Ambrose's POV
"One step at a time, Miss Linton," I replied to her.
"Of course. You're right," she nodded.
I know I'm right.
That was what I would have normally said. Actually, normally I would be surprised at her ever agreeing with me. But instead, for some inexplicable reason, I did something I had not planned on doing. Taking a few strides toward her, I softly grabbed her arms and planted a small kiss on her forehead. To my surprise she did not jerk away or try to hit me, she only stood there and looked at me.
"Goodnight," I said before she could have any sort of reaction.
I turned around and swiftly made my way to my bedroom, hoping that she would not shout my name or try to get my attention. Thankfully, she didn't.
I had a feeling I would not be getting much sleep that night, and as usual I was correct. However, instead of not getting enough sleep because of work, I was thinking about a girl. Strange as it seemed, instead of trying to push those thoughts to the very back of my mind, I was okay with them.
Since I could not sleep, I decided to get something to drink to help distract myself from all the thoughts going through my mind. Getting up, I lit the candle on the bedside table, walked over to the bedroom door and slowly pulled it open.
"Ah!" Lilly yelped, jumping back.
Despite being startled as well, I kept my composure, "What are you doing here?"
"Er-um, I was bored?"
It sounded like more of a question than an answer.
I raised an eyebrow, "And how does that affect me, exactly?"
"Well, I thought maybe you'd still be up"
"And what did you plan on doing if I was still up?"
"Uh...I don't know."
"Hmm," I pretended to think for a second, "I can think of something we can do that is not quite boring."
"Yes?" her inquisitive eyes asked me.
I quickly pulled her in with my free hand and kissed her very softly on the lips. We remained like that for almost a full minute, and my hand reached up to stroke her face. Finally, after almost another thirty seconds had passed, Lilly pushed gently away from me.
"That's not what I had in mind at all," she shook her head.
"You didn't bring any other ideas to the table," I countered.
"I suppose you earned that kiss," she teased.
"I suppose I did," I had to stop myself from nearly smiling.
When a few moments passed and she did not say anything more, I decided that it would be best if both of us went to sleep before we found other things to do in our boredom.
"Miss Linton, I think it best we both go to sleep and talk in the morning."
"That sounds tine," she replied quickly, turning away but not before I spotted the warm blush in her cheeks.
Morning came very quickly. I wasn't sure when I fell asleep or how I fell asleep, but it seemed that the next thing I knew, I was waking up.
"Karim," I called out. After getting dressed, I was in the parlor looking for my bodyguard.
Not hearing a reply I took towards the kitchen to find something quick to eat, probably an apple.
"Sahib," Karim came into the kitchen shaking snow off his shoes from outside.
"Why would you do that inside the kitchen?" A female voice said from behind, before I could address him.
"Ifrit..." Karim replied under his breath.
"And how are you both this lovely morning?" Lilly asked, brushing off his nickname for her.
"It is still snowing outside, Sahib, so the journey back might be rough," Karim alerted me.
"That is fine," I replied, "It might take a few more hours but we I'll make it back to London."
"Nice to know you're both doing great," Lilly chimed in again.
"Is the carriage here?" I asked, ignoring her again.
"Yes, Sahib."
"Then we shall leave in ten minutes."
"Wait, what about breakfast?" Lilly asked.
"No time for that," I shot back, "Go pack your things."
"That's not very nice of you."
"Since when have I ever been 'very nice'?
"You were nice last night," she replied, huge grin spreading over her face.
I saw Karim shift uncomfortably in the corner of my eye, but I knew he knew better than to ask any questions about what occurred last night. Though it was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"Meet us outside," I pushed past Lilly to get my things and get ready to leave.
Lilly's POV
It was a good thing I only had a two pair of trousers and shirts with me, or else I would not have made it outside as fast as Ambrose had wanted me to. Quickly throwing my clothes back into my small trunk, I was packed and dressed before my ten minutes were up.
Just two days ago if I had been asked how I felt about an extra long carriage ride with Mr. Ambrose, I would have said in no uncertain terms that it was the last thing I wanted to do. But now, I had this weird feeling inside me thinking of spending hours in a carriage with him...and Karim of course. I almost felt giddy and excited.
"Gross," the voice inside my head told me.
"I know right."
"Miss Linton, how many times must I tell you to stop talking to yourself and hurry up!"
I turned to Mr. Ambrose who had just walked into the parlor where I had been standing, agreeing with my conscience.
"Well, that would be the first time you've told me actually..." I trailed off.
"I recall having to tell you on Friday," He stated curtly.
"Back to normal so quickly I see, boy am I glad!" My voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Is that sarcasm?"
"Oh dear no, Sir! This is how I always am!"
He took a step nearer to me and his gaze darkened as he leaned towards me with anger.
"I do not appreciate the sarcasm."
"I do not appreciate blah blah blah blah," I mimicked him in an annoying tone.
He pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest. Narrowing his eyes he asked, "Have I done something to upset you again?"
"Oh, no, no, no," I threw my hands up nonchalantly, "I am just always pleasantly surprised when your personality completely changes in a fraction of a second and then goes right back to normal!"
"I didn't completely change my personality and I told you-".
I cut him off, "Yeah, yeah something about depriving happiness slightly or whatever. I get it."
"That is nowhere near what I said," I saw the strain in his face.
"It has the same key words," I smiled.
"Which in no way makes it convey the same message."
"But, I mean, it's similar."
"Not really, not at all."
We stood there staring at each other for a few seconds, neither saying a word. Suddenly, Karim opened the front door and let us know that it was time to go. Loading our stuff into the carriage, this time Karim chose to sit next to Mr. Ambrose while I was forced on the other side. It was quite a sight seeing Karim's large frame squished next to Mr. Ambrose's.
The carriage started moving and I could hear the horse hooves trudging through the snow. Karim leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes, which struck me as an odd thing for a bodyguard to do. I suppose he thought there were no dangers on a carriage ride back to London.
"So," I started, leaning towards Ambrose.
"I suspected a 'so' was coming."
"Back in there," I gestured back to the general direction of the cabin, "when we were talking...did you lose track of time?"
"What?" His gaze snapped onto mine and he looked as if I had just told him an unbelievable secret.
"You said we had to be outside in ten minutes, but it seemed you lost track of the fact that that ten minutes had passed by already while you were talking to me. I thought time was important."
"It is," he snapped, "I did not lose track of time, I only knew that it wasn't too important that we be on time."
"Uh huh," I smirked, "Since when is time not important to you?"
When he didn't reply I spoke up again, "When are we going to have our talk?"
"This is hardly a good time," he said, gesturing to our surroundings.
With Karim sleeping softly next to him, the bumpy ride of the carriage, and the cold cramped space, it was not the best time to have a serious discussion.
"You're right," I confessed, "I guess we'll have to wait for London."
I leaned back in the seat and let myself doze off in the comfortable silence.
As usual, nothing could ever go smoothly when it involved Mr. Ambrose, so I was not completely surprised when I was forcefully jerked awake an hour or so later.
"What was that?" I saw Ambrose sitting as calmly as ever across from me.
"Just a bump in the road, go back to sleep, Miss Linton."
"Okay if you--"
I didn't get to finish that sentence. No, not because he cut me off in a passionate kiss or something. That would be insane, right? No, my sentence was cut off by the carriage coming to a complete and sudden halt, throwing us all in different directions. I found myself smothered completely by Karim and I tried my hardest to push him off, to no avail. Ambrose was the first one to get up as quickly as possible and fling open the carriage door.
"What the hell was that?" I heard him yell towards the driver.
I didn't hear anything in response from the driver.
Karim was off me within seconds and following Ambrose out of the carriage. I waited for someone to say something, but I did not hear a word. Getting up, I slowly tried to peek outside, but I could not see them from where I was. I walked carefully out of the carriage and had to keep myself from screaming when I saw at least ten bandits surrounding Karim, Ambrose, and the driver with knives held up to their throats.
"Hello there young lad," one of the especially dirty ones came up to me with his knife dangerously close to my face.
"Hello," I said, forgetting to use my manly voice.
"You don't sound much like a lad," his scratchy voice sounded louder, as he got closer and closer to me.
"Er, because my voice hasn't changed yet. I'm still pretty young," I tried to make my voice go slightly deeper.
The bandit chuckled and ripped my cap off my head without a moment's warning. My brown hair came tumbling down to my shoulders and I knew it was evident that I was no man.
"Well, looky what we have here fellas," he gestured to his friends who were still at the men's throats, "a girl. What shall we do with her?"
"We don't have to do anything with her," another of the bandits spoke up, "We're just here for the money and then we leave."
"We do not have any money," Ambrose spoke up for the first time.
"Oh, no no, Mr. Ambrose, we know you've got money," the first one replied, not moving an inch away from me.
"And," he continued, "You've got a girl. Do you know what we do with girls?"
TO BE CONTINUED.
author's note: 0-100 REAL QUICK AM I RIGHT