Chapter Seven #2
‘Hardly skilled, but I am happy to submit a picture if you would permit me. I always preferred watercolours, but I can sketch reasonably well.’
‘I do not want to take advantage of you…’
She turned abruptly at this and now he was forced to look at her. He swallowed hard, watching as she searched his face for meaning.
‘In truth it would be a pleasure,’ she said after a moment.
Her voice was low and, even though he knew it couldn’t be so, he thought he heard a hint of seductiveness in her tone.
Then she shrugged and he knew he had picked up on a reflection of his own feelings, nothing more.
‘I have not indulged in anything artistic since I came to London.’
‘Has your work not allowed it?’ he said, feeling a moment of guilt for the gulf between them.
‘Life as a servant is certainly busy, but I think more than anything else my heart was too pained to do anything but survive.’ She gave him a quick smile.
‘Gosh, that sounds very pretentious, doesn’t it?
I suppose what I mean is that I was in shock, unable to do anything more than what was necessary for survival.
I love reading, but I have not read a single page in over a year either. ’
‘You have been mourning for the loss of your previous life.’ Amelie pressed her lips together and he saw the tears in her eye. ‘Forgive me,’ he said, stepping closer. ‘I did not wish to cause you pain.’
She shook her head. ‘You have only spoken the truth. I feel guilt for feeling such self-pity. For many years I lived a charmed life, a life of leisure. Even now, I have a reliable post, a way to support my kin. So many people are more unfortunate, those born into poverty with no way to escape it.’
‘You cannot compare your situation to theirs. Degrees of suffering should not be measured. You have lost something, been forced to live your life in a way you never expected. It is perfectly reasonable to feel pain because of this.’
They were standing facing each other now and Amelie tilted her neck so she was looking directly at him. The moonlight illuminated her skin, making her glow a little in the darkness. In daylight her eyes were a pale green-grey, but now they looked dark and seductive.
Before he could stop himself, he took a step forward and reached out, brushing her upper arm with his fingertips. He had struggled to restrain himself these last ten minutes, but he could feel himself losing the battle.
‘You look beautiful by moonlight,’ he murmured, his eyes flicking over her face, settling on her lips.
Never before had he felt such an urge to kiss someone.
It overwhelmed him, robbed him of all rational thought.
Somewhere deep inside he knew there were a million reasons why this was a terrible idea, yet in this moment he could not think of a single one.
Her lips parted ever so slightly and he saw desire reflected in her eyes. Standing there in the darkened garden, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
‘Miss Somersham…’
‘Amelie,’ she corrected him, her voice barely more than a whisper. ‘You have always called me Amelie.’
She was not wrong, he did address her by her given name as he did every housemaid or kitchen maid in his employ, but out here in the garden he had felt something shift between them.
It was as though he saw her as the woman she was outside of her role in his household for the first time.
A woman with hopes and dreams and aspirations, a woman he desperately wanted to know more about.
‘Amelie.’ Her name felt sweet on his tongue.
He wished for the words to tell her how much he desired her, for some poetic line about her beauty or the desire he felt, but honeyed words were not something he excelled at.
She took another step closer and now only the tiniest sliver of air separated them. He could see her chest rising and falling as the anticipation of the moment built and then, unable to hold himself back any longer, he kissed her.
As their lips met Will felt a deep and primal surge of desire travel through him, overwhelming everything else, only leaving room for the woman standing in front of him.
Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms, deepening the kiss, desperate for it never to end.
Amelie let out a sensuous moan and he felt his desire pulse and throb, intensifying until he wanted nothing more than to lower her to the ground and ravish her completely.
Amelie’s hands were in his hair, pulling him closer, and Will felt the thrill of her excitement reflected in his own.
He wished the moment could last for ever; he would be happy if they could be frozen, suspended in this perfect kiss, never having to face the reality of what would happen when they pulled apart.
But that wish was for the impossible. All too soon he felt Amelie pulling away, saw the shock on her face and the disbelief at what they had allowed to happen.
She stood there for a long moment unmoving, her hands still tangled in his hair, his arms wrapped around her,. Then it was as if she suddenly regained her senses. She pulled her hands from him as if they were on fire and took two staggering steps back.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘I don’t know what happened.’
Her hands were shaking as her eyes searched his face and he had to suppress the urge to pull her towards him again.
‘Amelie…’ he said, unable yet to let go of their one moment of intimacy.
The sound of her name seemed to shock her into action and she spun, her dress flaring out behind her with the force of the movement.
Without another word, she fled, running back to the safety of the cottage, leaving Will all alone in the little garden, too stunned by what had just happened to do anything but stare after her.