He held her until she stopped shaking. Once she gained control of herself, she wrapped her arms around his waist and sunk into him. With a shaking breath she smiled up at him. “I can’tbelieveyou kissed me likethat.” She motioned to the wall she’d recently been pressed up against. “When you thought you wereengaged to another woman.”
That was rather embarrassing. But she’d been so irresistible. She was still irresistible. “And whose fault is that?”
“Are you trying to tell me it was mine?”
“Absolutely I am.” He held up one finger. “First, you begged me to kiss you.” He held up a second. “Then when I complied with a rational, short brush on the lips, you claimed I hadn’t played fair and challenged me to do better.”
Lucy’s lips curved into a smile, her eyes lowering. “And I must say, you did.”
Matthew nodded his head as if he’d simply performed a perfunctory task as asked, and not as if that kiss had changed his life irrevocably. So much so that he was struggling to not repeat it right now. “So…I finally managed to impress you.” Matthew brought his lips to her ear. He had one more very important question to ask her. “Does this mean you didn’t come here because you think I am a good delivery man?”
She laughed and pulled away from him so she could look him in the eye. “I think you are the very best delivery man.”
He bent his head to one side. “But you didn’t seek me out because of it?”
“No.”
He sighed, keeping the smile on his face. “I’m disappointed. I had come to believe I was finally good at something.”
“I am still here because I know you will be a good husband.”
His shoulders straightened. “I suppose that ought to count for something.”
“It counts for everything.”
Matthew grabbed Lucy by the waist and lifted her into the air, slinging her over his shoulder as if she were a bag of sugar he was carrying into the baker’s. He kicked open Marge’s stall and light spilled into the tiny space.
Laughter burst from Lucy as her legs flailed in front of him. He held her tight behind her knees and walked her outside, careful not to hit her head on the door frame. She pushed up from his back with her arms. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the cart.”
“For deliveries?”
“No,” he said. “Do you know how many nights I lay awake dreaming about kissing you on that cart? You, woman, are about to make some of those dreams come true.”
A throat cleared loudly somewhere in the direction of Mr. Bennion’s house. Both he and Lucy turned to see Mother, Helena—who was not his fiancée—and Mrs. Tucker, standing by the front door.
“Lucy!” Helena was the first to thaw from the shock of seeing Matthew physically carrying his fiancée out of a horse stall. She ran toward them, and he set Lucy down on her feet.
The two sisters embraced before Mother even started walking in his direction. “Matthew,” she hissed as soon as she was close enough to speak to him under her breath. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “I’m kissing Lucy. Or at least I was trying to, before you interrupted.”
Mother took in his ragged clothing and Lucy’s disastrous hair. “Did the two of you get married?”
He shook his head. He should wipe the smile off of his face, because his Mother, bless her soul, had every right to be upset with him. He should be begging for forgiveness, but nothing could dampen his spirits at the moment. “We aren’t married, Mother. Not yet.”
“But…” She tried to take in the scene before her, once again. “You’ve both been living in Fenswallow?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. We will be coming home to London with you.”
“Now?”
“Not now. I’m afraid Lucy and I have some work to do. On Mr. Bennion’s cart.”
Lucy pulled herself from her sister’s arm and beamed at Mother. “Yes, one last package to pick up before we leave. But don’t worry, it is a present for you.”
“We also need to drop off the packages I have in the cart. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
