All the sensations and feelings she experienced while riding on the horse with him returned tenfold, and the idea of kissing him renewed itself. She couldn’t pull her eyes from his, couldn’t look away. Something between them was too powerful, holding her captive.
Drake wasn’t moving, either, just standing there, looking at her with an expression she couldn’t read, but could feel, deep inside her.
Her breath lodged somewhere in her throat, as did her heart, as she stood there not knowing what was about to happen, but wanting whatever it might be more deeply than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
One of Drake’s fingers touched her beneath the chin as his head dipped forward.
He was going to kiss her!
The thrill that shot through her made her giddy and light-headed. Her eyes fluttered closed and her toes curled inside her shoes as she drew in a deep breath.
She would know then. When they kissed, she would know if she wastrulyfalling in love with him.
A moment later, she felt his lips, soft and warm, touch her forehead. The air in her lungs slowly seeped out.
That certainly wasn’t the kiss she was hoping for, that she’d needed.
It had taken every last bit of control Drake had to keep himself from grasping hold of Meridith’s arms, pulling her close and kissing her in the way a man kissed a woman when he wanted more. When he was so filled with desire that he couldn’t see straight, and when he was on the brink of losing all good sense.
Right now, Drake felt all of those things, but luckily, still had enough sense to realise that he couldn’t act upon any of them. Yet he had needed a consolation of sorts, so he’d kissed her forehead. Then he took her hand and led her out of the storeroom to the gate where her brother was waiting for her. Along with a plethora of reporters.
‘My apologies again,’ Drake said to Chesterfield. He’d already apologized once to the man while walking Hugo home. ‘I assure you, she was never in danger, but was indeed a great help.’
Chesterfield gave a slight nod, before he quietly said, ‘I would appreciate it if you could keep her name out of the papers.’
‘I will do my best,’ Drake replied. But he’d already seen the way Meridith’s eyes flashed at her brother’s request and knew that would be impossible.
A moment later, he was proven correct, because as Meridith and Chesterfield turned to leave, she addressed the crowd ofreporters. ‘My name is Lady Meridith Downs. That’s spelled M E R I D I T H. Downs. D O W N S.’
Drake didn’t attempt to hide his grin, nor did he feel particularly bad for Chesterfield. The man had underestimated his youngest sister and should have realised that before tonight. She was tired of being controlled. He couldn’t blame her for that. No one could.
At least he hoped her family would see it that way.
He turned his attention to the reporters and told the story of rescuing a drunk elephant from a London alley. Much of which they already knew from the crowd that had followed them from the public house and still hadn’t dispersed.
It was close to another hour before he was finally in his house, had eaten enough to curb the hunger that had been with him earlier, and then found his way to his bed. There he faced the dilemma of either laughing over the night’s adventure or dwelling more on thoughts that were already twisted into knots.
He chose to laugh, because dwelling would keep him up all night, and he still wouldn’t have a solution to either the question of exactly what it was he felt towards Meridith, or what to do about it.
The next morning, when he arrived at Hugo’s pen, he faced a similar dilemma. Wearing a yellow dress as bright as the morning sun, Meridith was already there, leaning on one of the metal rungs of Hugo’s pen.
Now wasn’t the time to dwell, either, so Drake laughed. ‘Did you even go to bed?’
Her smile was as vibrant and sunny as her dress. ‘Yes, and I slept quite well. As I hope you did.’
‘I did, thank you.’ It wasn’t a complete lie, he had slept, but thoughts of her had haunted him as he’d fallen asleep and been there waiting when he’d awoken.
‘So did Hugo,’ she said, gesturing into the pen. ‘As you can see, he’s also feeling no ill effects from his jaunt about town last night.’
The elephant was giving himself a dirt bath by rolling on the ground and creating a massive dust cloud while doing so. ‘I do see he’s acting normally.’ Drake was trying his best to act normally, too. What was it about Meridith that made him question every belief he’d thought he held about women, and about himself? For years he’d thought he’d known what he wanted; now he wondered if he’d only wanted what he’d known.
‘I’ve sent a note of inquiry to the police station to learn the name of the boy they apprehended last night,’ Meridith said.
‘Following through on your plan for them to make restitution?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘And don’t try to talk me out of it.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of that,’ he said.
