It was the same as I remembered it," she whispered, sounding defeated and puzzled and shattered.
It was better than he remembered. Stronger, wilder…And the only reason she didn't know it was because he hadn't succumbed to temptation yet and kissed her once more. He had just rejected that idea as complete insanity when a male voice suddenly erupted behind them:
"Good God! What's going on here!"
Elizabeth jerked free in mindless panic, her gaze flying to a middle-aged elderly man wearing a clerical collar who was dashing across the yard. Ian put a steadying hand on her waist, and she stood there rigid with shock.
"I heart shooting-" The gray-haired man gasped, sagging against a nearby tree, his hand over his heart, his chest heaving. "I heard it all the way up the valley, and I thought0"
He broke off, his alert gaze moving from Elizabeth's flushed face and tousled hair to Ian's hand at her waist.
"You thought what?" Ian asked in a voice that struck Elizabeth as being amazingly calm, considering they'd just been caught in a lustful embrace by nothing less daunting than a Scottish vicar.
The thought had scarcely crossed her battered mind when the man's expression hardened with understanding. "I thought," he said ironically, straightening from the tree and coming forward, brushing pieces of bark from his black sleeve, "that you were trying to kill each other. Which," he continued more mildly as he stopped in front of Elizabeth, "Miss Throckmorton-Jones seemed to think was a distinct possibility when she dispatched me here."
"Lucinda?" Elizabeth gasped, feeling as if the world was turning upside down. "Lucinda sent you here?"
"Indeed," said the vicar, bending a reproachful glance on Ian's hand, which was resting on Elizabeth's waist. Mortified to the very depths of her being by the realization she'd remained standing in this near-embrace, Elizabeth hastily shoved Ian's hand away and stepped sideways. She braced herself for a richly deserved, thundering tirade on the sinfulness of their behavior, but the vicar continued to regard Ian with his bushy gray eyebrows lifted, waiting. Feeling as if she were going to break from the strain of the silence, Elizabeth cast a pleading look at Ian and found him regarding the vicar not with shame or apology, but with irritated amusement.
"Well?" demanded the vicar at last, looking at Ian. "What do you have to say to me?"
"Good afternoon?" Ian suggested drolly. And then he added, "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow, Uncle."
"Obviously," retorted the vicar with unconcealed irony. "
" blurted Elizabeth, gaping incredulously at Ian Thornton, who'd been flagrantly defying rules of morality with his passionate kisses and seeking hands from the first night she met him.
As if the vicar read her thoughts, he looked at her, his brown eyes amused. "Amazing, is it not, my dear? It quite convinces me that God has a sense of humor.
It was better than he remembered. Stronger, wilder…And the only reason she didn't know it was because he hadn't succumbed to temptation yet and kissed her once more. He had just rejected that idea as complete insanity when a male voice suddenly erupted behind them:
"Good God! What's going on here!"
Elizabeth jerked free in mindless panic, her gaze flying to a middle-aged elderly man wearing a clerical collar who was dashing across the yard. Ian put a steadying hand on her waist, and she stood there rigid with shock.
"I heart shooting-" The gray-haired man gasped, sagging against a nearby tree, his hand over his heart, his chest heaving. "I heard it all the way up the valley, and I thought0"
He broke off, his alert gaze moving from Elizabeth's flushed face and tousled hair to Ian's hand at her waist.
"You thought what?" Ian asked in a voice that struck Elizabeth as being amazingly calm, considering they'd just been caught in a lustful embrace by nothing less daunting than a Scottish vicar.
The thought had scarcely crossed her battered mind when the man's expression hardened with understanding. "I thought," he said ironically, straightening from the tree and coming forward, brushing pieces of bark from his black sleeve, "that you were trying to kill each other. Which," he continued more mildly as he stopped in front of Elizabeth, "Miss Throckmorton-Jones seemed to think was a distinct possibility when she dispatched me here."
"Lucinda?" Elizabeth gasped, feeling as if the world was turning upside down. "Lucinda sent you here?"
"Indeed," said the vicar, bending a reproachful glance on Ian's hand, which was resting on Elizabeth's waist. Mortified to the very depths of her being by the realization she'd remained standing in this near-embrace, Elizabeth hastily shoved Ian's hand away and stepped sideways. She braced herself for a richly deserved, thundering tirade on the sinfulness of their behavior, but the vicar continued to regard Ian with his bushy gray eyebrows lifted, waiting. Feeling as if she were going to break from the strain of the silence, Elizabeth cast a pleading look at Ian and found him regarding the vicar not with shame or apology, but with irritated amusement.
"Well?" demanded the vicar at last, looking at Ian. "What do you have to say to me?"
"Good afternoon?" Ian suggested drolly. And then he added, "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow, Uncle."
"Obviously," retorted the vicar with unconcealed irony. "
" blurted Elizabeth, gaping incredulously at Ian Thornton, who'd been flagrantly defying rules of morality with his passionate kisses and seeking hands from the first night she met him.
As if the vicar read her thoughts, he looked at her, his brown eyes amused. "Amazing, is it not, my dear? It quite convinces me that God has a sense of humor.
( Judith McNaught )
[ Almost Heaven ]
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