“Thank you for listening to me. The doctor is a treasured member of my staff. It would have been a pity to have to punish you over something so trivial.” He bowed his head a fraction and was glad to see the slight widening of her pupils.
Something stirred within. It was as if he’d been handed a gift all wrapped in pretty white paper. And this gift had such interesting skills—she’d immobilized the doctor very efficiently. Curious that. Why would a sexual companion have need of such skills?
The doctor snorted, massaging his fingers. “Yes, I can show you how it works. I must admit ministering to this particular patient holds little allure for me. The dials are set. It only requires placement of the electrodes around the wound.”
On the other side of the bed was a dressing table with a delicate chair. He’d look less threatening if he sat, so Theo went around and snared the chair, deposited it next to the bed after swinging the galvanic machine out at an angle. The whole time, Claire observed, as if he were a snake about to strike.
He held up his hands, palm outward. “Are you agreeable, Claire? I’ll place these electrodes. I promise you, this is for the best, though it will hurt.”
She didn’t react when he mentioned pain. Instead she looked at his hands, then at June, who’d sat impassively in her chair throughout the commotion.
“Would you rather June do this?”
When she shook her head, choosing him, it pleased him. She was, after all, a young and beautiful woman. But it was more than that—the differences between her and the women from his social circle intrigued him.
The facts in the senate report he’d read had added up to frankenstructs being human. Yet someone had messed up the final summary, and the law had been passed declaring them inhuman. It reeked of legal shenanigans or bribery. Whatever the reasons, the law was wrong. Claire was human. He’d stake his life on it.
What the report hadn’t said was that frankenstructs were feisty and likely to bite your nose off if you looked at them the wrong way, or that they knew Greek as well as English, or indeed, that they were beautiful.
The chair withstood his weight, only creaking as he sat. He’d put it midway down the bed. Her thigh stretched before him, her dress again covering her modestly—though the thin white material left little to be imagined, the way it flowed over every contour and into every crevice.
He’d have to get more clothes sent up for her. Which brought to his mind the vision of her taking off the dress, then her underwear. Claire, naked, would be a wondrous sight, especially with some vivid red stripes to set off the alabaster skin of her luscious bottom. The curves of her breasts showing at the low V-neck of the dress hinted at tantalizing ripeness. From what he’d felt while carrying her, beneath the clothes was a toned yet well-rounded body.
She’d not been immune to his touch. The little signs of her body had betrayed her excitement—the widening of pupils, the fast pulse, the tensing of muscles. Perhaps, though, some of it had been fear? Not that he’d been unmoved himself. No perfume or makeup, yet she smelled and looked like a delectable woman. With his arms under her, he’d wanted to lean down and kiss that full mouth, to feel her whimper beneath him.
“Are you done looking?” A blonde lock fell across her eye, and she tossed her head, switching it away. “I think I can manage this placement of electrodes. Show me.”
That she’d try, he didn’t doubt.
The doctor stepped up and spoke. “No. You can’t. The cuts aren’t where you can see them properly. Here, sir.” He handed one electrode to Theo. “A row along each cut, please. Five a side should do it. Make sure each goes in full depth.”
The electrode tip was a tiny pin; from there the wire trailed to the machine.
Theo showed the tip to Claire. If he let her try to do this, the chances were she’d mess up the placement, and it wasn’t worth the risk. Her cuffed hands hovered at her waist, ready, he felt sure, to lunge and grab the electrode if he did something she disliked.
He sighed. “The parts on this machine aren’t easily replaced. I’m going to secure your hands to the headboard until this is done.”
Anger flared in her eyes. “No.”
“Think. I have several men out there who take my orders. I could have them hold you down. Or we can simply give up, and you’ll have to heal at your own pace and maybe risk infection. Galvanic healing works, but it will be painful this first time. I’ve seen the doctor have to restrain men, veteran soldiers, to get this done. Choose.”
He banked on that intelligence he’d seen in her. She wouldn’t want his men holding her, and that left—
“Very well.” Slowly she put her hands above her head.