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Right. Eleanor had run away. That really wasn’t a good sign.

With a sigh, Danni unhooked Sam’s rein from the gatepost and opened the gate so that she could lead him into his stable. She curried him, made sure he had oats, and laid a blanket on his back because he wasn’t a young horse. Only once he was settled did she go to the house and get her keys.

Lucky that the Land Rover was back on its feet. Lucky that Eleanor had AA and could afford to have the Land Rover running again. The only question now was, where was Eleanor most likely to be?

And that was hardly a difficult one.

Danni tossed the keys in her hand as she went out to the truck. Eleanor Brewster had kissed her. She’d kissed Eleanor Brewster. She could still taste her, could still feel her, could still hear her heart stuttering as Eleanor’s lips had met hers.

It had been, without a single doubt, the greatest moment of her life. Better even than the day she signed the papers for the farm. Better than she could ever imagine a moment ever being again.

All except for Eleanor running away, of course. That part hadn’t been great.

She couldn’t help grinning to herself as she started the engine, though.

She and Eleanor had kissed, and it had made her hair stand on end and her blood race through her veins. And she’d loved every second of it.

PULLING UP AT the manor, Danni once again thought what an odd life Eleanor must lead. Living in a house like this must be like living in a museum. Well, not just at the moment, she reconsidered, as she pushed through the open front door and began to pick her way past tools and piles of material.

Just as she’d thought, she found Eleanor sitting at a dust-covered kitchen table, surrounded by flickering candlelight.

Danni leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms. “Ah yes, the perfect place to sulk. Nothing like the scent of fresh brick dust to help you think.”

Eleanor looked up sharply, startled. For a moment, she looked like she might deny sulking, but then she sighed and rubbed her temples. “I…”

“You ran,” Danni filled in.

“I didn’t run. I left.”

Danni gave her a look. Eleanor groaned and dropped her head onto the table. “Alright, fine, I ran,” she mumbled.

Danni sniffed and pushed off the doorframe, strolling into the kitchen, brushing dust off a chair before she sat across from Eleanor. “Care to tell me why? I haven’t been eating garlic or raw onions or anything. Kissing me can’t have been that terrible. I’ve done it before and not had any complaints.”

Eleanor straightened and immediately started babbling. “I shouldn’t have done it. It was inappropriate. Unfair to you. A mistake.”

Danni raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ll be the one to decide what’s fair and unfair to me, thank you. But a mistake?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Eleanor’s face looked as though she was anything but sure.

Danni tilted her head. “It didn’t feel like a mistake. It felt… It felt like something that had to be done, it felt like a necessity.”

Eleanor’s lips parted, but no words came out. For once, she had nothing to say, no quip, no sarcasm, nothing.

And Danni could see that she was struggling with this, though she didn’t really see why. Maybe because of their arrangement, maybe it was mixing business with pleasure. Maybe because of their age difference, though she didn’t think it was that big. Maybe just because Eleanor didn’t do well with feelings, which she of all people could understand.

Whatever the reason, Eleanor obviously needed time, and Danni took pity on her. She looked at at the kitchen echoing around them. “This house is huge,” she said.

“Changing the subject, are we?” said Eleanor, finding her tongue.

“No, actually,” said Danni. “I was going to say that this house is huge, it wasn’t built in a day.”

“Obviously.”

“So… why should anything else be?” Danni said. She sighed. “We kissed, Eleanor. It was nice. That doesn’t mean we have to do anything else, and it doesn’t mean we don’t have to do anything else. It just means… we kissed. The world’s still turning, the sky didn’t come crashing down, you don’t need to make any decisions right now.”