Inamorata

Chapter Fifteen - Eve and the Apple

Chapter 15. Author's note - sorry for the delay in updating! I was extremely busy. However, comments and votes are always much loved by this humble writer!

The moment Clarence pronounced the exam finished, Nightingale sprang up and away from him. She grabbed her clothes when he offered them to her and put them on. She was nervous of what she'd just experienced.

He, seemingly ever the gentleman, escorted her out of the lab. Nightingale, as they got back into the first room, anxiously searched for Robin. She saw him standing between Nicholas and Pierce and immediately scurried over to his side.

"Back so quickly, Miss Nightingale?" asked Robin.

"Clarence is efficient," she replied.

"He is. What did the test results say, Clarence?" asked Robin. He made his way around the table and Nightingale shadowed his steps, trying to stay as far away from Clarence as she could.

"Everything we expected. She's identical to a natural-born woman, except for her aging and her reproductive system," said Clarence.

"She's sterile, is she not?" enquired Pierce.

"Yes. A deficiency of luteinizing hormone, I'm afraid. Biologically programmed into her. I doubt she ever menstruates, and it would be impossible for her to bear children," said Clarence. He eyed Nightingale and she attempted to assume a haughty air, but her unsettled mind over the shocking pleasure of his touch would not allow her to mime aloofness.

"Good," cried Robin. "Then we've a leg to stand on."

"Two legs, even," replied Clarence. Nightingale caught his eyes on her and looked back, feeling a ghost of his touch stroke her as she stared into his well-featured face.

Nicholas and Pierce immediately diverted Clarence's attention, pulling him away and bombarding him with questions about Nightingale's exam. Nightingale was watching Clarence in nervous, flighty curiositiy when Robin gently pushed her down into a chair at the opposite end of the table and sat next to her.

"Nightingale, is there something the matter?" asked Robin.

"Nothing," she said.

Robin raised his eyebrows. "There is, don't try to deceive me."

Nightingale decided not to hide it. "Yes, there is. Something happened while I was in there."

"Did he-" began Robin, his brows coming together with dark fury, his beautiful voice become thick with anger.

"No. It was nothing bad," she assured him, patting his knee.

"You look unsettled, Nightingale. It must have been-" he began, but Nightingale, not wanting to talk about the experience until she'd had more time to mull it over, distracted Robin in the only way she knew how.

She gave him a well-placed kiss, directly to the cheek that subsequently blushed.

But he gave her a waspish look. "Don't think that that will distract me," he said.

"But it already did," she pointed out, laughing smoothly. She caught Clarence glancing at her and she felt herself blush. Her very embarrassment shocked her. Why should she be bashful around him?

"Nightingale, if you will stop kissing Robin for longer than a few minutes, we'll proceed with the meeting," interjected a voice from the doorway.

Everyone looked up to see David and Caroline entering the room. As she sat down between Clarence and Nicholas, Nightingale felt Caroline's cold eyes on her face and ignored her. She was unused to female jealousy, but she supposed that mean-spirited women existed, just like men.