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“Did you trip her, Cassie?”
Cassie pressed a hand to her chest. “Trip her? Me? Why would I do such a thing?”
Oliver chuckled. He thought he’d spotted her put a foot out. He was very much looking forward to being a permanent part of this family.
“It was no less than she deserved anyway,” Cassie continued. “To say such things...” She made a disgusted noise.
“I meant what I said,” he assured Eleanor. “If she ever addresses you in such a manner again, I shall have her locked away.”
Eleanor patted his arm. “I did not doubt it, but she does not scare me, not anymore.” She glanced over her shoulder with a smile. “Especially not anymore.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Ithought I might find you in here.”
Eleanor jumped at the sound of Oliver’s voice directly behind her. She had been so busy working on fixing the clock that she had not even heard him come into the gardener’s shed.
“I didn’t mean to startle you, Ellie.”
She turned around and looked up into his sparkling blue eyes. One of his dark curls had fallen down into the middle of his forehead, and Eleanor yearned to reach up and push it back. But since their engagement, she’d hardly seen him let alone touched him. She scarcely knew how to act around him anymore. Once Demeter and Blake departed for their honeymoon and Caroline had ended up in front of the magistrate, and they’d dealt with Oliver’s mother, it felt as though months had passed without being with him, let alone a mere week.
“You didn’t frighten me, I was just rather involved in my work.” A welcome distraction from the fact being engaged to Oliver was a rather frustratingly slow process. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to make the final arrangements with Anton for our marriage, and well, I was rather hoping to find you here. We have not had a moment together since the proposal, and I wanted to know how you felt about everything, now that you’ve had time to process.”
Eleanor grinned. “Process? Is that what I am supposed to be doing?”
“Yes. You will be a wife soon.” Oliver gave a little shake of his head. “My wife.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Your wife.”
He came to stand next to her and look down at the potting bench in front of them. “And so, madam, what are you working on here?”
She smiled softly. “I’m fixing the clock you gave me. It’s almost finished, just a few more adjustments and it should be as good as new.”
He looked over at her and beamed with pride. “How in the devil did I find myself such a talented wife?” Eleanor’s hand rested on the bench and Oliver placed his hand next to it, their fingers barely touching.
“Not your wife yet,” she reminded him, glancing down at their hands, then over to the closed door, the windows slightly condensed and covered in fingerprints.
“We are alone.”
A breath eased out of her at the realization. It had been so long since it had been just the two of them. She glanced up at him. She wasn’t certain he knew what he would be inviting when he stepped into the generous brick building but when her gaze met his, her stomach bunched, and an understanding passed between them. Who knew when they would get time alone again?
“It would seem that way.” Oliver studied her face intently, then lifted his hand up to her cheek. “I do believe you have some grease on your cheek, just there.”
Her cheek began to burn under his touch. “Do I?”
“Yes. And another mark on this side.” He moved to the other cheek and rubbed off another smudge of grease. Eleanor let out a soft gasp as his hand traveled down to her jawline and traced his thumb along her chin. “I think that’s everything,” he whispered as he looked down into her eyes.
Aware of Oliver’s close proximity to her, aware of exactly where this was going, she knew that she should step away from him, but she couldn’t seem to make her feet perform the necessary action. She wanted to be near him, and she wanted him to keep touching her.
She was done with shying away, with hiding. Especially from her own feelings.
Gulping down a breath, she lifted her chin. “It’s possible that I have smudges of grease elsewhere.”
He grinned at her devilishly. “I believe you are right. I may have to perform a more thorough inspection of your person. It does tend to get everywhere, and I’ll need to find every bit of it, wherever it may be.” His gaze traversed up and down her, making her breaths quicken under his heated inspection.
His hand traveled over to her shoulder then ran down her arm, leaving a trail of goose pimples on her flesh. He picked up her hand and turned it so that the palm was facing up.
