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“My lead?” she wondered.
“Yes,” he nodded again, straightening out and placing his hands on his trousers so that there were two handprints of mud and dirt on the fabric. He didn’t mind. In fact, these past two hours of working in the garden had provided him more peace of mind and joy than he had in ages. He had Amelia to thank for this. “You wished to make the house look more beautiful and revert it back to its former glory. I wondered, why not do the same with the garden?”
She smiled. “That is a wonderful idea. Only…” she hesitated to continue.
“Only what?” He darkened for a moment. He actually thought she would be pleased, but perhaps he was wrong in thinking so.
“Do you know what you are doing?” She asked her question so matter-of-factly that he had to chuckle out loud.
He turned the upper part of his hand to his mouth, hiding his mouth because he couldn’t stop laughing. When he finally managed to do so, he still couldn’t hide the smirk on his face. She, for her part, seemed equally amused.
“You mean to ask if I know anything about gardening?” he rephrased her question to which she nodded, smiling. “To be quite honest, I think I forgot most of what my mother had taught me, God rest her soul.”
They both looked at the holes he had made and the cleared dirt that was now scattered all about.
“It would probably have been best to just hire a gardener,” he said, thinking out loud, resting his hands once again on his waist.
“You don’t want to do that,” she echoed his own thoughts as if she somehow sneaked into his mind and saw them for herself.
He looked at her, slightly befuddled at her keen conclusion. “No, I don’t.”
“Then, don’t,” she shrugged. “It will come back to you, all those things you think you’ve forgotten. They are still inside your mind, just resting, because you haven’t done this in such a long time. But allow those memories to come to the surface, and you will know what to do.”
He allowed those words to sink in then he replied. “I think my mother would have really liked you.”
But the moment he said that he felt that he crossed some sort of a line that Amelia herself had put between them. He promised her that their lives would not merge within the confines of this house. She agreed to a dinner together, but that was all. Still, he couldn’t help but think about her more and more, especially with the knowledge that she was, at almost any given point, somewhere in this house with him. Sometimes, as it happened now, their paths would cross, and they would have a deep, meaningful conversation.
But those were dangerous. The last time he had a deep, meaningful conversation with a woman, she ended up leaving him at a moment when he was most vulnerable and when he needed her the most. He vowed that he would never again open up to a woman like that. Never again would he give a woman so much power over him, to have so much control of his emotions and his entire life. Keeping a distance was the strategy that he should be employing, just like Amelia herself stated from the onset. All he had to do was agree and keep away from her unless the situation demanded them to be together.
“Well…” he started, “I shan’t be keeping you any longer. I am certain that you have far more important things to do than talk to me about gardening.”
“I…” she sounded confused then immediately regained her senses. “In fact, I do. I have been meaning to write a letter to my dear sister and invite her for tea if that is all right.”
“Perfectly,” he nodded. “Whenever you wish to invite her, she is more than welcome.”
“Thank you,” she smiled a little awkwardly, taking a step back, glancing at his hands, then as if caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing, she quickly looked back up at him. “All right then. I shall go… write that letter.” She turned on her heels and headed straight back into the house.
He felt like once again their efforts at having a proper conversation were thwarted, but… by what? The answer was obvious.
His own inability to open up to a woman.
CHAPTER10
It was very late in the evening, as Amelia was getting ready to nestle in bed when an unexpected knock on the door interrupted her plans. She opened it cautiously, almost like a thief in the night, hoping not to disturb anyone around. She was shocked to find Arthur standing in front of her, wearing a royal blue dressing gown which was tied around his waist.
His dark masculine beauty was undeniable. There was a flicker of his scar going down his neck to the side of his shoulder. She followed it with her eyes although she knew she shouldn’t have. A tantalizing part of his chest was visible. Dark curls freckled it across muscles and tight chest. Instantly, she felt heat pool between her thighs. She tried to ignore her heartbeat, but it was impossible.
“I’m sorry to disturb you this late,” he said, “but… I heard some noise outside and went to check it.”
“Is everything all right?” she asked, still ignoring that pulsating sensation inside of her as she spoke.
“Yes,” he nodded. “I just wanted to see if you heard it as well.”
“No,” she shook her head. “I haven’t.”
Darkness huddled together around him, making his handsomeness even more prominent, and her breath hitched deep inside her chest. Just like that first evening he knocked on her door, she remembered that she was equally indecent, wearing only a nightgown and nothing underneath. She quickly folded her arms over her breasts, more in an effort to hide her beating heart than her chastity.
“Well, if you are all right…” he said, obviously aware that he should leave but unwilling to do so.
