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Chapter Fifteen
“I’m seeing more of you than I expected to see, Stephen,” Hannah said, smiling. Quickly, she added, “And that’s not saying it’s a bad thing. I only thought you’d be done with me as soon as you got me somewhere safe.”
Stephen shrugged. He came to sit by her side, watching how her eyes rested gently on him, making the butterflies bash against her stomach. “Call me odd but I thought we’d developed something of a friendship.”
“Considering the things I might have said to you that night in the abandoned house, I’m certain we can label each other as such.”
“Wonderful,” Stephen said, grinning. “Had you said otherwise, constantly showing up later would have been very awkward.”
His heart soared when she tipped her head back and laughed. It was quite a sight, watching the ethereal beauty before him laugh with such abandon. He thought of the distrust that had been in her eyes when she first met him and was happy to see that not even a sliver of it remained.
“My horse,” she said suddenly, perking up a bit. “Where did you take Shadow?”
“I brought her to my home.” It was the truth, though he knew her version of it wasn’t.
“Is she safe there?”
“Very much. She has my horse for company, remember? I promise you they’re getting along very well.”
“Considering how temperamental Shadow is, that’s something I’m going to have to see with my own eyes. Do you have a stable where you live, Stephen?”
Not expecting her to continue questioning him, he nodded slowly, unsure if that was the right thing to do. “It’s more of a small barn,” he said quickly, falling deeper into his lie. “She’ll be comfortable, I assure you.”
“What do you do for a living?”
The question caught him off guard, so much so that he could only stare dumbly at her. She frowned. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to tell me a thing. I’m a little too nosy at times.”
“Being nosy can be a good thing,” Stephen said. “I manage a property.”
That was the most he was willing to say, satisfied that it wasn’t completely a lie. Hopefully, he hadn’t made himself seem too extravagant.
“Oh, you are a landlord? How interesting,” she hummed. “I must admit, Stephen, I’m very curious about you.”
“As I am about you.”
Her smile was bright but fleeting. “The Stanton sisters say the same. And yet you’ve all been so kind to me.”
“Well, there are a few things I do know,” he said, making her brows shoot upwards in question. “Like the fact that you like to sing the words good morning and you are very fond of the word crumb.”
Hannah lifted her hand to each cheek, her mouth falling open. “Did I really say those things?”
“Among others,” Stephen said trying to hold back his smile.
Her hands covered her entire face. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so embarrassed.”
This time, he laughed. Feeling confident, Stephen reached out and took her hands from her face, slowly lowering them into her lap. But he didn’t let go. His heart was pounding, his fingers itching to grasp her by the chin and pull her into a deep kiss. “Everything you said was quite endearing, if not humorous.”
“That makes me feel a lot better,” she mumbled sarcastically, but the force behind it wasn’t strong. It was almost as if she had gotten lost in his eyes, just as he had in hers.
He wanted to kiss her again. The urge was overwhelming, all consuming. Suddenly, he could focus on nothing else but her—on the way her breathing quickened and her eyes fell to his lips. Her fingers tightened over his and he took that as a sign that she was waiting for it as well, that she was as willing to make the move. Hannah’s bust was straining against her dress, seemingly taunting him. He tried not to look—and failed.
But then she blinked and cleared her throat. It broke the moment. “Will you really be staying for supper?” she asked.
Stephen leaned back, pulling his hands away from hers. The absence of her touch hit him harder than it should have. A part of him was terrified of this, of how much he wanted to be by her side. The other part of him eager to keep falling for her. “I suppose I am.”
“Have you eaten Mrs. Stanton’s cooking before? It is divine. You’re going to fall in love with it the moment you take your first bite.”
“Mrs. Stanton sounds like a woman of many talents,” Stephen said.
