Chapter Nineteen
T he moment Danni’s lips left Eleanor’s, panic surged through her. What had she just done? More importantly, what had she been thinking? Sam nickered next to her, seemingly in sympathy, as Eleanor walked away.
She hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem, Danni thought.
One minute they’d been talking about family, about loss and disappointment and things that Danni was pretty sure neither of them ever discussed… and then… they’d kissed. Or Eleanor had kissed her. Or she’d kissed Eleanor. She wasn’t exactly sure which.
And then, well, then, Eleanor had turned and walked away. No, not walked, fled. And Danni hadn’t moved, hadn’t called after her, she’d simply watched as Eleanor disappeared into the night, her hair catching the glow of the house lights before she was swallowed up by the shadows.
Then Danni did what any reasonable women who’d just been kissed by Eleanor Brewster, or who had just kissed Eleanor Brewster, would do. She grinned.
“Bloody hell,” she muttered to herself, bringing a hand up to her lips. They still tingled. “Bloody hell, Sam, did you see that?”
Sam nickered again.
Eleanor Brewster had kissed her. And it was good. No, more than good. It was… hot and amazing and incredible and a whole ho st of words that Danni definitely did not use on an everyday basis.
She let out a quiet, breathless laugh. Then another. Only then did she stop and frown.
Right. Eleanor had run away. That really wasn’t a good sign.
With a sigh, Danni unhooked Sam’s rein from the gatepost and opened the gate so that she could lead him into his stable. She curried him, made sure he had oats, and laid a blanket on his back because he wasn’t a young horse. Only once he was settled did she go to the house and get her keys.
Lucky that the Land Rover was back on its feet. Lucky that Eleanor had AA and could afford to have the Land Rover running again. The only question now was, where was Eleanor most likely to be?
And that was hardly a difficult one.
Danni tossed the keys in her hand as she went out to the truck. Eleanor Brewster had kissed her. She’d kissed Eleanor Brewster. She could still taste her, could still feel her, could still hear her heart stuttering as Eleanor’s lips had met hers.
It had been, without a single doubt, the greatest moment of her life. Better even than the day she signed the papers for the farm. Better than she could ever imagine a moment ever being again.
All except for Eleanor running away, of course. That part hadn’t been great.
She couldn’t help grinning to herself as she started the engine, though.
She and Eleanor had kissed, and it had made her hair stand on end and her blood race through her veins. And she’d loved every second of it.
PULLING UP AT the manor, Danni once again thought what an odd life Eleanor must lead. Living in a house like this must be like living in a museum. Well, not just at the moment, she reconsidered, as she pushed through the open front door and began to pick her way past tools and piles of material .
Just as she’d thought, she found Eleanor sitting at a dust-covered kitchen table, surrounded by flickering candlelight.
Danni leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms. “Ah yes, the perfect place to sulk. Nothing like the scent of fresh brick dust to help you think.”
Eleanor looked up sharply, startled. For a moment, she looked like she might deny sulking, but then she sighed and rubbed her temples. “I…”
“You ran,” Danni filled in.
“I didn’t run. I left.”
Danni gave her a look. Eleanor groaned and dropped her head onto the table. “Alright, fine, I ran,” she mumbled.
Danni sniffed and pushed off the doorframe, strolling into the kitchen, brushing dust off a chair before she sat across from Eleanor.
“Care to tell me why? I haven’t been eating garlic or raw onions or anything.
Kissing me can’t have been that terrible.
I’ve done it before and not had any complaints. ”
Eleanor straightened and immediately started babbling. “I shouldn’t have done it. It was inappropriate. Unfair to you. A mistake.”
Danni raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ll be the one to decide what’s fair and unfair to me, thank you. But a mistake?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.” Eleanor’s face looked as though she was anything but sure.
Danni tilted her head. “It didn’t feel like a mistake. It felt… It felt like something that had to be done, it felt like a necessity.”
Eleanor’s lips parted, but no words came out. For once, she had nothing to say, no quip, no sarcasm, nothing.
And Danni could see that she was struggling with this, though she didn’t really see why.
Maybe because of their arrangement, maybe it was mixing business with pleasure.
Maybe because of their age difference, though she didn’t think it was that big.
Maybe just because Eleanor didn’t do well with feelings, which she of all people could understand .
Whatever the reason, Eleanor obviously needed time, and Danni took pity on her. She looked at at the kitchen echoing around them. “This house is huge,” she said.
“Changing the subject, are we?” said Eleanor, finding her tongue.
“No, actually,” said Danni. “I was going to say that this house is huge, it wasn’t built in a day.”
“Obviously.”
“So… why should anything else be?” Danni said.
She sighed. “We kissed, Eleanor. It was nice. That doesn’t mean we have to do anything else, and it doesn’t mean we don’t have to do anything else.
It just means… we kissed. The world’s still turning, the sky didn’t come crashing down, you don’t need to make any decisions right now. ”
Eleanor let out a long breath, like she was processing what Danni had said. She nodded, albeit reluctantly.
Danni pushed back her chair.
“Good. Now, there is one decision you need to make, I’m afraid.”
Eleanor arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Putting her hands on her hips, Danni smirked. “Are you coming back to the farm, or are you planning to die by inhaling construction fumes?”
Eleanor rolled her eyes. “I’m perfectly fine here.”
With a groan, Danni gestured at the exposed wiring, the open walls, the crumbling plaster. “Sure, totally safe.”
“It’s my home.”
“A home that I literally just walked into,” Danni pointed out. “You can’t keep an open house secure. Not to mention the risk of a brick falling on your head as you sleep.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Or the risk of Samson finding you here in your nightie when he arrives early in the morning,” Danni added.
Eleanor hesitated a little at this.
“Come home,” said Danni, more gently. “I’m not going to push matters, if that’s what you’re afraid of. I’ll be the perfect gentlewoman.”
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
“Then stop sulking here and be sensible. All your things are at the farm.”
Eleanor sighed, and finally begrudgingly agreed to come back. She blew out the candles, flicked on her torch, and stood up. “Come on, then.”
They picked their way through the hallway and out into the entrance, until there was a gasp and a short curse as Eleanor stepped on an uneven tile, and before she even realized what was happening, she stumbled.
Danni was there in an instant.
Her hands grabbed Eleanor’s waist, steadying her. She felt Eleanor sucking in a breath. The world paused for a whole second, quiet and still and perfect.
Eleanor’s hands had landed on Danni’s chest, her fingers grabbing the flannel of her shirt and twisting it in her fists. Their bodies were inches apart. Danni’s breath came faster, her mouth went dry.
Neither of them moved.
An owl hooted outside.
“Careful,” Danni murmured. Her voice was low and husky.
Eleanor swallowed. Danni could feel her heart hammering, could feel the warmth of her. “I, uh…”
Danni didn’t let go, she didn’t step back. She just… held her. Until the look in Eleanor’s eyes was too much. She had to kiss her or…
Or deflect. “You know, for someone so refined, you sure do fall into my arms a lot.”
And just like that, the spell was broken.
Eleanor shoved at her. “Oh, shut up.”
Danni let go, laughing, the air between them still crackling with tension. “Just stating the truth, Princess.”
“If I’m a princess, I suggest you escort me to my awaiting chariot,” Eleanor said.
And Danni laughed, taking the torch, and leading them both back out into the night.
THE RIDE BACK to the farm was silent. Eleanor stared out of the window, lost in thought.
Danni, for her part, was very much not thinking.
Nope. Not at all.
Definitely not thinking about the kiss. Not thinking about Eleanor in her arms. Not thinking about how Eleanor’s touch had made her chest feel tight and her stomach flip.
Not. Thinking. At. All.
She parked the Land Rover in front of the farmhouse, and Eleanor climbed out without a word, heading straight inside. Danni had the fleeting thought that they’d left Eleanor’s car back at the house. She’d have to drive her in in the morning.
Danni watched her go. Then she sighed, ran her hand through her hair, and shook her head. “Well, I’m in trouble,” she muttered.
She got inside just in time to see Eleanor disappearing up the stairs to her bedroom. Danni sighed, thought about making some tea, and finally decided she was too tired for anything but collapsing onto the too-small couch. But when she did, all she did was stare at the ceiling.
Replaying the kiss in her mind.
Replaying the moment Eleanor tripped into her arms.
Replaying the way her heart had jumped when she’d touched Eleanor.
She groaned, let out a long breath, and screwed her eyes tight shut. What were the chances of her actually sleeping tonight when Eleanor was just one floor away?
Practically zero, she thought.
Because that had definitely been more than just a kiss. She was sure of it. Even if she did have to try to pretend that it hadn’t happened for the sake of Eleanor’s sanity.