Almost as though two contrasting worlds had collided, but somehow had also fit together well.
“You’re petting her again,” she said. “I am beginning to suspect that you might like that.”
Harper looked at her. She looked back at him, and she was doing her absolute best to keep her expression neutral, but she was aware that it was not entirely succeeding. From the look on his face, he was aware of the same thing.
“The animals,” he said, clearing his throat and retracting his hand, “are supposed to be in the stables. I made that rule for specific and practical reasons.”
“Was it really quite practical if you find yourself drawn to Soot like this?” Temperance questioned, lightly. “I know you are a man of logic, and evidence. And so far, I think that evidence points us to the fact that perhaps the rule about the stables might be up for consideration.”
Harper said nothing.
“You contradict yourself, do you see?” she said calmly, “You make rules about the animals and then you hold the cat. You are not what you think you are.”
“Enlighten me, please,” he said sarcastically, “What do you think I am?”
“I think you are a man who has very clear ideas about how things should be done,” she said, “and very genuine feelings about how you actually want them to be. And I think those two things are not always the same. And I think that is….”
“What?” he said, and his voice had changed too, slightly. The sarcasm seemed to have drained out of it.
“I think it is more interesting than the rules,” she said.
The room was very quiet.
Harper was looking at her now without the usual controlled distance but there was a strange sort of intensity in his gaze.
As though he had a great Big question, and he was trying to find the answer to it.
She was close to the desk. She had moved slightly without meaning to and suddenly, the distance between them was less than it had been when she came in.
His eyes were very dark blue.
Like the ocean, or something profound.
Huh.
She had known this, of course. It was hard not to notice them, but now she could see them up close. It made her stomach flutter slightly, and she had to tear her gaze away.
“Keep the cat,” Harper said, abruptly.
She blinked, taken off guard. “What?”
Somehow, she had forgotten all about Soot.
“Keep her in the house.” He looked down at the cat, “She sufficiently well-behaved to my liking, so I will allow it.”
“But you told me that is not up for negotiation.”
“I am revising the position.”
“You are… my word, Harper Crauford is revising a position,” Temperance perked up immediately. “My word. Does that mean that you are more logical than I expected you to be, or perhaps, you have a heart underneath all of it?”
“I would urge you not to get used to it,” he brushed her off.
“But now that you have made me an allowance,” she grinned, “it is sort of difficult not to get used to it.”
She got some satisfaction watching his eyes widen, but then she laughed loudly.
It came out before she could do anything about it and she saw something move in his face when he heard it. It was there and gone before she could identify it but that made the room feel, for a moment, very small and very warm.
