change his mind? Waylen suddenly understands what’s happening. Leilani arranged for Leonie to come to his bedroom, and she sent the special aphrodisiac candle to guarantee that he’d have s.e.x with the other woman. It’s all been part of her plan to make him get a divorce.
Waylen breathes heavily. He kicks the lamp on the nightstand. The metal lampshade hits the ground hard and the lightbulb blinks and then flickers out.
The maid looks away from Waylen in a hurry. She’s confused and embarrassed. Everyone said that Waylen secretly wanted Leonie; now thanks to Mrs. Bamford’s scheming, she’s lying n.a.k.e.d on his bed. It makes no sense for him to fly into such a rage. The situation is hardly shameful—it’s normal for a man as powerful as Waylen to have several mistresses.
Waylen’s look is piercing and grim. He glances at the candle across the room. Its dark blue flame is still twinkling. He walks over, picks it up and brings it up to his nose. He inhales quickly.
“Ask Dr. Walter to come here,” he orders.
The first maid calls Dr. Walter and another enters to help Leonie get dressed.
Dr. David Walter comes quickly. He checks on Leonie first. Though she’s dressed, she’s still red in the face and she complains that she’s unbearably hot. After that, he takes the candle and sniffs it.
“It smells like it contains a very powerful aphrodisiac,” he says, frowning.
Waylen clenches the glass jar containing the candle as if he’s determined to break it with his bare hands.
“Er…”
David is embarrassed. He knows that this type of aphrodisiac incites incredibly strong urges in anyone exposed to it for too long. Leonie’s symptoms certainly match the drug’s method, but he’s uncertain about what kinds of treatment Waylen might accept for her.
Waylen seems to read his mind and frowns, “Is there an antidote?”
David nods, “Yes. I can give her some medicine.”
“Just get her out of here then,” Waylen orders, “Treat her as you see fit.”
David is about to open his medical bag, but he freezes at Waylen’s words. How is he supposed to interpret that statement? It’s easy to get her out of the room, but the treatment can be complicated. The safest method is, of course, to give her what she wants. Medicine is only the second choice. If the aphrodisiac is strong enough and the medicine fails to function, the results could be terrible. But Waylen doesn’t want to know about this. He wants nothing to do with the problem.
David sighs. His parents worked in the mansion as butlers for their entire lives. Mrs. Bamford treats him like one of her grandsons, and he grew up playing with Waylen like a brother, but he doesn’t dare to cross the line and touch Waylen’s woman.
“Do you need this room?” he asks Waylen.
“Yes,” Waylen snaps.
“What a bloody mess!” David thinks.
He grinds his teeth and feels the hairs on his scalp rising. He hands his medicine bag to one of the maids and picks Leonie up.
David’s arms feel wonderful to Leonie. She imagines she’s found floating driftwood after struggling for a long time on the sea. She wraps her arms tightly around David and buries her head in his neck to kiss him wildly. David loosens his grasp, embarrassed. Leonie feels a falling sensation and wraps her arms even more firmly around his shoulders.
David wants nothing more than to give her the medication and be done with her. She’s making it very difficult to hold her. He makes it halfway out the door when he suddenly remembers something and turns to Waylen, “By the way, Mrs. Bamford asked me for something half an hour ago. But I didn’t give it to her.”
Waylen is toying with the candle and puts out the flame with his fingers, “What?”
“The morning-after pill.”
David gives Waylen a long and serious look, conveying meaning beyond words. Lance’s face suddenly drains of color. He is livid.
“I’ve never seen the ruthless Waylen Bamford so worked up over a woman,” David thinks.
Waylen puts the candle back on the cabinet, banging the glass hard against the wood. He cracks his knuckles and clenched his hands into fists. Then he gestures for David to take Leonie and leave. He orders Robert Tinder to forbid every pharmacy in the area from selling morning-after pills for the next 48 hours. With his family’s power in both politics and the pharmaceutical industry, it will not be difficult to ban the pills.
Robert takes the orders and rushes away. In less than ten minutes, he returns with news.
“Sir, Mrs. Bamford was seen at multiple pharmacies trying to buy the pills. None of them would sell to her so she went to St. Meyer Hospital.”
“How persistent of her,” Waylen mutters.
The vein in Waylen’s temple bulges, and he paces the room with his hands clasped behind his back as if he’s restraining himself from violence. The pure rage emanating from him sends chills down Robert’s spine.
He stares at the candle on the cabinet.
“Follow her,” he orders, “And tell Dr. Meyer that his hospital will find itself in an unfortunate financial situation if Leilani comes into contact with any pills.”
“Before you leave, I want her file,” he adds.
In the last three years, he has never been so interested in any aspect of Leilani’s life.
A red Mercedes convertible stops in the parking lot of St. Meyer. The car is too flashy for the drab hospital and it stands out. Like a true gentleman, Dr. Charles Meyer opens the car door and helps Leilani out of the vehicle. She puts her hands in his, giving him an affectionate look.
Leilani had changed into a conservative gray dress before leaving the house, but she’d cut off part of the collar to reveal her s.e.xy shoulders. The white fabric from the collar was now wrapped around her waist as a belt. The outfit is unique and creative, and Charles can’t help but notice that it’s different from her normal attire.
The man smiles politely and gives her a deep look. His eyes are crystal clear, but unreadable at the same time.
“You’re very different now,” he observes, “More lively.”
“You know your compliment makes me feel like I’ve come back from the dead,” she responds.
“I don’t know,” he says, “Running around by yourself at such late hours against the Bamford’s strict rules, I suspect I’m looking at a ghost.”
“Hush. Do you want to bring this up again?” Leilani extends her fair finger toward his face, stopping an inch away from his lip, “Besides, I’m here to ask for something.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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