Ecstasy Wears Emeralds by Renee Bernard Read Free Book Online

well tethered, I’m afraid, and as you know”—he rewarded his housekeeper with a smile that instantly turned the formidable creature into a blushing girl—“if she waits for me to have a meal, she’ll die of starvation.”
    â€œYou work too hard, doctor!”
    â€œNot at all.” He deflected her maternal concern, and Gayle marveled at the way he diplomatically turned his housekeeper into an ally. “I’m a tyrant of an employer and blessed to have you, Mrs. Evans.”
    Mrs. Evans retreated in a happy flurry, returning to her duties without another glance in Gayle’s direction.
    She sighed. “I don’t think your housekeeper approves, Dr. West.”
    â€œShe won’t be the first not to do so, Miss Renshaw,” he countered. “But on a somewhat related subject, I should point out that your door has a dead bolt.”
    â€œI see.” Except she didn’t see what in the world dead bolts had to do with Mrs. Evans.
    â€œTo protect your virtue,” he added, instinctively providing another clue.
    â€œI see,” she repeated, with a little more confidence. “I shall be sure to use it, if only to reassure Mrs. Evans that my virtue is intact under your roof.”
    â€œSee that you do,” he said, a mysterious heat in his eyes making the command almost hypnotic. But before she could identify it, he’d turned away and returned to the workroom and the business of her apprenticeship. “I’ll have a small desk brought up to your room as well. The laboratory is very good for studying, but you’ll still need a private space of your own, I’m sure, for letters, journals, and any personal business you may have.”
    â€œThank you.”
    Rowan began pulling down books, barely looking at the shelves as if he knew the volumes by touch alone. “How is your Latin?”
    â€œVery good,” she answered confidently.
    â€œHave you studied Hippocrates?”
    She shook her head. “Only vicariously, I’m afraid.”
    â€œWe’ll start with the classics. You’ll read these, Miss Renshaw, and know them like you know your own history. I want you to absorb as much as you can, taking it all in, and when commanded, you should be able to quote it like the Bible.”
    She took the books reverently. Hippocratic Writings ; Hippocratic Aphorisms ; Fasciculus Medicinae ; Articella ; and Pantegni.
    He placed his hand gently on the top of the page, breaking her connection to the words and drawing her back to the present. “Study them, Miss Renshaw, and while I may have asked you to be able to quote them like the Bible, I want you to be clear that this is no religion, although some of my colleagues use words like heresy and blasphemy for those who argue against this ancient wisdom. While there may be some elements of useful truth inside these texts, they are not infallible or inerrant.”
    â€œOh!” she whispered in quiet shock. She had always understood that health was tied to the balance of the four bodily humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Everything she’d overheard the physicians of her childhood saying had only reinforced that belief. “I thought that all doctors still believed in the four humors.”
    He smiled. “Belief is an action of faith. As I said, this isn’t religion. We are in the service of science. If we have learned that we know anything for certain, it is that we know almost nothing for certain. The ancient Greeks and Arabs and their medieval followers have had a great influence on my profession and our approach to healing. But I am a heretic, Miss Renshaw.”
    â€œWhy ask me to study them at all, if you don’t hold to their teaching?” she asked.
    â€œHeretic is from the root of a Greek word that means one who can choose , Miss Renshaw. You must understand a school of knowledge thoroughly before you can claim the wisdom to choose what to