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And Danni laughed, taking the torch, and leading them bothback out into the night.

THE RIDE BACK to the farm was silent. Eleanor stared out of the window, lost in thought.

Danni, for her part, was very much not thinking.

Nope. Not at all.

Definitely not thinking about the kiss. Not thinking about Eleanor in her arms. Not thinking about how Eleanor’s touch had made her chest feel tight and her stomach flip.

Not. Thinking. At. All.

She parked the Land Rover in front of the farmhouse, and Eleanor climbed out without a word, heading straight inside.Danni had the fleeting thought that they’d left Eleanor’s car back at the house. She’d have to drive her in in the morning.

Danni watched her go. Then she sighed, ran her hand through her hair, and shook her head. “Well, I’m in trouble,” she muttered.

She got inside just in time to see Eleanor disappearing up the stairs to her bedroom. Danni sighed, thought about making some tea, and finally decided she was too tired for anything but collapsing onto the too-small couch. But when she did, all she did was stare at the ceiling.

Replaying the kiss in her mind.

Replaying the moment Eleanor tripped into her arms.

Replaying the way her heart had jumped when she’d touched Eleanor.

She groaned, let out a long breath, and screwed her eyes tight shut. What were the chances of her actually sleeping tonight when Eleanor was just one floor away?

Practically zero, she thought.

Because that had definitely been more than just a kiss. She was sure of it. Even if she did have to try to pretend that it hadn’t happened for the sake of Eleanor’s sanity.

Chapter Twenty

Eleanor stood in the middle of what had, at some point, been the grand hall of Brewster Manor, and which was now an active construction zone. Sawdust hung in the air, mixing with the scent of old wood dust and fresh paint. She was trying very hard to focus on varnish options, but her mind was completely elsewhere.

More specifically, her mind was on Danni. Ultra-specifically, her mind was on that kiss.

She’d spent most of last night, and the entirety of this morning, trying to convince herself that it had all been a mistake. Something to do with twilight and fresh air and horse-riding and… general witchiness, perhaps. A fleeting moment of weakness brought on by the intimacy of their conversation, the weight of the night air, the way Danni had looked at her.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t having great success in persuading herself that it had all been in the heat of the moment, that it had all been a terrible misjudgment. Particularly when Danni had so obviously kissed her back.

“Lady Brewster?” One of the workmen called, pulling Eleanor out of her thoughts.

“Yes?” she said, hoping that her face wasn’t as flushed as it felt.

“Did you want us to keep the archway as it is, or follow the original design from the blueprint?”

She blinked at him, thinking, her brain rememberingeverything she’d ever heard and read about the house. “Keep it as is,” she said. “The third Lord had the design changed, but the blueprints were never updated to reflect that fact.”

He nodded and went back to work, leaving Eleanor to stare at the exposed beams of the ceiling and contemplate her growing problem.

It was one thing to remind herself that the marriage was supposed to be a business arrangement, which it was. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore just how much… She took a breath. Just how much she wanted Danni.

There, the words were out there, even if she was just thinking them.

And why shouldn’t she think them? She was a grown adult.

They were both grown adults, come to that. A little affair wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it? They were married, for heaven’s sake. And it wasn’t as if she’d never been with a woman before. Though, her body reminded her, it had been some time.

Danni was interested too, this wasn’t one sided.