The following morning, when she made her way back downstairs, she was tired and more than a little out of sorts. In spite of her determination not to do so, she took great pains to select one of her better dresses, and accompanied it with a thick woollen
shawl before she eagerly made her way downstairs.
She tried to assure herself that the attention she paid to the way she looked had nothing to do with the handsome man who had turned up at the house last night, but underneath knew that she was only fooling herself.
Wally was already in the kitchen tearing chunks of bread off a loaf when she entered the kitchen.
“Another good night, I see,” he grumbled as he nodded to the hallway, and a still slumbering Simon.
“Not the only one either,” Hetty sighed. When Wally looked at her, she nodded to the sitting room. “Guest.”
Wally’s brows shot up. He pierced her with a horrified look. “Male or female?”
Hetty puffed her cheeks out. “Male,” she croaked. “Most definitely male.”
Wally stared at her as he made his way around the table and disappeared into the hallway.
Hetty couldn’t help it; she followed him and peered around him when he pushed open the door to the sitting room.
She rather wished she hadn’t when she took a look at Charlie, who was bathed in early morning sunshine – and absolutely nothing else. She turned away and knew, deep inside, that the image of him would remain indelibly printed on her mind; not least because sometime during the night he had removed his breeches, and hadn’t bothered to cover himself over.
“Good Lord,” Wally muttered.
“Yes,” Hetty sighed. “Heaven indeed.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” she replied as she returned to the rather warm kitchen.
Unfortunately, she had to leave the house before either man woke up. She waited for as long as she dared in the hope that their unexpected guest would make an appearance but, to her disappointment, both men remained fast asleep. When she couldn’t delay her departure a moment longer, she donned her cloak and eyed Simon balefully as she stepped over him on the way out of the front door.
She couldn’t resist slamming it behind her in disgust.
I hope it wakes him up, the oaf she groused as she stalked down the driveway.
Although she went about her chores as quickly as she could, by the time she returned later that afternoon, both men had gone.
She was still feeling a little deflated about the fact that she hadn’t managed to see Charlie again two days later. She moseyed around the various market stalls in the village, but her mind was miles away. The basket of provisions she carried was heavy but she paid no attention to it as she wandered aimlessly from stall to stall. Her thoughts were very firmly locked on the one person she knew she ought to forget.
The strength of the disappointment she had felt when she had returned to the house the other day, and found Charlie gone, disturbed her. She had never felt this instant attraction toward anyone else before, and wasn’t sure what to do about it. He seemed be everything she thought about. The more she tried not to think about him, the more she thought about him. It was ridiculous, and completely unstoppable.
It didn’t help that the memory of his long, muscular limbs draped so carelessly in front of the fire, was the last thing she thought about before she went to sleep, and the first thing that came into her head when she awoke the next morning. It was driving her to distraction; to the point that she was now tired, grumpy, and decidedly out of sorts.
“Good morning,” a husky voice drawled in her ear.
Hetty spun around in surprise, and gasped when she saw the very man who had consumed her every waking thought over the last few days.
It was as though her thoughts had summoned him up.
“Good morning.” She found herself smiling back at him without even realising she was doing it and, suddenly, all of the discontent that had dogged her over the last few days simply vanished.
“How are you today?”
She blushed prettily. “I am fine, thank you. I take it that you have recovered well from your excesses of the other night?”
He had the good grace to look a little abashed, which made her smile widened teasingly.
“I wanted to speak to you about that.” He coughed, clearly a little uncomfortable at mentioning the embarrassing interlude. “I wanted to apologise if my behaviour offended you in any way. I can’t remember what happened exactly, but I can remember waking up in a disgusting heap in front of the fireplace.”