He smiled and, after a moment, Violet returned the smile. “It seems so,” she said shyly.
“Now, there is an urgent matter I must attend to,” Alexander said.
He took the bucket from the floor, where Violet had placed it to fill the coffee pot. Stepping out into the yard, heunceremoniously upended it over his head. Violet gave a gasp of surprise and then clamped her hand over her mouth, as though afraid of making too much noise. Alexander tossed back his head, throwing water in a spray across the yard. He ran a hand through his soaking beard and then through his hair before wiping his face on his sleeve.
“That feels better. I hope it will make me a more pleasant companion to be in a room with too.”
Violet laughed. “I hope so too. Now come inside before you catch your death. You can dry out in front of the stove.”
Alexander did as he was bid, moving to stand in front of the stove. Violet left the room and came back with a large, rough towel. She dropped it over his head and then briskly scrubbed with the towel. He laughed, taken by surprise, turning to face her. Violet seemed to have acted without conscious intent. As their eyes met, hers went wide and she froze, hands still in contact with Alexander’s head through the towel.
“I’m sorry. I should have left it for you to dry your own hair. That was an imposition,” she said.
“You’re just looking out for me, lass. Since I’ve been so poor at looking out for myself.”
She lowered her hands, but slowly. Alexander pulled the towel from his head and tossed it aside. Her eyes were astonishingly beautiful. In the soft light from the lamp, they were cast in shadows, inviting and mysterious. But as she moved her head,they caught the light, becoming expressive and limpid. He took her hands in his, pressing them together and softly raising them to his lips.
In response, Violet stepped closer, her movement awkward and stiff, as though she fought her instincts. She turned her hands in his and pressed her palms against his chest. Then she moved them slowly up, fingertips digging in slightly as though to touch him more deeply. Alexander’s instinct was to dip his head and kiss her inviting lips. He stopped himself, suddenly unsure. His actions thus far had been driven by instinct, primarily the instinctive need to be close to this fascinating and beautiful creature. And that instinct could have turned her against him.
Violet looked up at him, uncertainty written across her own features. Her lips were parted and he could see the color rising in her cheeks, her chest beginning to rise and fall faster to match the beating of her heart.
“This is foolish,” she said, softly.
“Aye, it is,” Alexander replied.
Violet lifted herself to tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. The last vestiges of drunkenness fled Alexander’s body. Suddenly his senses were alight. The feel of warm lips against his own, made cold by the water he had just doused himself with. Her body felt fragile against his as his arms went around her. Before he had even thought of what he was doing, Alexander lifted Violet from her feet. She gasped in surprise and then giggled. Alexander felt her lips curve into a smile withoutbreaking contact with his own. He deposited her on the kitchen table, as he did so trapping his hands beneath her bottom.
Violet squealed and squirmed as she felt it. Driven by lustful mischief, Alexander squeezed with both hands. She almost leaped from the table but then pressed herself against him while clamping both of her hands to his. Neither heard the kitchen door opening but both heard the sudden exclamation of the woman who had entered the kitchen.
Chapter 19
“Violet!” Lillian exclaimed, her hand going to her mouth.
She was wearing a dressing gown that matched Violet’s, bare feet poking out from beneath the flowing garment. Her hair was loose, flowing around her shoulders. Violet’s eyes went wide. Alexander leaped from her as though stung, somehow ending up on the far side of the kitchen from Violet without seeming to take a step. Violet hopped down from the kitchen table, smoothing the robe which had come open during her tryst.
This is a nightmare! How can I look my sister in the eye again? How can I give her advice about the proper way to carry herself when I have behaved like this?
“Lillian! I can explain…this is not…I mean…oh Lord! Please do not tell anyone what you have seen here!” Violet implored.
“Lady Lillian. This was entirely my fault. I…took advantage of Lady Violet…” Alexander began.
Lillian looked from him to Violet. “Then all the more reason for me to wake the house. But Violet would not ask me to keep silent if she had just been taken advantage of,” she said finally.
Violet could not answer that and Alexander seemed lost for words too.
“Well reasoned, Lilly. His Grace was simply trying to protect my honor,” Violet said.
“I am not a little girl, Vi,” Lillian said. “I know what goes on between a man and a woman and the attraction between the two of you was obvious from the moment you met.”
“It was?” Violet said, taken aback.
Lillian arched an eyebrow. “Your eyes were practically out on stalks, dear Vi. I know that you thought to match me with…His Grace,” she put an emphasis on the title as though to highlight how silly she thought it that Violet insisted on using it, “but it would not have worked. Not when his eyes were equally bulging.”
“Was it that obvious to everyone?” Alexander asked, moving closer to Violet but looking at Lillian intently.
“Papa would not have noticed but Mama would have seen it a mile off,” Lillian said. “And would promptly have seated you so far from Violet, you would have been dining in France.”
Alexander barked a sudden laugh, running a hand through his wet hair. Lillian grinned broadly. Violet was left looking from one to the other in astonishment.
