During the night I woke up a few times, feeling feverish, and every time I did there was always a cup of water at the bedside.

When I woke up again there was early morning light shining through a window. Wincing away from it I turn my head and look at the wall but what I see stops me in my tracks.

Mr. Ambrose was sleeping, although it was quite awkwardly, in the chair beside my bed. I never could imagine how Mr. Ambrose looked like when he slept but here he is now, sleeping right beside me. In a chair of course! My cheeks started to heat up when a image of us sleeping in the same bed flashed through my mind, I'm glad I got naturally tan skin.

While I was looking at his chiseled face I couldn't help but admire how relaxed he looked. He should sleep more often! Suddenly he started to stir and I look away quickly before he sees me looking at him like a idiot.

"Mr. Linton what are you doing awake? The doctor said you need to rest for the next few days." He said coldly. "I need you back to work quickly, it's costing me money to have a replacement secretary."

'How touching' I thought sarcastically.

"Thanks Sir, at least I know someone cares" I reply.

"Adequate" he then gets up and starts walking out the door giving me no clue of where he's going.

"Mr. Ambrose, Sir, where am I?" I realize I don't even know where I'm at!

Without turning around he says in a voice that could freeze lava.

"At my house"

~~~

It's been a few hours since Mr. Ambrose told me where I'm at and I haven't seen him since so I assumed he left for work. In between naps I kept trying to figure out why Mr. Ambrose brought me back to his house.

By the time the room started glowing orange with afternoon light my mind was tired of overthinking things to much. Laying in bed I heard a knock on the door.

"Madam may I enter?" A silky voice asked.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" I raised my voice.

"I'm a physician. I was the one that addressed your wound." I decided that the man was telling the truth and allowed him in. A thin man with a balding head walked into the room carrying a black bag

I eyed him suspiciously when he opened the black bag and started putting items on the bedside table.

"What are you going to do with me." I demanded.

"I'm just going to change the dressing around your stomach and clean your wound again to make sure a infection won't spread." I then see him pull out a brown bottle. He seen me looking at it and quickly assured me it was alcohol to clean the wound.

"Madam I'm going to remove your shirt to unwrap the clothe." I begin to protest with him because I did not want a person of the male species to see me without a shirt. "Do not worry, I put wrappings around your chest to keep your bosom hidden" the man's ears were red at the tips.

Glaring at him I threaten "If you even try to look I'll cut your ears off and feed them to the crows or better yet I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Nodding very quickly he went to work. He unbuttoned my shirt and put the shirt aside and started unwrapping the dressing. Once he unwrapped and threw away the dressing I got to see what my side looked like, it was gruesome. The skin around the stitching was a vibrant red and the stitching itself looked ugly.

"Madam I'm going to remove the stitching by cutting them and it may hurt when I do." Nodding he starts cutting the stitching and the tightness I once felt on my side soon disappeared replaced by pain. "Now comes the real pain. I need you to bite down on this" he then placed a stick in my mouth. I bite down on it when he grabbed a cloth and put some of the alcohol on it then slowly moved it over the open wound. He pressed it in and started rubbing. My teeth clenched so hard against the stick that I was afraid I might snap it in half.

While he was dabbing the clothe at the center of the wound the door to my temporary room opens again and Mr. Ambrose stands in the doorway.

"What is going on in here." He says in a arctic voice that sent shivers down my spine.

The physician's head snapped up and his eyes widened at the cold man that towered over him. He immediately stopped what he was doing and stood up, bowing his head.

"Well Sir, I was cleaning Miss Linton's wound and changing her wrappings. " the physician stammers out.

"Who gave you the orders to do that?" Mr. Ambrose's little finger twitched as he finished his sentence.

"Nobody did Sir, but she needed them changed so I took it upon myself to do just that." He said timidly.

"Did you?" Mr. Ambrose's voice dropped a few degrees "So you decided to come inside my house without permission and help Miss Linton by undressing her."

Stumbling over his own words the physicians says "It's not like that, I wouldn't do that to a woman! My job is to help people not drool over them." His face pales after he made his last comment.

Before Mr. Ambrose could reply I spit out the stick and jump into the conversation beyond irritated.

"Sir, nothing happened, the fellow was just helping me clean the wound. Nothing else." I said feeling my temperature rising. Why would Mr. Ambrose think I could possibly do such a thing! That's preposterous.

Turning to the physician I say "Continue what you were doing before." Then I turn back to Mr. Iceberg and glare at him. That son of a bachelor does not speak a word after that.

The physicians movement becomes quick and before I know it he is telling me that he is going to restitch the wound.

Dragging my eyes from Mr. Ambrose's I put the stick back in my mouth and watch as the balding man sews up my skin. Once he is done he wraps up my stomach and quickly leaves, but he forgot to put on one more thing though.

My shirt

Looking around for it I spot it on the foot of the bed and know instantly that I will not be able to reach it.

Cursing at the physician in my head I try to use my foot to reach it but only my toes touched the fabric. 

Sighing I pull up the covers to my neck to hide my chest knowing Mr. Ambrose is still in the room. From the corner of my eye I see Mr. Ambrose move and I watch him as he goes to the end of the bed and pick up the shirt. What was he doing.

My question was answered when he walks back to where I'm laying and holds the shirt out.

I snatch the shirt from his fingers and try to put it on myself but struggle seeing that I can't even move my abdomen to sit up. Growling in frustration I stop moving and throw the shirt to the side. Who needs a shirt anyway.

I was surprised when I seen Mr. Ambrose pick it up again and stand over me.

"Your struggles are not getting you anywhere. Let me do it for you Mr. Linton" my jaw popped open in shock when he puts a hand on my back and lift me up with one hand.

"I don't need your help. I can do it myself!" I snap at him.

"Is that why you seemed to struggle just by sitting up." He proceeded by putting my arms through the sleeves and lowering me back onto the bed.

"That's only because I'm tired!" I protested.

He answered me by chilling silence. I focused on trying to button up my shirt but my hands kept shaking, it suddenly got very cold in here. I think Mr. Ambrose got impatient because he pushed my hands away and started buttoning up my shirt himself, when he was on the second to last button I felt his hand brush against my skin and that sent a bolt of electricity down my spine causing my face to warm.

I'm sure Mr. Ambrose didn't notice since he kept buttoning the shirt. Once he was done he stepped away from me.

"I sent notice to your family that you're staying at your great grandmothers house in hopes of finding a male suitor, which is a pretense so you can have more time to heal without anyone getting suspicious." I wonder if this man will ever have a conversation where his voice isn't as cold as a iceberg.

I nod my head slowly "That will hold my Aunt for a while. As long as a man is involved she'll believe anything."

"Adequate. I'll be leaving right now to attend a meeting. Do not let anyone in."  I think he was still mad at me for letting the physician in but who cared!

"Yes Sir, that will not happen again" I sarcastically answered.

I swear that I seen his left eye close a fraction of a inch or a millimeter. Give or take.

After Mr. Ambrose left I laid back on my fluffy pillow and thought about his accidental touch on my chest. Why did that effect be so much?

To be continued

~~

This is the longest chapter I ever made at 1,671 words. 2nd update within 24 hours

I was so surprised to see how much comments and votes I got on this fanfiction within 24 hours and I want to thank everyone for voting and commenting. It means a lot!

So Mr. Ambrose is not as cold as everyone thinks he is 😀 Yeah🙌🏼

Mr. Ambrose personality will differ a bit from RobThier version but not drastically.

G'Day
~That-Seahawk-Chick