I fell into Hattie’s arms and burst into tears of relief.
28
CAPTAIN JOHN CALDER
At least fiveminutes had passed. If anyone saw Evelyn leaving the library they would be long gone by now. I reached out to grab the door handle only to have the door swing open.
I stepped back in surprise, preparing all manner of excuses in my mind, but it was Evelyn.
Moonlight bounced off her dark irises as she slipped in the room and then closed the door behind her back. Her hair was loose, cascading down from the crown of her head in soft waves. I took my time looking at her. She couldn’t have spoken to Miss Pryor already. Everyone in the house was in bed.
“If you’ve come here to toy with me and test my resolve as a gentleman, I—” I broke off. I didn’t know what I would do if that were the case. She had won. Toy with me, love me, kick me out of her home and hate me, I had no control over what she would do next. I was utterly at her mercy.
“No, John, I’ve come here to tell you that you were right.”
I let out a shaky breath. “I could get used to you saying that.”
“Your name?”
“That too.”
“I spoke to Hattie.”
She hadn’t waited until morning? The room grew so quiet, it was as if we were not just alone in this room, but that we were the only two people in all of England. “And?”
“I was the one mistaken.”
She stepped toward me. “But that isn’t what I came here to tell you. I could have waited for tomorrow for that. There’s one more thing you’re right about.”
I took a step back and narrowed my eyes at her. “Who is this agreeable woman, and what have you done with Evelyn Blackwell?”
She only smiled and, by the heavens, that smile made me feel as if I was a rich wine and she was going to pour me into a goblet and drink me.
I returned her smile with my own. I liked this—the two of us smiling at one another. “What else was I correct about?”
“It isn’t fair.”
I swallowed hard, my hands suddenly very aware of how close Evelyn was. It would only take the smallest of efforts to reach out and pull her to me. But I was done making assumptions where women were concerned. “Whatexactlyisn’t fair?”
“It isn’t fair that I remember our kiss and you are free from that torment. It has been excruciating. Utter torture. Do you know how much the memory of your lips has haunted me?”
Heaven help me, did she expect me to apologize for that? I could apologize for the kiss perhaps, but knowing she relived it over and over again? I couldn’t regret that. “I assume that's a rhetorical question. However, I wouldn't complain if you told me the answer.” Hopefully in great detail.
She shook her head. “No. That’s not how we are solving this problem. You have thirty seconds to decide the best location to kiss me before I take matters into my own hands. Either way, wearen’t leaving this library until both of us know what it feels like to have your lips on mine.”
I slid my shaking hands into my pockets. “I think I might be hallucinating again.”
She stepped toward me and this time I didn’t back away. Her hand came up to my face and when her fingertips touched the light stubble on my cheek she closed her eyes. “Does that feel like a hallucination to you?”
I nodded and the movement dragged those fingers of hers up and down my cheek. “Yes. Absolutely.”
“Good. Now where are you going to kiss me?”
“On the mouth?”
She put her forehead on mine and laughed. “I meant which location?”
I nodded. Of course that was what she meant, but my brain was still processing the fact that she’d returned to this room with her hair down. Logical conversation was impossible to follow. I glanced around the room and tried to piece together enough rational thought to decide where Evelyn would want to be kissed. But it was no use. My brain was solely focused on the woman in front of me. We could be in an empty shepherd’s croft for all I knew. But we hadn’t made it more than a few feet from the door. “I think I should start by leaning you against that door. It is the closest thing and I don’t have enough seconds or wherewithal to choose anything else.”
