Chapter 1 #2
Nelly whipped about in the pew, startled and squinting to see where the noise came from. It took her a moment to spot it, and she felt her face heating with embarrassment when she realized what it was.
There was a man partially in the shadow of the large, open doors, his shoulder tucked against the wall.
He was only a few feet away from the back pew, but Nelly hadn’t even realized he was there until she heard him take a step in the darkness.
Hidden in the shadows as he was, Nelly couldn’t tell much about him, but it was clear that he was large enough that he could loom over her like a titan if she dared get closer.
“What are you doing there, hiding in the shadows?” Nelly demanded, one hand clamping tight around the back of the pew. “You’re going to give someone a fright, skulking about like that!”
“Then be frightened.” The words were simple, flat, and final—like a man who didn’t care much whether he unsettled her or not. “Many have been.”
He didn’t move. The shadows clung to him like armor, his tone unreadable, giving nothing away.
Nelly’s face flushed and a nervous shiver chased itself down her spine.
He lingered in the shadows, more silhouette than man, and yet the weight of his presence pressed against her like a touch.
She couldn’t see him clearly, but that only sharpened the curiosity winding inside her.
Alone, cornered, and oddly breathless, Nelly wasn’t sure if it was fear or fascination setting her pulse racing.
“What are you doing there?” she repeated.
“Did you think this was your own secret hideaway?”
“I didn’t expect that I would have to explain that a gentleman should announce himself, rather than lurking in the dark like a burglar,” Nelly snapped.
“A gentleman! My, but isn’t that a generous assumption,” he replied, and his steady tone was beginning to drive Nelly truly mad, especially when contrasted with her own irritation. “Perhaps you’re hoping I am one, but I said no such thing.”
For a second, Nelly felt an urge to back away, but that was absurd. Her grip on the back of the pew tightened. She scowled for a second before asking, “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know what sort of touch you’re missing,” he replied, and Nelly was certain her face had to be bright red at that point, between her anger and her embarrassment—and perhaps a bit of something hot and thrilling, a feeling she couldn’t quite name yet but knew she was dangerously close to discovering.
“Who are you?” Nelly demanded, though she wasn’t even fully sure why.
It was not as if knowing his name would change the fact that he had been eavesdropping on her.
It would not erase the knowledge he had gained about her from his mind, and it would not make her forget that he now knew far more about her than she wanted any stranger to know.
“You ask too many questions,” he said at last, his voice low and rough. “I was here first. You’re the one who barged in.”
He shifted, just enough for the light to catch the edge of his jaw. “So, if you’re done, I’d suggest you carry on with your day.”
True enough, at least she hadn’t been so oblivious that she had missed him entering all together. But it also meant that he had been there from the beginning and had seen her feeling so out of sorts, on top of hearing all sorts of things Nelly wanted no one else to hear.
“And how long do you plan on staying?” Nelly asked sharply.
Truth be told, she wasn’t even certain why she was so angry suddenly, save for her embarrassment at being overheard and his refusal to answer any questions honestly.
Perhaps it was a culmination of many things, taking the closest path out of her chest and exploding.
“Unless we’re in your family’s private chapel, miss, I don’t think that’s any of your business to ask or to know, and I think I would know if I wandered onto someone’s estate and into their chapel.”
His tone hadn’t changed much, but Nelly still felt as if she were being scolded like a child, and she couldn’t even fault him for it. She had no right to ask him to leave—or to demand he do so, if she was honest with herself.
She scowled at him a moment longer, angry at him and at herself, and at everything except for her daughter.
Finally, she turned away, putting her back to him once again and staring toward the front of the church again.
She tried to gather her thoughts, but they had scattered to the winds, and she was certain she wouldn’t be able to arrange them or her composure again as long as she knew he was still there.
As long as he was quiet, though, she supposed she would have no other reason to argue with him.
And she heard him take another step, and she turned toward him once again, only to realize that she had heard him because he was leaving. She turned just in time to see him stepping out of the spot from where he had been lurking.
When he finally emerged from the shadows behind the door, Nelly had to stop for a moment and stare.
He was built like a Highland warrior and was taller than her by quite some margin.
Nelly was not a short woman, but she was certain she would only come up to his chin, and that was with her boots on.
He had long, dark hair, haphazardly gathered into a pigtail with what was likely just a piece of twine.
Nelly could not tell what color his eyes were from several feet away, but it was quite obvious that his right eye was covered by an eye patch.
A scar was visible poking out of the top of the patch, starting near his hairline, and emerging from the bottom to stop near the back of his jaw.
A second, smaller scar by his mouth pulled one corner of it down, as if in a permanent scowl.
The shape of his face beyond that, though, was striking, with hooded eyes and sharp cheekbones with which Nelly was quite certain he could cut glass.
He was like nothing and no one Nelly had seen before.
Their brief argument was the most impassioned Nelly had felt in what seemed to be eons—especially compared to the drudgery of Meg’s never-ending parade of bachelors—and then to finally see him, left her feeling warm in a way she couldn’t quite pinpoint.
Embarrassed, yes. Angry, certainly. But also, something else that came with a little thrill of excitement, though Nelly didn’t dare consider it beyond that.
And then the moment was broken, as he continued on his way out of the door. He walked with a bit of a limp in his right leg, and Nelly suspected that was why she had heard him to begin with, as he otherwise moved with the surety of a man who knew where he wanted to go.
“You’re leaving?” Nelly asked, before she could tamp the words back down. “Just like that?” She could not say she expected an apology from him for startling her and generally being a brute, but one would at least be appreciated.
Of course, he doesn’t really seem the type.
“Do you not want me to?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. There was irritation in his tone, but also something wry, like he already knew the answer.
Nelly laughed, briefly and not entirely pleasantly. “If you’ll allow me to be frank, sir, I think I’d rather never see you again.”
He chuckled, low and dark, and it seemed to reverberate off the walls and windows of the church. “Careful what wishes you make. They may come back to bite you in the future.”
He turned away again and continued out of the door.
Nelly was left alone in the church, staring at the spot in the shadows where he had been standing, unsettled and heated in a way she didn’t want to examine too closely.