that she would never voice, never acknowledge, but would keep hidden inside her like a bitter, festering wound.
“I dare, Anna, because I see that same restless spirit in you that I know is inside me.” He reached out to take a firm grasp of her chin as he tilted her face up towards his, so that Anna had no choice but to gaze up at him. “Admit it, Anna, you wanted me that day in the woods,” he encouraged gruffly. “You wanted me to kiss you, to make love to you.”
“No!” She gave a desperate shake of her head in denial of his words. Sweet, truthful, sinful words that caused her heart to clench painfully in her chest.
“You want me to kiss you now...”
“No!” She gave another frantic shake of her head.
“Yes, Anna.” Rufus raised her hand to stroke his lips across her knuckles, instantly aware of that same smell of mint he had tasted when he kissed her in the woods. “I love the way you smell,” he groaned as he rubbed her hand against his cheek.
A cheek that was hot with embarrassment.
Or desire?
“It is only mint from my herb garden,” she excused as she snatched her hand away from his and put it behind her back. “You must not do that. Anyone could walk by.”
“We have introduced ourselves now, you could invite me into the parsonage,” he suggested huskily.
“No, I— Our housekeeper will very soon be back from shopping in the village.”
“And is that your only reason for refusing me?”
“You must go! I cannot— We cannot!”
Rufus looked down at her as he heard the distress in her voice, and noted the look of panic in her expressive eyes as she looked up at him pleadingly. He gave a sigh before stepping back. “I am not going anywhere, Anna. And we will meet again.” It was a promise rather than a threat.
Anna’s emotions were in complete turmoil as she watched Rufus cross the garden to jump lithely back over the wall. He collected and put on his hat, nodding to her briefly before going on his way.
As if nothing had happened.
As if seeing her again had not shaken up his whole world in the same way that her own world had just been shaken on its foundations by seeing him again.
Two more days passed before Anna saw Rufus again, and at a time and place she was completely unprepared for.
Hurrying out of the rain, on her way into the church to arrange the flowers for tomorrow’s Sunday services, she instead came to an abrupt halt as she saw a solitary man standing a short distance away in the churchyard.
Rufus.
He stood at the Drake crypt, head bent, seemingly unaware of the light rain falling and dampening his hat and clothes.
He looked so alone.
Which was a strange thought to have about a duke. A very wealthy and much-sought-after duke, as village gossip indicated that every well-connected family in the area had sent him invitations to dinner parties and hastily arranged balls.
Invitations Anna knew he had so far neither accepted nor refused.
She fought a battle within herself for several minutes as she continued to watch Rufus, part of her wanting to continue on into the church and begin her flower arranging and forget that she had ever seen him, the other part of her drawn to somehow try to alleviate some of his loneliness.
The softness of her heart meant the latter easily won out.
Leaving her flowers in the vestibule, Anna came back out of the church to walk down the pathway towards where Rufus stood.
Rufus knew almost instantly that he was no longer alone, sensing—no, feeling—Anna’s presence behind him, at the same time as he smelled the faint hint of mint he now associated only with her.
He turned slowly to look at her from beneath the brim of his hat. “You should not be out here in the rain.” The shawl she had draped about her shoulders was already showing damp, as was her pale green gown.
“Neither should you,” she countered gently. “Were you very close?” She looked up at the crypt where the names of Rufus’s uncle and two cousins had been added these past three years.
“Not close enough.” He gave a sad shake of his head as he too glanced up at his ornate family crypt. “I suppose we all think there’s plenty of time, that next week, or next month, or next year, we will make an effort to spend time with family, with those we love. And then fate decides otherwise.” He turned to look at her, “No, I was not close to my uncle and cousins, Anna. But I now wish that I had been.”
“You have other family?”
“Oh yes,” he smiled. “I have an interfering mother, and a maternal cousin who can be just as interfering.”
“They both love you, else they would not take the time to bother.”
Rufus looked at her incredulously for several moments and then he gave a rueful smile. “You are very wise for one so young.”
She shrugged. “I am a parson’s daughter.”
She was the strangest parson’s daughter Rufus had ever met. The only parson’s daughter he had ever met.
Anna was only in her very early twenties, and yet there was such wisdom in her eyes, so much understanding for what he had been trying to convey with words that, to him, seemed too trite, too dismissive.
He did deeply regret that he had been too busy with his own life to allow him to be close to his uncle and cousins, because now it was too late.
Was all of life like that? he wondered.
Was life, time, so fragile that it had to be grasped with both hands?
Was that how Anna had felt when they’d spoken two days ago? As if time, life, was passing her by? That it would continue to pass her by?
Was that how he now felt, standing in this churchyard, gazing up at his family crypt, where so many of his ancestors lay, including his own father? Did he feel that if he did not seize life, seize the things he really wanted, that he would lose them forever?
Rufus had become very introspective over the past couple of days as his thoughts dwelled on just that problem. Knowing that he hungered for something.
Or perhaps someone?
“I—” He stopped as the heavens suddenly seemed to open up above them, a deluge of rain falling down on them both. “Let’s get you into the church out of the rain.” He took a light hold of her arm as they hurried down the pathway.
Even with her shawl pulled up over her hair Anna was soaked through by the time the two of them reached the church vestibule.
“Do you love the rain as much as I?” She laughed with happiness as she removed her shawl before looking up at Rufus. He removed his hat, sweeping the dampness of his dark hair back from his brow. “I always feel that it cleanses everything and makes it brand new.” She continued to smile as she looked out of the arched entryway at the falling rain.
“Would it cleanse me, do you think, if I were to stand out in it?” Rufus mused unsmilingly.
She turned to look at him quizzically. “You already look very clean to me.”
He smiled ruefully. “I am talking of my past, Anna. Do you think the rain would cleanse me of that?”
Anna’s breath caught in her throat at the intensity of his gaze. “A person’s past,” she spoke carefully, “is exactly that, surely?”