Page 117 of A Winter By the Sea
Together they stood at the veranda railing, gazing out over the garden. Emily gripped the railing tight, seeing little, her every sense centered on the man beside her.
He turned toward her, and she slowly turned to face him, looking up into his glimmering golden-brown eyes.
“Emily. I...”
“Yes, Charles?”
After a glance at the French doors, which cast light on them from within, he gestured toward a bench to one side. “You must be tired from dancing. Please, sit down.”
“I ... yes. Thank you.”
She did so, and after a moment’s hesitation, he sat beside her.
“I suppose we should not tarry out here alone,” he began. “But I wanted to...” He paused and angled toward her on the bench, his knee brushing hers, and his face very near.
She knew he was conscious of propriety, but Emily did not worry. The Parkers were old friends. Her parents trusted Charles. His family and friends were right inside, along with her sister Claire.
His gaze lowered to her mouth. Was he about to kiss her? She certainly wanted him to. Is that whathewanted? For a gentleman like Charles, would a kiss not be tantamount to an offer of marriage?
She leaned slightly closer, hoping to encourage him without being too forward.
He leaned in as well, focused on her mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.
The French doors abruptly opened, and Charles pulled way, leaping to his feet.
Disappointment stung. Emily glanced over to see who had interrupted them, already resenting the perpetrator in her heart.
Lord Bertram.
“Ah. Here you are, Charles. We think alike, I see. Miss Summers and I wondered what became of you and her sister.”
He turned to someone behind him, revealing Claire. “Here they are, safe and sound.”
Claire and Emily had been the only two Summerses in attendance that night. Viola, as usual, had refused to attend, and Sarah was still in mourning for her betrothed, even though he had been dead for more than a year.
Bertram grinned at Claire. “Perhaps we had better chaperone the pair? They looked rather cozy just now.”
Charles clenched his jaw, and Emily felt her neck heat at the man’s implication. Nothing had happened!
She expected a gentle reprimand from Claire, but Claire only smiled vaguely in Emily’s direction before her dreamy gaze returned to the man beside her, her hand tucked into the crook of his arm.
———
Emily had been so wrapped up in her own romantic longings that she had not paid much attention, had not taken note of her sister’s uncharacteristic behavior with a man she had known for less than a fortnight.
How different that scene now appeared in her mind with the benefit of hindsight.
There on Sea View’s veranda, Emily closed her eyes and tried to return to the more pleasant portion of that memory. Of Charles looking at her with admiration and perhaps desire. His face, his lips nearing hers...
Elbows on the chair arms, hands tented fingertip to fingertip, Emily pressed her fingers to her mouth, imagining the pressure of his lips on hers.
The door from the drawing room opened and Emily jerked upright, startled and embarrassed to be caught kissing her own hands. She hoped it was not obvious and was thankful her thoughts were not visible.
Charles Parker stood there, hesitating in the doorway.
“Am I intruding?” he asked. “I have been sitting with Georgiana for a quarter of an hour, hoping you would join us. She told me you had come out here, although one wonders why. It is awfully cold.”
“I was only thinking. I like to sit out here and look at the sea.”
