by Rose, taylor
Sophia’s head was spinning. The kiss came out of nowhere. What a kiss though. He was very good at kissing, if only her heart would stop pounding so loudly she might have a hope of hearing him. Suddenly his words began to filter into her brain. She couldn’t help but laugh. “My husband is very unlikely to have walked in. That is impossible.” He looked at her and saw the weigh on her shoulders and in her eyes.
His questioning look forced her to explain be it briefly her circumstances “Sir Archibald Birmingham the sixth was my husband. He was 30 years older than me when I married him at the age of 18. I was employed as the assistant Stable Manager here on the Estate and it turned out that he needed a woman to produce an heir. I guess that I was the closest thing around. We married in a private ceremony with Agnes and Harold as our witnesses.” What had made her mention that? She glanced at Brandon who had a very focused look on his face. He was giving her all the time she needed to tell her story. She had never put her loveless marriage into words before. All those she was close to were on the estate and had watched her life unfold. She told a deep breath and continued “It was a completely loveless relationship. Sex was awful and only an act in the hope that I would become pregnant.” Embarrassment overwhelmed her and she turned on the chair to go. Why was she telling him this? He was a playboy and didn’t want to hear her tales of woe. He wanted bright and bubbly, not this. He grabbed her by her upper arm and forced her to slide back into the chair then took her chin in his hand forcing her to look at him. He kissed her again. This time he kept his manhood out of it, but his head was spinning when they came up for air. She was having a very foreign effect on him. It was just a kiss yet it was having such a strong physical effect on him. He drew her in and kissed the top of her head. Sophia thought he was playing dirty, very dirty indeed. How was a woman supposed to think clearly when they have just experienced a second kiss that made her terrified by her response? She had a fleeting desire to rip his clothes off and have her way with him. Steady Sophia, steady. Another deep breath and she continued “About six years ago Archibald, came home in a terrible state. He announced that he had inoperable brain tumors and the specialists gave him just months to live. I had spent 10 years with a man that at best I could say I was fond of.” She looked up at Brandon at this point. He let her go and looked directly into her eyes. “He never abused me or hit me, never raised his voice at me. At times I wished that he did argue with me. The indifference was unbearable to live with. It just cemented his total lack of interest in me, I guess.” she took up her position back in his arms. It felt surprisingly nice to have her snuggling into his chest as she went on. “I felt so sorry for him and he had consumed a number of brandies. Without going into the logistics I found out I was pregnant six weeks later. Ten years of nothing and then when he is dying, I am expecting a baby.” A desperate sadness overwhelmed her. Maybe if she had been able to produce a child earlier he would have been more loving. Sophia had been completely unaware that she had voiced this aloud until Brandon offered a wordless response of pulling her closer to him. She could feel his heartbeat through his shirt and could also feel the firmness of his chest. He was really well built. Stick to the story, with a level of resignation that he would regard her as a weak, needy woman she blundered on with her story. “Archibald was too sick to come to the hospital to participate in the arrival of Lilly,” She giggled “poor Harold took me to the hospital and did a very good job of apprehensive relative. Apparently he wore a track in the hospital floor with his pacing. Anyway I delivered Lilly on my own and Archibald had three short weeks with her before he lost his battle.” A series of small silent tears ran down her face and as she had already embarrassed herself enough for one day she tried in earnest to not let Brandon see her lack of emotional control.
It wasn’t working, he pushed her away from him and looked at her face. No. No. No. Was her silent scream in her head, don’t look at me, but it was too late the flood gates had opened and here come the tears she thought. Sophia really had no idea what she was crying about. No that wasn’t true; her heart was breaking for her little girl who would never know her father. Her heart also ached for the fact that she felt that she had sold herself out by settling with a man who she really knew was never in love with her. And she cried because she was responsible for so much and so many people. She cried for that fact that she was trapped with a huge responsibility she hadn’t expected. Eventually she stopped crying. “Tears don’t solve anything.” she mumbled to herself and reluctantly wiped the tears from her face. How awkward was this? This was not how the evening was supposed to go. She stood up from the table and glanced at Brandon. She expected that he would leave quickly and run for the mountains. But instead he stood and grabbed her hand, then started to walk to the entrance room where their boots were located. What was he doing? He turned towards her and asked “Do the stables have lights?”
“What… yes, why?” She replied.
“We need to check on Grace and her foal, don‘t we?”
“Yes” she said as she was hauled out the door and across to the stables.
Brandon was clearly not sure what he was doing. Crying women were not part of his agenda. In fact, crying women made him run for the hills, so to speak. But he found most women’s tears were part of a greater performance, a way to make a guy feel guilty enough to act in a way that he really didn’t want to. Sure I’ll stay. Of course you can move into my apartment. And the worst one a man can say….Yes I love you. All things he had managed to avoid. So why was he here, holding her hand, with no desire to let go? The answer might come to him later, right now he just needed to cheer her up. He was desperate to make Sophia feel better.
Chapter Eight
He stood at the stable door aware that now Grace had a new man in her life, so to speak, he had been made redundant. In fact Grace was giving him a “don’t come near my new man” look.
“Females are all the same” he found himself saying. Sophia looked at him, with questioning eyes. “I may not know much about horses but even I know she was batting her eyelids at me some hours ago. Now I‘ve been replaced and she doesn‘t want to know me. I’m heartbroken. “His expression was one of utter rejection but his eyes gave him away. Sophia couldn’t help but offer a rebuff as she entered the stall. “I’m sure that rejection happens to you on such a rare occasion you should relish the experience.”
“You’re very lucky you are inside that stable with a four legged hormonal body guard or you could be in a lot of trouble now” he said waving a finger at her.
“I’ll take my chances,” she said as she had finished checking over mother and son and exited the stable. He took her into his arms and she agreed with her little voice telling her she was really playing with an inferno. He bent down to kiss her only to pull away at the last second to ask ’Are they OK?” as he looked over her shoulder into the stable.
“Yes, they are fine” she barely had the last word out before his lips were on hers. This time she wrapped her arms around his frame. Was there any part of him that wasn’t put together perfectly? She wondered.
This man kissed her like she had never been kissed before. She leant into him and tried desperately to match him. She worried that her lack of practice would not hold her in good stead. She was up against a clear professional here but she had a smile on her lips that she must have been doing OK, because Brandon voiced what seemed an involuntary groan. Sophia was shocked when she leant in on him with the full length of her body that she was definitely having an effect on him. Eventually they parted, but his eyes seemed to penetrate into the depths of her soul. This was moving fast, too fast. If she looked at it on paper, they had kissed a few times, first base as some would say. But only hours ago she wouldn’t have been able to tell you the last time a man kissed her, other than on the cheek. She had never been kissed like this before and that was a fact. Her insides were working overtime and she was tempted again to take the chance and drag him up to her room and see what else he had to offer, but th
at idea brought on another set of apprehensive thoughts. The man that stood before her looking too sexy for words was still an unknown to her. He was very obviously experienced. The kisses were proof of that. If she was honest he terrified her senseless, in a good kind of way. She knew that she would be a great disappointment due to her lack of experience. So it was better to just not go there.
Brandon watched the show going on, on Sophia’s face. Why had he not noticed that she really was beautiful? Really beautiful. Man, she could kiss. He couldn’t remember any other women who had him going as strongly as this from a few kisses. He would need to take a dip in the Artic Sea as a cold shower was not going to cool him down. It was like he was an overeager teenager again. He had this mad idea that he should drag her upstairs and let her know what she was doing to him, but it was a fleeting consideration. She had been involved for so long in a loveless relationship, if he did take her upstairs he would probably only get to spend the night, maybe. He acknowledged that perhaps he was looking for more than that from the sexy green eyed, work booted woman standing in front of him. He also knew that if he stood here long enough he may not be able to resist finding her room.
He reached out and gave her a hug, kissed her on the top of her head. “I’ll walk you to the door and then I had better go”. He let her go and they walked to the back door. He bowed, gave her a very serious “Good Night, My Lady” looked at her, winked, then headed for the driveway.
As she stood in the shower she thought that she was going to find it hard to get any sleep. Her whole body was buzzing and she could still feel his lips on hers. She could taste him and that was not helping. One last check on Lilly, a quick pat of the dogs lounging on the balcony outside Lilly’s door and she went to bed. As predicated, she laid looking at the ceiling for some hours, until eventually sleep took over.
It was nearly midnight when Brandon reached his room. He had a shower, thinking how pointless making it cold would be because Sophia’s face kept drifting into his mind’s eye and then his body took over. He figured he might as well take a hot shower to relax his back and shoulder muscles from pushing and pulling a horse around. Horses really are big…..and heavy. What a day, not at all how he thought it would turn out. He lay in bed for hours, tossing and turning. In the wee small hours he must have fallen asleep, because he woke up with the sun’s rays coming in through the window. A quick breakfast and if he ran he would make the back door as the Lady came out.
Chapter Nine
Wednesday
Brandon considered how much he missed running and even though he was wearing work boots he figured it wouldn‘t hurt the stride it out. The driveway was an uphill slope and went on for some distance. He had run a lot when he was a young man. It was really the reason he discovered plants. He ran through the forest at the back of his neighborhood and had an idea of collecting the seeds and attempting to grow what he had picked up. Only to discover that the plants were rather sort after and hard to strike and that he could sell them for a good price. That seemed a life time ago.
Perhaps he should include running to his list of activities he should return to doing. Perhaps not, he thought, as he pulled up at the back door to watch Sophia coming out. “What no My Lady?” she asked with a quizzical look on her face as she watched him stop from the run up the driveway. Truth be told Sophia had observed him from a window, running up the drive. God, he was sex on legs. Very long muscular, tanned and sexy legs. She stood there blatantly taking advantage of the moment to look.
Whilst he was bent over he held up his hand as if to say wait a moment, proceeded to catch his breath than bowed with a rather breathless “Good morning, My Lady”. He noticed that there were no men and no Lilly. He had a moment of alarm. “Where’s Lilly. Nothing’s wrong, is it?” She watched his face and thought she saw sincere concern. “No, she’s fine. Agnes has taken her to school. And the men are already working, which is ridiculous.”
“Why is that ridiculous? Perhaps they are just taking some pride in their work.” he said still trying to catch his breath but not gasping for air like moments ago.
“It is insane that they put in such long days, because I am not paying them” she said as she turned to close the door.
Brandon frowned. He would never have thought that Sophia would be so ruthless as to not pay her workers. Having hundreds of people working for him and having to deal with Unions and Government agencies he knew this would only lead to trouble. He decided to broach the subject sometime during the day with the workers.
His opportunity came between lunch and afternoon tea when a man called Henry Jones was working beside Brandon. Now Henry was not a man of many words so his replies left Brandon more confused at the end of the discussion than when the conversation began. Apparently, they didn’t expect ‘The Lady’ to pay them, the men came up and felt it an honor to work on the Estate. It wasn’t making sense. He had noted that there were different men each day but this was a little community. Then a thought occurred to him. Sophia had mentioned that Archibald owned most of the properties in the two villages, people must have to pay rent to live in the properties. What if she was holding that over the men’s head? That’s extortion! There must be more to the story. He hoped.
Sophia seemed to be avoiding him or perhaps that was his imagination. She left midafternoon and went to the school to pick up Lilly. When Brandon came down from the gardens he saw Sophia standing outside Graces’ stable. He jogged over and enquired “nothing’s wrong is it?”
“I would not have thought you such a worrier” this was said with a sly smile. “No nothing is wrong, but you can add my name to yours on that list of not wanting to know you. She’s become very protective of her little man. She’s decided that no one is getting in with her. It‘s OK I don‘t really need to go in, so we‘ll leave her to it”
Just then Lilly came running over. “Hello Mister Brandon.”
“Hello Miss Lilly, how was school today?” he asked as he crouched down to her level. At this she threw her arms around his neck and started talking more at him then to him. Brandon managed to get the odd word in. But it was funny to stand and watch him being interrogated by a six year old. They were very good questions and many of them were along the lines of what Sophia herself wanted to know. She didn’t know a thing about this man except that he did seem to know his way around a garden, he was physically strong having pushed a horse around, and he had a ready laugh and good sense humor. Not quite enough information was coming out of Lilly’s questions for Sophia’s liking.
At that moment, Agnes came out “Oh, good you’re here, come in I’ve cooked an early dinner for you. If you remember I have to go to the final meeting for the Hunt Club. Last minute details before the weekends hunt”
At this Brandon stood up, which meant that he had to lift Lilly with him as she was not letting go of his neck.
“OK, Agnes. Can you please tell them that it is all the same as every other year’s event from this end. I expect them to start arriving about lunchtime Friday. If the committee needs anything tell them I’m not at home and have changed my phone number.” This was all said with a light humor.
Brandon knew he had a frown on his face but this was a very disturbing conversation. A Hunt…. this weekend? Agnes walked up and put her hand on his free arm “I’ll let Lady Birmingham explain it. It’s not as bad as your face thinks.”
“Mummy I’m hungry. Can we eat, now?
“Sure.”
As Agnes began walking away she turned and said “I’ve cooked enough for all of you, Good Night” and continued back down the path.
Great. This is fast becoming a habit thought Sophia.
“Well, let’s go, then” Brandon said and started to walk inside with Sophia’s most precious possession clinging to him. He was not going to give her any chance to work out a way to get rid of him. He was thinking that if he could find any excuse to spend some time with Lady Sophia in Boots he was going to unashamedly take it and Agnes had handed it to him on a
plate, quite literally.
Sophia thought that she had been outplayed but was not going down without a fight. If he wanted a free dinner he would have to work for it. So after dinner she left him to wash the dishes as she bathed Lilly. Then they came back down stairs with three books which Lilly insisted Brandon read to her. Sophia was sure that if her pathetic teary episode hadn’t scared him then playing family man certainly would. So let’s see how he goes with this.
Unfortunately, it went well, really well. Lilly was engrossed in his story telling and as most inquisitive six years old do she constantly interrupted the story to ask lots of questions. All of which were answered truthfully and if necessary there was a further discussion about the current subject. Then the reading would continue. Lilly fell into a very deep sleep in Brandon’s arms. When Sophia offered to carry her upstairs, he stood and said “Show me the way.” How do you argue with that? She would just look plain silly trying to wrestle a little girl out of his arms and to what point. Lilly was heavier than her little frame looked and there were a good number of stairs to get up. So she stood and led the way out of the kitchen. Brandon didn’t consider that the dogs were inside the house until he started up the stairs with them following hot on his heels. When he placed Lilly on her bed, two of the dogs took up their place on dog beds that were in the room. “They are my mobile security systems. I pity anyone trying to get into this room with them on duty” Sophia said.
