“Help me fix the broken axel on my carriage and I’d say we’re even.”
Sophia took a step back. A pair of muddied clogs and a pair of expensive boots came into view. Her stomach twisted with the awareness of having misjudged Jack. He’d taken time out of his day to help mend a broken roof, and all he wanted as payment was help in return.
Nevertheless, she reached for the handle behind her. She needed to think, get her muddled thoughts in order. The way he’d acted toward her at Eastgate – the things he’d said - had clearly skewed her opinion of him. Which wasn’t really fair since he’d always been a good person. She’d loved him for a good reason. And yet, she had no wish to encounter him now, so she turned, hoping to rush out the door before he saw her.
“Sophia?”
She muttered a curse and turned, pasting a smile on her face as she did so. “Lord Hawthorne. What a coincidence.”
His gaze, dark and intense, captured hers. “I prefer to think of it as serendipitous.”
Before she had a chance to comment, he told Mr. Richmond, “I shall return tomorrow with the wood and shingles you need. The temporary boards and support posts we’ve just installed should hold until then, even if it rains.”
Mr. Richmond thanked him and gave Sophia his full attention. “Miss Fenmore. You’re most welcome.”
“She brought us a lovely holiday basket,” Mrs. Richmond told her husband from the parlor doorway.
“Our thanks,” Mr. Richmond said. “Your generosity knows no bounds, does it, Miss Fenmore?”
Flustered, Sophia averted her gaze as heat crept into her cheeks. “I’ll stop by again tomorrow as promised. Good bye, Mrs. Richmond. Mr. Richmond. Lord Hawthorne.”
She accidentally stubbed her toes on the door and tripped in her haste to be gone. Once outside, she took a deep breath and forced her legs into motion. If she hurried, then maybe, just maybe, she might be lucky enough to disappear from sight before Jack emerged from the cottage.
Clutching the basket meant for the Scotts, she broke into a near run, desperate to get away before he saw the direction in which she headed.
Why she was so intent on escape, she wasn’t quite sure. Everything she’d been feeling for six long years, since she’d first become aware of the love she harbored for Jack, was spinning around inside her. Before his return last week, she’d managed to suppress it, to push it down and convince herself it was just a silly infatuation. That it no longer existed.
But she was older now and the response he’d managed to coax from her during dinner terrified her. In spite of his words and the anger they’d caused, he’d made her want something new and different – something that made her long for his touch. The sensation was stronger than the innocent admiration she’d had for him as a child, more powerful than the love he’d instilled in her heart as she’d grown older, a force so intense it threatened to draw her to him no matter how much she resisted the pull.
So she rushed across the road and into the field before he could catch her, tripping and stumbling due to the steep descent.
“Sophia!”
Her breath hitched but she kept going, adding distance as fast as she could even though the pounding of hooves rumbled through the ground to signal his rapid approach.
Her foot slipped and she suddenly fell, skidding through the dry grass until she lost her balance completely.
“Hell and damnation.” Jack landed beside her, the reins from his horse caught in one hand as he crouched down and reached for her elbow. Warm fingers curled around her arm. “Are you all right?”
She blinked, slightly dazed, and glanced at him.
A frown of concern marred his forehead.
“I’m fine.” She yanked herself free and pushed to her feet, ignoring the hand he offered as much as the pleasure she’d found in his touch.
He straightened and as he did so, his frown deepened. When he spoke, his voice was hard, accusatory. “Why would you run from me like that?”
“I wasn’t running from you,” she lied, unwilling to try and explain her confusion or the conflicting emotions he forced upon her. It would be a futile effort when she barely understood them herself, and besides, she had no wish to reveal the power he held over her.
“No?” He glared at her as if she’d done something wrong when he was the one who hadn’t written or come to visit for nearly four years.
Setting her jaw she grabbed her basket and recommenced walking. “I’ve deliveries to make before it gets dark. Judging from those clouds, it may even start to snow soon.Thatis why I was hurrying. My actions have nothing to do with you.”
“So you’re not trying to avoid me?” he asked, falling into step beside her while pulling his horse along with him.
“Why would I do that?”
There was a pause and then he said, “I thought perhaps my comments the other evening about you and Edward upset you. I’m sorry if that’s the case but my sisters didn’t warn me. They never even told me you’d be there. So I was surprised, that’s all.”
