Christ, she’d forgotten the time out here in the sun. She glanced down at herself, noting the liberal coating of soil and the slight sheen of sweat from working in the morning heat. "Right. I should probably make myself presentable."
"Might want to hurry," Cathy added. "You can throw those clothes in the house wash, you know. Though Mrs. Henderson's been complaining about all the extra washing lately. Something about garden clothes and mysterious animal hair everywhere."
"Animal hair?"
"Mmm. Young Sophie's clothes are covered in the stuff, according to Mrs. Henderson. Very peculiar for someone who claims to be studying all the time."
Sasha felt something stir in the back of her mind. Sophie's secretive behavior, the food she'd been sneaking, the constant sneezing that made Lady Alexandra suspect she was allergic to her own grandchildren…
"Has anyone actually seen what Sophie's been up to?"
"Not as such. She's very good at disappearing." Cathy's expression was thoughtful. "Though I did catch her coming out of the old stable block yesterday morning. Strange place to study. Soph lives in a little world all of her own."
The pieces were starting to form a picture, though Sasha wasn't quite ready to voice her suspicions yet. "Alright. Well. I should go clean up."
"Should you indeed." Cathy's grin was back. "Give Victoria my regards."
FIVE MINUTES LATER, Sasha was climbing the stairs to Victoria's room, her hair damp from a quick rinse at one of the outhouse sinks and her skin still tingling from the cool water. And all she could think about was that kiss. It stayed in her mind like some sort of mental tattoo, completely indelible.
The bedroom door was ajar, and she could hear movement inside. Victoria was probably getting ready for lunch, too.
Except when she got inside, Victoria was standing with her back to the door, reaching up to adjust something on the dressing table, and the movement pulled her shirt taut across her shoulders in a way that made Sasha's mouth go dry. The bright light streaming through the windows caught the curve of her neck, the elegant line of her spine visible through the thin cotton.
And Sasha could barely breathe, could barely think until she found herself moving forward without conscious decision, drawn by an impulse she couldn't name. Victoria must have heard her footsteps because she started to turn, but Sasha was already there, already reaching out.
Her finger traced a slow line down Victoria's spine, following the delicate ridge of bone through the soft fabric. Victoria went absolutely still under her touch, a sharp intake of breath the only sound in the quiet room.
"Sasha." Victoria's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Sorry," Sasha murmured, though she wasn't sorry at all. Victoria's skin was warm under the thin cotton, and she could feel the slight shiver that ran through her at the contact. "Couldn't help myself."
Victoria turned slowly, and Sasha found herself looking into dark eyes that were dilated with something that definitely wasn't anger. They were standing close enough that Sasha could catch her scent, expensive and floral, and it made her want to presscloser, to bury her face in the curve of Victoria's neck and taste the salt of her skin.
"We shouldn't," Victoria said, but she didn't step away.
"Probably not," Sasha agreed, letting her hand drop to Victoria's waist. The cotton was soft under her palm, and she could feel the warmth of Victoria's body through it.
They stood there for a moment, suspended in the space between intention and action, both knowing they were balanced on the edge of something that would change everything. Sasha could see the pulse jumping in Victoria's throat, could feel the slight tremor in her breathing.
It would be so easy to close the distance between them, to press Victoria back against the dressing table and kiss her until they both forgot why this was supposed to be impossible.
Instead, Sasha stepped back.
"Right," she said, stepping back with an effort that felt like pulling against gravity. "I should… get ready for lunch."
She fled to the bathroom, locking the door behind her with hands that shook slightly. Through the thin wood, she could hear Victoria moving around the room, the soft sounds of someone trying very hard to appear normal.
Sasha leaned against the bathroom door and wondered how long she could hide in here before someone came looking for her, and whether Victoria would still be in the room when she finally emerged.
Because the truth was, she was rapidly running out of willpower to keep pretending she didn't want exactly what she couldn't have.
Chapter Fifteen
After an afternoon of pretending that she hadn’t kissed and no longer wanted to kiss her brother’s fake girlfriend, Victoria found that sitting through family dinner was a special kind of torture. Honestly, at this point she was wondering whether she ought to hire some sort of escort or something to take care of business just so that she could concentrate. But then there was Sasha, looking so wonderfully, beautifully innocent.
Victoria had managed to dress appropriately, brush her hair, and arrange her face into something resembling normal human expression. What she couldn't manage was to stop thinking about the way Sasha's mouth had felt against hers, or the soft sound she'd made when Victoria's fingers tangled in her hair, or the fact that Sasha was sitting directly across from her looking unfairly lovely in a simple blue dress.
"Victoria, darling, you're miles away," her mother said, and Victoria jerked back to attention to find the entire table watching her with varying degrees of amusement.
