“Because of the bandits in the woods?” I asked, dubious.
“Precisely.” He wasn’t teasing me, but there was something wooden about his voice that made me want to shake the truth out of him. What was he so worried about?
I reluctantly scrambled out of his lap, letting him give me a gentle boost up, and then I took his hand to wrench him to his feet. I had to muster all my strength, and when we were standing again, I laughed softly.
“What?” he asked, bemused.
“You’re tall.”
“I would argue that you are quite short.”
“I’m not sure that would be an argument.” I grinned, brushing twigs and leaves from my trousers. He plucked something out of my hair and brushed himself off. Now that we weren’t tangled together on the ground, all the kissing felt like a distant embarrassing dream. It had been beyond improper.
He was watching me. “You regret it,” he observed carefully, like an apology.
“I do not! It was my idea!” How dare he presume to know my mind?
“It’s possible to regret one’s own ideas.” Ezra pushed his hand back through his hair and laughed without mirth. “I’ve managed that plenty of times.”
“Well, I don’t regret it. Why do you think I do?”
He snorted. “Your hands are fluttering all over, and you’re not pink anymore—you’re pale. Your gaze hasn’t settled on any one place. I’m sure if I touched your wrist, your pulse would be as fast as a rabbit’s. All these signs indicate mental stress.”
“You sound like a healer,” I said, attempting to sound grumpy.
He beamed and took my hand, leading me back to the Mission. “Good.”
Enchanted by the feeling of his fingers entwined with my own, all I could do was follow.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Icouldn’t put what we’d done out of my mind as Ezra walked me back to the Mission. My lips were warm and a little swollen. I still felt hot and cold as if struck with a fever.
Yet Ezra made his way with an easy gait like nothing had happened.
“Do you do that a lot?” I found myself asking without thinking.
He moved a branch out of the way for me and asked, “Do what?”
It was an opportunity to backtrack, but I was too fuzzy from his touch to come up with a good diversion from my question. I ducked under the branch and responded, “You know what I mean.” My voice was a touch too sharp.
His breath huffed with amusement. “Honestly, Jo, I don’t know if you mean the magic or what we just did.”
My words came out like a quiet landslide. “What we just did.”
“Oh. I don’t kiss people a lot. My first kiss was the train engineer’s son. Then the engineer stopped bringing him along on trips through Frostbrook.”
“On account of the kissing?” I asked, imagining a scandal. Engineers had excellent prospects, and an engineer’s child would naturally be set up for a future of higher education and strategic marriage.
“I don’t think so. He was beginning university soon, outside Sterling City. And that was that.”
Though I’d braced myself for jealousy, none came. Instead, I ached at the thought of finding someone to kiss only for that person to leave and never come back. “Did you love him?”
Ezra’s deep laugh startled me. “No. Haven’t you kissed someone you didn’t love?”
Every bit of blood in my body rushed to my face. “Of course,” I sputtered. “I kissed plenty of girls at the House. I wasn’t allowed tolovethem. I’m not allowed to love anyone.”
In truth, I had only kissed Gertrude.
