*~*~*~*~*
I hugged Emma for as long as I could before she left with Tim, once the electricity was connected again. Then I stopped before Nic. ‘Thanks, Nic … for everything,’ I said, feeling remorse for the way I had treated him.
He looked down and smiled coyly. ‘It would have been nice to meet you under different circumstances.’ He looked into my eyes and pierced them with his.
‘And then I may have misled you into thinking I was gentle natured, instead of all of the pushing I inflicted upon an innocent you.’
‘Nah … when I pictured you slamming a mattock into the ground to plant a garden, I knew that aggression was in your blood!’ He looked down and nodded to himself, smirking before he walked away.
I stared at him as he left, and my orange rose heart continue to release its notes of an intoxicating spicy aroma into my life force, this time without the hint of sweet fruit. I shouldn’t be intrigued by him, but I was.
I turned, ran my hands over my face and through my hair, and entered the house, consciously choosing to ignore my knowledge of the secret in the drawing room and the fear that went with it.