Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Winnie gasped, rushing forward. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?”
Matthew let out an embarrassed chuckle, covering his face with his hands as he grunted. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
She breathed out a sigh of relief, looking at the mess of wood strewn across the floor beneath him and doing her best not to laugh. Now that she knew he wasn’t hurt, the image of his fall—his eyes widening in shock as he came down, arms and legs flailing about—was too funny to ignore.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” he said, still lying down, his features hidden behind his fingers.
Winnie bit her lower lip. “As they say, pride goeth before the fall. In your case, literally.”
He raised his hands so he could meet her gaze, and she gave him an innocent smile, to which he responded with a hardly amused expression. Slowly, he stood, straightening from his position on the ground and groaning again as he rubbed his backside.
“Well, I guess I’ll be adding this to my tab,” he said, scooting a few pieces of the wood together with his foot. “Maybe I can fashion these scraps into a bed for myself tonight. Have any spare nails? ”
“Only the ones on my fingers.”
“That is entirely unhelpful, Miss Knox.” He clicked his tongue, and Winnie grinned.
“Well,” he began again, “how about instead of wasting away the evening trying my hand at carpentry, what if I ring Mrs. Kitchingside, confess my vandalism, and ask her if she has any spare VHS tapes lying around for us to watch? You know, end the evening on a high note instead of on the ground.”
Excitement simmered in Winnie’s chest. Watch a movie with Matthew? She could think of no better way to end their trip together.
Well, almost.
A few short minutes later, Matthew hung up the phone, having received grace from Mrs. Kitchingside, as well as instructions as to where to find the closet that held the movies. Sure enough, outside of their room, at the end of the hallway and past the bathroom, they found the stash of tapes.
And what a stash it was. As they opened the door, their mouths dropped at the sight of the hundreds of VHS tapes filling the entire closet from top to bottom.
“Wow,” Matthew breathed. “That’s a lot of movies.” He moved forward, pulling out two of them. “But how are we ever going to choose between Legends of the Fall and”—He read the other—“ So I Married an Axe Murderer ?”
Winnie laughed. “Two very good choices.”
“If you fancy that sort of thing, maybe.”
He put the two tapes back, then together, they moved through the collection one-by-one, marveling at movies neither of them had ever heard before—though that wasn’t a push for Winnie.
“I have no idea what’s good and what isn’t, so I’m leaving the choice up to you,” she said.
“Oh, don’t do that,” Matthew said. “Or we’ll end up with something like this. ”
He raised a copy of the live-action version of The Flintstones , and she laughed again.
“Okay,” she said, leaning forward and choosing one herself, “how about The Silence of the Lambs ?”
“Er, no. Do you know what that one is about?”
She shook her head, having only heard of the title before. She looked at the back and read the description, and her mouth dropped open in disgust.
Matthew laughed. “I take it that isn’t your cup of tea.”
“Not by a long shot.”
He chuckled again.
A knocking on the side of the wall startled them both, followed by a gruff, “We’re trying to sleep in here.”
Winnie covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s where the other guests are,” she whispered.
Matthew clenched his teeth together in a half-wince, half-smile, though his eyes still shone with humor.
“Come on, let’s pick something quick,” Winnie said.
And yet, the more they looked, the more they laughed.
“ Godzilla ?” he asked. “Oh, no. Lost in Space . Oh, oh! Hero and the Terror with Chuck Norris! Ah, there are too many good ones to choose from.”
Winnie continued laughing, the lateness of the night getting to her—and the fact that she found everything coming out of Matthew’s mouth to be completely hilarious.
Eventually, he reached over, placing a few fingers on her lips as his eyes shone with mirth. “Quiet. You’re going to get us into trouble again.”
The thrill of his warm fingers against her lips was enough to finally settle her down, though now her heart raced instead.
She drew a deep breath, and nodded. “Seriously, just grab a few, and we’ll head back to the room.”
Matthew took another moment to decide, then reached for a few tapes before they headed back to their room .
She jumped onto the bed as he put the movie in and stood back from the small screen, the warped sound of the tape warbling as the VHS warmed up to being played after who-knew-how-long.
“What did you choose?” she asked, watching the screen expectantly.
“ The Man from Snowy River ,” he said, turning the volume a notch higher before looking back at her. “Have you seen it?”
She shook her head, and his smile grew. “I think you’ll like it.”
Intrigued, she watched the screen before noting Matthew moving to the chair he hadn’t broken.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He paused, motioning to the chair. “Sitting down to watch the movie.”
She shook her head. “You can’t break another one.”
He propped his hands on his hips. “What makes you think I’m going to break this one, too?”
“What makes you think you won’t ?” she countered.
He pulled in his lips. “Fair enough.”
He looked around the room, clearly in search of another place to sit, but Winnie sighed. It was inevitable. She’d known it from the start.
“Come on.” She patted the bed beside her, the first movie preview being played across the screen. “You can sit here.”
He gave her a sidelong glance, clearly unsure if her offer was made in earnest.
“I don’t bite,” she said, patting the bed again. “Come on. You’re going to make me miss the movie.”
He sighed, taking a few steps forward. “I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“You won’t,” she stated truthfully. “There’s also no amount of pillows that we have that would make sleeping on that floor comfortable, so you can put that notion to bed, too.”
Dad would be horrified with Winnie’s suggestion.
“That is no way for a Knox to behave.”
But tonight, his opinion didn’t matter. Because she was just Winnie now, and she was more than fine sharing a king-sized bed with a man she trusted wholeheartedly.
She leaned back against the headboard, but Matthew merely remained where he stood. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean that you may as well sit here now because you’re also going to be sleeping here.”
“But we agreed to get the room on the premise that you would get the bed, and I would sleep on the floor,” Matthew pressed, another preview playing on the screen.
She waved her hand across the length of the bed. “This bed is huge, Matthew. We’re both adults. More importantly, we’re friends. We can share the bed and perfectly respect each other still.”
She’d never seen him so hesitant.
And she’d never liked him more.
“Look.” She gathered a few of the extra pillows on the bed, lining them down the center so they both had a good twin-sized bed each to themselves. “See? More than enough room. And now there’s a security barrier so you won’t be nervous.”
He looked slightly more at ease now, but still, he hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t want you to be dinged for another chair broken,” she teased. “And I definitely don’t want to listen to you complaining for the next few weeks about how the floor was so uncomfortable when I got to sleep on the bed.”
Finally, a smile cracked on his lips. “That does sound like something I would do.”
“I know.” The previews for the movie ended, and the “20 th Century Fox” logo sounded weakly on the TV. “Come on, it’s starting.”
Matthew finally relented. “Fine. But you’d best keep your hands off of me. You may trust me, but I don’t know if I can trust you after that slap.”
She smiled. “Just don’t try to scare me again, and you’ ll be fine.”
He grinned, then he finally climbed onto the bed.
The mattress shifted. Even though they still felt miles apart, the intimacy of the moment increased, making the room feel closer than it was, cozier than it was.
“Comfy, huh?” she asked, trying to play off her palpitating heart as nothing out of the ordinary.
“So much so that I feel like I’m sitting on a sea of clouds,” he returned.
She laughed, watching the screen as the tape created a line down the center of it.
“So what is this movie about?” she asked.
“You’ll see,” he said cryptically.
Soon enough, dozens of thundering hooves stomped across the television, and her heart jumped. She looked to Matthew, his blue eyes bright.
“Horses?” she asked.
His smile faded. “If you don’t want to, we don’t have to. I just thought…”
His words trailed off as Winnie shook her head. “No. This is perfect.”
And it was. An excellent trip. An enthused response to her job proposal. A film about horses. Matthew seated beside her, creating an oasis of utter perfection. Now all they needed was…
Winnie paused, reaching for her suitcase. “Chocolate?”
“Ooh, yes. Only if it’s British, mind.”
She pulled out a few of the candy bars she’d purchased at the shop back in York. “Will these suffice, Sir Matthew?”
“Oh, yes. The good stuff,” he cooed, reaching for a Mars Bar first.
Winnie could only smile. “Now stay on your side, and we’ll have a good evening, okay?”
“Don’t have to warn me twice,” he said, then he took a bite of the candy bar and winked, his jaw working as he chewed.
Winnie looked away, focusing on the screen, though her eyes could have stared at his rolling jawline until the end of time .
They watched the movie in silence, and while Winnie was fully invested in the storyline and the gorgeous horses on display, nothing could pull her thoughts from her proximity to Mathew.
Especially when he rested his arm on the pillows between them.
She swallowed. “Are you crossing your line, sir?” she asked with a pointed brow.
“I daren’t.” He lifted his arm to reveal the pillow beneath. “See? I’m clearly on my side.”
“All right, you just watch yourself,” she warned half-heartedly.
“I will.” He paused, then spoke again, his eyes remaining on the TV. “There’s a lot of room on this pillow, you know? I reckon even your arm could fit on it…if you wanted it to.”
Her pulse raced. He was asking to get closer to her. “I dunno. It looks pretty small.”
“Cross my heart,” he said.
“Don’t finish that phrase. You might end up in the same place as Minnie.”
Matthew sighed wistfully. “Ah, Minnie. She was a good lass.”
They fell silent as the movie continued.
“You’ll never know unless you try,” he said after a minute.
“What?” she asked. Even though she knew exactly what he was talking about still.
“How big the pillow is.”
She shook her head with a smile. Well, he was nothing if not persistent. And convincing—he was very convincing.
A few moments passed by before he leaned closer. “Still room,” he muttered under his breath.
She glanced at him, but he looked around the room, pretending like he hadn’t said the words, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re hopeless,” she said.
He shifted closer, and she raised a forefinger at him. “I saw that.”
“Saw what? I didn’t do anything.”
She looked at his arm that had now clearly crossed the imaginary line she’d made in the middle of the pillow.
“See?” She pointed to his arm. “You moved.”
He raised his chin. “I did not. The ruddy feather pillow sank.”
She laughed again.
She knew they couldn’t kiss that night. No way. No chance. But surely just a touch would be enough to satisfy the flame in her heart, the longing in her soul to be near him.
Just…one touch.
She focused her gaze on the horses running across the screen, but after another moment, Matthew’s arm drew closer to where hers rested only inches away.
“Just shifting,” he said again.
She smiled, shaking her head, though the magnetism Matthew exuded from his sheer presence was undeniable. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep away from him.
A few moments later, his eyes fell on her. She fought meeting his gaze for as long as she could before chancing a glance at him, only to have him look away before direct eye contact could be made.
She eyed him curiously, then focused again on the screen, only to have him immediately return to staring at her.
With a smile, she glanced at him again, but his eyes darted away once more. By the third time of her attempting to catch his stares, he leaned closer to her.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Why do you keep staring at me?”
She turned to him with an open mouth, ready to defend herself and accuse him of the same thing, but the sheer delight in his blue eyes made her spirits fly.
“Fine,” she said, pulling her arm away from the pillow altogether and folding it across her lap. “I was considering holding your hand until you did that, but now I don’t think you deserve it.”
He grinned. “That would’ve been very forward of you if you had, my lady. ”
“As if you weren’t hinting and wanting to do the same the entire time.”
“Not at all.” He raised his chin, then shifted his arm on the pillow so his palm was face-up. “ This would’ve been a hint.”
She looked at his hand, his fingers wiggling discreetly as he kept his arm in place.
Her heart stuttered. Now he wasn’t hinting. He was outright, blatantly requesting.
Excitement raced through her blood, her breath catching in her throat. Could she? Should she?
His fingers were callused and strong, long and masculine. Exactly as a knight’s should be. She could only imagine how her smaller hand would feel, held securely in his own.
If she did hold his hand, that would be admitting outright that she felt something for him—an attachment, an attraction, a desire to be near him. Would that be so bad now, though, what with him basically admitting the same right now?
She waited a moment longer, focusing hard on the movie as Jim Craig continued his work with the horse, wondering if Matthew might just give in and take her hand instead of her having to do anything, but she knew deep down, he was giving her the option to choose for herself.
After another moment, her heart pounding against her chest, she couldn’t take it any longer. With a sigh—if only to make it seem like she didn’t want to be near him so badly—she unfolded her arms and laced her fingers through his.
An explosion of heat blasted through her skin, tingling sensations in every nerve up and down her arm sailing swiftly like a windsurfer across the sea.
And when he responded, his fingers wrapping around the back of her hand, holding securely and gently, she couldn’t draw in a steady breath.
“Took you long enough,” Matthew muttered.
Winnie snapped a look toward him, but he kept his eyes on the TV screen, his lips twitching with a smile .
Winnie pretended to pull her hand away, but he held steady. “No going back now,” he said. “And no crossing this line with anything but your hand, Miss Knox. Otherwise there will be the devil to pay.”
“As if I’m the one you need to be warning,” she said pointedly.
He looked down at her, their eyes catching, and the look that passed between them told her enough. He was warning himself.
And that knowledge was enough to keep her satisfied. At least for now.