As if to prove he wasn’t wrong, a deep rumble of thunder rattled in the distance. Sissy ignored it and turned off the main street before heading toward the outskirts of the village. Over the last day or so, since that incident, she had struggled to hide her hatred of the watchful eyes that seemed to be permanently locked on the house she lived in. She hadn’t left the property but had seen the curious looks the locals had thrown at the house as they had passed by through the window. Norma had warned her not to be too worried about it but Sissy had come to realise that she could no longer live where she was. She needed time away from the scrutiny, and the freedom to be able to think freely because she truly felt as if she was suffocating beneath the stares and expectations of others.
When the first droplets of rain began to fall around her, Sissy tipped her head back and savoured them. The increasing wind nipped at her cheeks, but it dried her tears and was welcome because of it. The stiff breeze numbed her flesh but invigorated rather than worried her. She savoured being able to breathe the crisp air of the encroaching storm and sucked in breath after breath until she felt quite dizzy. When she opened her eyes and looked about her, though, she realised that she was still far too close to the village and could still see people scurrying around. With a dark look at them, Sissy turned her back and headed out across the open fields.
She walked across one field after another without a thought to how far she was going. The clouds overhead darkened. The rumbling of the thunderstorm grew louder. One flash of lightning turned into two but remained on the horizon. She was safe. Sissy ignored the rain splattering the ground more harshly, making the soft soil turn muddy and squelch underfoot. She didn’t care that her boots were getting ruined, and the bottom of her dress was soiled and dirty. Sissy didn’t bother about the icy feel of the chilled flesh on her arms which were inadequately protected by the thin material of her shawl. Instead, she focused on doing nothing more than walking into the middle of open moorland several miles away from the village and being free.
It wasn’t until she stumbled into a small hole that she was forced to stop. Lightning flashed, overhead now. Sissy looked up at it and wondered if one of those white-hot shards of Mother Nature’s fury would strike her down. She had to wonder what would happen if it did. Would anybody care? Or would they gossip and criticise her for being out in this weather? Would Morgan miss her?
‘I don’t think he will seeing as he hasn’t been anywhere near me,’ Sissy whispered, blowing a ringlet off her cheek with a frustrated puff. When it didn’t move, she shoved it out of the way only for the wind to tug at it and slap it back against her cheek. With an uncharacteristic curse, she yanked at her curls, which had been neatly coiffed because that was what others had expected of a young woman like her.
‘Just because we have no money doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep up appearances,’ Norma had chided one day when Sissy hadn’t paid as much attention to her appearance as she should have.
‘Well, if I am going to be criticised regardless of what I do, why shouldn’t I do what I want for a change?’ she muttered defiantly, shoving her fingers into her hair and shaking it free of its pins. They fell onto the grass at her feet, but she didn’t bother to pick them up. Instead, Sissy shook her long tresses loose and allowed the wind to tug them.
She worked to try to blank out her thoughts. She imagined the wind sweeping out her cluttered mind, shaking out the cobwebs, the doom and gloom. It left her with only highly polished things to consider. To begin with, she didn’t want to look at what they were. She knew already what one of them was: Morgan. He was one problem she had yet to contemplate but, right now, she didn’t want her troubled thoughts about him to dampen her enjoyment of her new-found freedom.
Sissy tipped her head back and savoured the raindrops on her face. She would have enjoyed having her naturally curly hair dance about her face but the rain had made it sodden.
In fact, rivulets of water trickled down her face with increasing determination as the rain became heavier. The wind increased too. Within minutes, Sissy’s enjoyment vanished and was replaced with a worry that brought a frown back to her brow.
She looked around her and shivered. She was cold, made even more so by the now buffeting winds. Sissy withstood it for as long as she could but eventually began to shake because she was so frozen. When she turned to leave, though, Sissy looked around but realised that she had absolutely no idea where she was. Turning in a circle, she studied the landscape but could see nothing but mile upon mile of rolling hills none of which were familiar.
‘What have I done?’ she moaned, trying not to be scared.
Sniffing miserably, she made her way to the edge of the field she was in. Tugging the remnants of her shawl around her shoulders a little tighter, Sissy tried to remember which way she had come. Half-way across the field, she stumbled and fell again. Large stones slammed into her knees and her foot twisted painfully to the side. Sissy cried out in pain. It took her a moment to catch her breath and be able to awkwardly ease her aching foot out of the hole. She stayed where she was for a moment before drawing on her last reserves of energy and forcing herself back onto her feet. But when she tried to walk pain shot up her leg and she found that she could manage nothing more than a hobble. It was incredibly difficult to make any progress, but with nobody for miles around, Sissy had to struggle home alone. She could only hope that she could reach it before it went dark or it was going to be a very long night indeed.
Morgan cursed when lightning lit the sky. His horse danced about in protest but swiftly settled under his guiding hand and with a few quiet words. It wasn’t his horse’s skittishness that concerned him the most, it was the thought that Sissy was out in this storm. Morgan stood in his stirrups to be able to see into the fields on either side of the country lane he was in. He knew she had come this way. The occupier of the last house he had passed had been rushing home and had told him Sissy had passed the house sometime ago and hadn’t come back. Sissy had to be out in the open countryside somewhere, but he couldn’t even begin to understand why she might want to stand out in the middle of open fields. He knew there was nothing before him but at least fifty miles of open countryside with nothing more than a shepherd’s hut to shelter in.
She ran out here because I had no reason to be coming this way. It was the safest place for her to be so she could avoid me, or so she thought.
The idea that she might have done something like this to avoid him was annoying and hurt more than he cared to admit, even though Morgan knew that it was because of what she had endured. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to be faced with trying to find a way of avoiding another invitation or confrontation.
Setting all of that to one side for now, Morgan focused on finding her.
‘You cannot have gone too far,’ Morgan hissed.
After checking the fields one last time, Morgan kicked his horse into a trot and moved into the next field. It was alarming that Sissy wasn’t even visible on the horizon. Standing in his stirrups again, he studied the fields around him once more, this time more carefully. He was about to move further down the lane again when something fluttering in the far distance, at the base of Somner Hill, caught his attention. He squinted and tried to make out of it was a person, but it was too far away to be identifiable. Before he moved, he searched the rest of the landscape but there were no signs of anybody else moving out in the storm.
When a huge gust of wind tore at his great coat, Morgan cursed. Sissy was going to be ill if she hadn’t put her cloak on before she had raced out of the house. He would discuss that with her later, though, when she was back at home. Morgan eyed the area where he had seen the fluttering and waited. A large flash of lightning lanced the sky overhead. His horse reared and whinnied nervously. Morgan grabbed the saddle and cursed. The horse didn’t like being out in the storm either.
Determined to at least find out what that flickering was, Morgan loosened the reins and dug his heels into the horse. The closer he got the more Morgan was able to see that the fluttering was indeed a shawl flapping wildly in the stiff wind. Morgan swiped at his face and cursed fluidly when he watched Sissy try desperately to wrap the sodden material around her thin shoulders only to have the relentless wind snatch it mercilessly back out of her hands.
‘Damn it all to Hell,’ he growled, urging his horse into a gallop.
As he narrowed the distance between them, Morgan kept his gaze trained on the woman he wasn’t sure whether to hug or shout at. Thankfully, his horse covered the distance within minutes until Morgan could haul him to a stop. He jumped down but kept a tight hold on the reins. The horse danced about as thunder rumbled overhead but Morgan paid neither any attention. He stared hard at the woman he loved and decided, right there and then, that they weren’t going to part again until they had settled a few things.
Sissy knew she must look a fright. Rainwater had soaked her clear to the skin. She was sure that Morgan would be able to see everything that God had given her but had nothing to cover herself with. She had done her best to keep her sodden shawl around her shoulders, but it was useless given it was soaking wet too. She was cold, tired, and desperately wanted to go home. She was scared, confused, and thoroughly miserable because she knew that Morgan was furious with her. One look at his chiselled features, the dark flashing glint in his eye, the steady ticking of the muscle in his jaw, left her in no doubt that he was livid.
As furious as he had been in his entrance hall the other day.
She waited for him to rant at her like he had at the fop. She knew he was going to want to know what she was doing out in the middle of nowhere, but she had no explanation. Now that she was no longer alone, she was glad he was there, even if he was annoyed with her. To her surprise, when Morgan reached her, he yanked her into his arms and slammed a kiss onto her lips that was possessive, demanding, and unlike any other he had ever given her. It was raw and as elemental as the weather they were being buffeted by. It was powerful enough to sweep both their doubts away and leave them with nothing but the honest emotion that held them both under its control.
Sissy clung to his broad shoulders. Something deep within her yearned to be with him like this without anything standing in their way. Out in the middle of nowhere there was just him and her alone, free, able to be who they wanted to be, what they wanted to be. Able to do what they both wanted. She had no qualms about pouring all the emotion in her heart into that kiss. This was likely to be the only time in her life when she could do it. She wanted to savour every moment, to show him how she felt even if she couldn’t tell him.
Morgan allowed his self-control to slip. He clung to her and poured every ounce of adoration into the embrace that was coursing through him. He wanted her to feel his need for her, to understand just how important to his survival she was. He needed her to realise that this emotion they shared, the power of it, its uniqueness, wasn’t going to be found with anyone else. He wanted her to know that the only future either of them could ever have was with each other.
They could have spent the next several hours together, savouring the unity, being together at last without any problems cluttering their path. It was the loud crack of lightning directly overhead, which was so loud it made them both flinch, that finally made them stop.
Sissy looked up at him in stunned disbelief when Morgan lifted his head. She was pressed so tightly against him she could feel the heavy pounding of his heart. He was now just as soaked as she was but he was oblivious to it as well. For a moment, all they could do was stare at each other, until a rumble of thunder shook the ground beneath their feet.