Page 36 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
“Love you more.”
Nory was about to bury herself in the library once more when she heard her name being called. She followed the voice down the corridor to where the butler was systematically poking his head in at each door and asking if anyone had seen Miss Elinor.
“I’m here,” she said timidly, so as not to frighten him.
“Ah, Miss Elinor, there you are. Excellent. There is someone for you at the back door.”
Intrigued, Nory followed the butler down past the kitchens and through the boot room. Isaac was standing in the open doorway with his back to her, his face turned to the already dark sky. Nory felt a jolt of pleasure at seeing him.
“Hello,” she said.
Isaac turned and smiled at her.
“Should I ask the marquis to turn the heating up?” he asked.
Looking down, she realized she was still draped in the huge sherpa blanket. “I was reading in the library. It felt like a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of day.”
“Quite right too,” said Isaac. “Have you seen the sky this evening?”
Nory had not. Isaac moved aside, and she joined him out on the worn stone step, the cold seeping through her thick woolen socks. She looked up and sighed with delight. The navy-blue sky was peppered with silvery stars that seemed to stretch on to infinity without a single cloud to bar their way.
“It’s going to be a cold night,” said Isaac.
“Yes,” Nory agreed. “I miss the stars when I’m in the city.”
“I felt the same when I lived away from here.”
“I like how small it makes me feel,” she said, her face still tilted toward the stars. “There is something comforting in feeling there is so much more than just us and our silly lives.” She turned to find Isaac looking at her. She smiled. “What?”
“It’s nothing, it’s just, I feel exactly the same way.”
“Well, perhaps we are more alike than you imagined.”
“Perhaps we are.”
Nory could feel the crackle between them. She had an overwhelming urge to lean over and kiss him. But she resisted.
“I’ve got a telescope at the cottage. Maybe you’d like to come and look through it later.” He smiled, suddenly shy, and shookhis head, looking at the ground. “And I’ve just realized how incredibly lame that sounded.”
Nory laughed. “Do you often ask women to come and look through your telescope?”
“Hardly ever.”
“Well, I would love to look through your telescope, Isaac. Thank you.”
He looked straight at her, the lamps behind her in the porch making his eyes glitter, and she felt that pull again, that almost irresistible urge to put her mouth on his.
“Did you call me out here to look at the stars?” she asked, trying to distract herself from his full lips. Oh my god, she wanted to bite them!
Isaac shook his head as if suddenly remembering why he was there. “Er, no, I didn’t. That was an aside. I just came here to return this.”
He handed Nory the scarf she’d left in her parents’ kitchen this morning.
“Oh. Thank you, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I saw Thom in the White Hart pub earlier, and he asked me to give it to you with a message.”
Nory was suddenly wary. “Yes?”
