Chapter 11
They reached the creek presently. The world opened up to crystal water and sheer rock. Flowers were in bloom, and it was a lovely sight. Emma stood by the edge and reached down, swaying her fingers in the water.
“Beautiful,” Trevor said.
Emma looked up to see Trevor looking around at the creek.
“I’ll give ye some privacy. Let me know when ye are done,” she said, and walked away some distance, turning her back even though she was curious to see his body again and all the scars that had been etched upon it.
While she was waiting, Emma thought about everything Trevor had told her.
It had been wonderful to hear about England, and the prospect of attending balls wasn’t something that had occurred to her before this.
There were dances in the village, of course, but never anything that required fine and elegant dresses.
The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see England, at least once in her life.
It felt as though there was a great hole in her heart where England was, for it was something that had always been denied to her.
If she could just step on that land, then perhaps her soul would be soothed and she would be able to know herself better.
It was just a shame that it all depended on her parents again.
So much of her life had been lived at their whims. She was growing older now and had been promised more independence, but it was beginning to feel like an illusion.
The only choice she seemed to have was in who she married, not even in whether she got married in the first place.
The longer she waited, the more she was unable to help herself.
Temptation eventually got the best of her, and she twisted her head around, her gaze falling upon Trevor.
A puddle of clothes had been left on the soft grass.
He was waist-deep in the creek, letting the water cascade along the hard angles of his body.
The sun kissed and caressed him, and she found herself envious.
From this distance, the scars on his body were not visible, and she thought to herself that he looked rather perfect.
For a moment, she allowed herself to dream about the possibility of marrying him, for surely an English solicitor would be a reputable pairing?
She doubted her father would allow it, though.
He wanted her to live out her life in the village if at all possible, and if not then he wanted her to marry someone close by.
Her parents had a very narrow view of the world, and she wished that she could transform into a bird and fly away, just for a little while, just to get a taste of what things were like elsewhere.
Emma turned her entire body around and watched Trevor wash himself.
He bent down to reach under the water, massaging his legs no doubt, and twisted his body in such a way as to highlight all of his lean muscles.
Emma wasn’t so vain as to think he was putting on a show for her benefit, but she was enjoying the view.
Her skin flushed with warmth, and her lips parted.
Deep breaths rushed in and out of her lungs, and her throat tightened at the sight of this man.
It was all unfamiliar and quite shocking, yet the sensations seemed to have a mind of their own, and she could do nothing to escape them.
Then Trevor began to wade out of the water.
Every step he took was mirrored by her, as though they were drawn to each other by some ethereal force.
As he emerged from the water, droplets cascaded down his body, lingering on the tips of his hair, making him glow and shine as if he belonged in the fairy world.
A lump formed in her throat as her feet drifted along the soft grass.
Her gaze never left his body, which was naked except for an undergarment covering his manhood.
The wet hair all over his body flowed in one direction, his muscles were tense, and as she grew closer, the scars came into view as well.
Suddenly they were standing in front of each other. She tilted her head back to look up at him, as though he were a god. Now she could see the individual drops trickling down his body, and she could breathe in the heat emanating from him. Her mind danced, and the world seemed to melt away.
“You are still wearing your shawl,” Trevor said in a soft voice that was barely more than a whisper, yet it sent strong rumblings through her heart.
“Aye…” she said.
“I told you that you look more beautiful without it,” he said, and reached around her head to undo her shawl.
It fell away, ribboning to the ground. As Trevor brought his hands back, they caressed her cheeks and brushed her hair, sending intense sensations spiraling through her body.
She gasped and ran her tongue over her lips.
“That’s better,” he said, offering a smile.
Their eyes met, and she could feel herself slipping into a wild and wonderful world, into this man who had appeared from nowhere and shaken the core of her world.
She was beginning to understand that there was more to life than she had ever realized before.
Trevor had shown her so much already, and she had a sense that there was far more to come.
She wanted it all, and she wanted it now.
Emma felt the pull of his body and the longing in her heart.
She reached out a hand and gently stroked his torso.
The skin was taut and hard, and the sensation that was born from such a brief touch was so intense it almost made her faint.
She traced lines along his scars and almost feared to ask the question but could not stop herself. As she followed one down the side of his body and then passed her finger along to another thin scar, she crinkled her brow and gazed into his eyes. “What happened here? How did ye get these?”
Her words were as soft as the wispy clouds above them, but sadly, Trevor’s heart was not the same. His eyes grew cold, and his hand slipped away from her shoulder, leaving an emptiness where the warmth had just been.
“I… They’re from another life. You wouldn’t want to know.”
“I dae, that’s why I’m asking the question. I saw how ye fought against David. I know ye can fight, Trevor, and ye must hae learned somewhere. I hae seen scars like this before on my Da’s body. I’m nae scared. Ye can tell me.”
“Perhaps you should be scared,” Trevor said, and backed away from her. He tore his gaze away and turned toward his clothes, pulling them over his skin and covering that which Emma had just enjoyed.
“I’m sorry for what just happened. I am here on business. I should not have allowed it to become personal,” he said.
It was as though Emma’s mood and hopes evaporated.
In that one comment, that one action of turning away from her, Trevor had poured cold water on the fire that was being stoked within her soul.
There had been much cruelty in Emma’s life, but in this moment, she could think of nothing crueler than Trevor removing himself from her touch.
Her lips were ready to be kissed, her heart was ready to love, yet someone else was denying her the choice.
The day suddenly seemed a little less bright, and she found that she didn’t want to be around Trevor any longer.
She waited for him to get dressed and walked back with him through the forest, striding swiftly until the village came into sight.
She pointed toward it and told him that he could find his own way back to the inn while she needed to get home.
When she walked away from him, there was a sharp pain in her heart.
She had been sure that something was happening between herself and Trevor, something wonderful, but perhaps she was just a na?ve young girl who didn’t know the way the world worked.
After all, why should he think she was special when he had all the elegant and beautiful women in London to spend his evenings with?
She almost laughed at herself for being foolish enough to think there was a chance for more with him.
For the next day or so, Emma avoided going to the village to ensure that she did not have to run into Trevor again.
She busied herself with work on the farm and tried to keep out of her parents’ way as well, for tensions were high between them.
Evidently, they hadn’t been able to come to an agreement about the matter of returning to England yet, and Emma feared that it might be something that tore them apart.
Marriage was a sacred bond, and she had never known anything to break it apart from death, but what if her mother wanted to go to England and her father was adamant she stay?
It seemed as though one of these things was going to have to break, and she had never known either parent to relent on what they were passionate about.
It was the first time in her life when their passions had been opposed rather than pointing in the same direction, and it felt as though her life was spinning out of control.
She had always assumed that as she grew older, life would begin to make more sense and she would have more control over, well, everything. The opposite seemed to be the case, though. It was all unfolding in such a hurried, roughshod manner that she found it difficult to keep up.
What if everything changed? What if she was forced to choose between a life in England with her mother or staying here with her father?
Either way, she would end up losing a parent.
Just the thought of it filled her heart with sorrow and her eyes with tears, and even focusing on her work wasn’t enough of a distraction.
This especially wasn’t the case when Trevor approached. He sauntered up and waved to her as she was in the stables, mucking out the horses. She glared at him when he arrived, for she still hadn’t forgiven him for so rudely turning her away by the creek.