The Doctor and the Libertine - Callie Hutton Page 0,1

with someone facing an emergency.

Barely conscious after having spent hours delivering a baby earlier in the evening, she tied the belt on her dressing gown and stumbled down the stairs. She yawned, hoping whatever dire need the visitor had would not take too long.

Grabbing the lantern, she kept on the small table next to the entrance, she raised the wick and opened the door. She held it up but saw no one. Frowning, she raised the lantern higher and looked left and right but saw nothing except a carriage racing away and rounding the bend at the end of the street.

Foolish people racing around this time of the night.

Stifling another yawn, she shrugged and began to close the door when she heard a low groan. She looked down at the body of a man lying on her front steps. Well, hell and damn, someone just dropped the poor soul on her doorstep and took off.

She placed the lantern on the cement step and rolled the body over. She sucked in a breath at the condition of the man. He had cuts and scrapes on his face and a swollen eye. Had he been in a fight? It would have been nice if whoever left him on her steps stayed long enough to give her an idea of how he received his injuries.

She made a cursory examination of him through his clothes, and based on his groans, she assessed he had possibly suffered a broken leg and some injuries to his ribcage in addition to the injuries to his face.

With a sigh, she climbed to her feet and walked the corridor to the back of the house where her footman slept. Although titled a footman, Walter was really a man of all work. Big and strong, he would be able to move the mystery man from his place on the step to a bed in her infirmary.

“Walter,” she called through the door to his room as she tapped on the wood.

Within a few minutes, the door opened, and Walter dragged his palm down his face. “Yes, doctor.”

She looked up at the rumpled man who stood a good foot and a half above her head. “There is a man on the front steps who looks to be in poor shape. I hated to wake you, but can you move him to one of the beds and help me undress him so I can do an examination?”

He nodded. “Just give me a minute to dress.” He closed the door, and Rayne returned to the front step to check on the man. She shivered and wrapped her dressing gown tighter around her. The damp night air was quite chilled. She hurried to the drawing room to pull a wool blanket off the settee. She threw it over the man and headed to the infirmary to start the stove up since the ground floor of the house had grown cold.

Ordinarily, there would be a small fire in the infirmary stove if there were patients, but right now her infirmary was empty. Her last patients had been two young girls she treated for influenza, and thankfully they had recovered. Being in the infirmary had most likely helped keep the illness from the rest of their family.

Once the fire had warmed up the room a bit, Walter entered carrying the man. “Lud, doctor. This man weighs less than a lass.”

The man in Walter’s arms was tall, but even through his clothes she could see he was frail. Yet, his face—despite the injuries—appeared to be somewhere in his thirties. She waved to the bed closest to the stove. “Put him there, please.”

His clothing was of the finest fashion, proclaiming he was a man of means. As much as she hated to ruin such lovely clothes, she had no choice. “Walter, bring me the scissors, please. Since I’m not absolutely sure what all his injuries are, I want to move him as little as possible, so I’m afraid these dandified garments are going to have to be cut off.”

Rayne winced as she removed the man’s clothes, one layer at a time. He was seriously bruised, and she confirmed the broken leg and bruised ribs. But more upsetting was the skeleton of the man. He looked as though he hadn’t had a decent meal in months.

He did reek of spirits, though. An alcoholic. No doubt. Slowly drinking himself to death. She reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small stack of calling cards.

Edwin Sterling, Baron Sterling of Plaistow

Rayne