A shadow of wariness darkened his eyes. “Why do you want to know?”
Elodie’s smile lounged back, putting its feet up on a metaphorical table. “Just making friendly chitchat.”
The shadow of wariness became a midnight of distrust. “Chitchat is inappropriate under the circumstances.”
“I would contend that the circumstance of a husband and wife about to sleep together in the same bedroom veritablydemandschitchat.”
“Your argument contains several fallacies.”
Ah, here came her annoyance now, shoving mischief aside and tilting her chin up. “Only if one is being pedantic,” she replied coolly.
“One is beingaccurate. For example, I will be sleeping on the mattress on the floor, therefore the word ‘together’ does not apply.”
Elodie huffed a laugh that was about as far from real humoras one could travel without requiring a whole new kind of map. “You’re a geographer, you ought to appreciate the concept of relative distance. Also, you can’t sleep on the ground. Everyone knows that doing so gives you a headache.”
He cast her a look that saidyou give me a headacheso plainly, no words were required. The conversation slammed to an abrupt halt. Elodie yanked her ER kit open with enough force to tear the lining. Gabriel removed the umbrella from his own kit with such vigor, it smacked against the dressing table. Elodie dragged out a coat (not noticing it was actually a purple velvet dressing gown) and pulled it on. Gabriel tossed his notebook on the dressing table (then straightened it and set the pencil exactly parallel alongside). Finally, snatching up her own umbrella, Elodie strode for the door.
At the exact moment Gabriel also strode for the door.
They collided.
BOOM!
Thunder shook the house—or else it was Elodie’s pulse rampaging through her veins. “Excuse me,” she said primly as she moved aside.
“Excuse me,” Gabriel said at the same time, stepping forward to open the door for her.
They collided again. The very air seemed to clench its thighs together.
“Ladies first,” Gabriel said with a politeness so extreme, it could have established its own religion.
“No, no,” Elodie said. “After you.”
“I insist. I think we’ve had enough troubles at doorways to last us a lifetime.”
This reminder of their wedding day, and her thoughtless comment that had so offended him, made Elodie blush scarlet.Without further ado, she marched out to the corridor. Gabriel closed the door behind them and followed.
Arrogant sod,Elodie grumbled to herself as she stomped over the creaky, timeworn floorboards.Obnoxious, irritating, arrogant sod. She could feel that arrogance pushing against her back, inspiring her to walk faster. Light from a window at the end of the corridor sent the shadow of him to loom like bat wings around her, domineering and darkening her world.Even his bloody shadow is arrogant,she thought.
Suddenly, she could repress her feelings no longer. Stopping abruptly, she turned, and Gabriel only just managed not to collide with her a third time.
“Just to be clear,” she announced, “I didn’t mean what I said about our deal.”
“Deal?” he repeated confusedly. He’d forgotten to remove his spectacles, and Elodie could see herself like a white star in one lens, superimposed over the night of his eye.
“On that day,” she clarified.
“What day?”
Elodie shook her head, astonished by his deliberate obtuseness. How could he so easily forget The Scene in Holywell Street After Their Wedding? The look on his face when she’d told him she’d got what she wanted from their marriage deal occupied a prime position in her own memory. She could not blame him for having been so aghast at the time; after all, they had just spent two days transforming the notion of “marrying for convenience” into something a great deal more interesting, and if only Elodie had taken better care with her words, she’d not have given the brutal impression that she considered their relationship to be anything less than a beautiful, enrapturing dream.
She’d also have followed Gabriel after he walked away, instead of going in the opposite direction.
Of course, standing in a pub’s corridor a year later did not exactly represent the ideal opportunity to explain herself, but she’d not had Gabriel so close to hand before—which is to say, she’d not dared to linger so long in his presence lest she trip over her own tongue again and make matters even worse. But considering the proximity they had been forced into on this assignment, clearing the air at least seemed worth an effort. And thus, with a perturbed spirit, and much fluttering of her heartbeat, she said, “I misspoke, that day. Although really, I cannot wholly blame myself. I’m sure any newlywed woman finds herself quiverish—”
“Quiverish,” Gabriel repeated blankly, as if she’d just spoken in Old French.
“Yes. And who can be eloquent under those circumstances? However, I take full responsibility for my mistake. I’m good at doing that, you must agree. I’ve certainly had enough practice. ‘Never was there a girl so proficient at making mistakes,’ as my mother likes to say. Indeed, one might even—what is that?”
