The next few hours were surreal. Lucy had made straight for her room and locked herself in before collapsing on the bed to sleep off the alcohol. She had clearly not been in her right mind with Richard. It had to be that for the alternative was too hard to consider. When she came to, the house was a buzzed with chaos and with someone hammering on her door. She opened the door and blinked sleepily to find her mum summoning her downstairs.
Lucy immediately followed her wading through the heaped boxes of clothing that Richard had arranged to have dropped off. She hadn't realised just how many purchases there were but seeing them littering the path to the stairs had her cringing in renewed anxiety. Lucy jogged down closely on the heels of her mum. Admiring her mother's ability to refrain from questioning her on the obvious – What the hell? and How in the hell?- had all these boxes arrive from the most exclusive store in town. But the fact that those questions remained unvoiced said a lot for the state of mind her mum was in.
As she neared the dining room, she could decipher her dad's disappointed tones, "...you bring disgrace to our family"
Suspecting the worst, Lucy sped up her pace to intervene and save Cat's ass. But what she saw pulled her up short.
It was not Cat who was getting chastised but Emily. As soon as Cat saw Lucy, she rushed over sobbing hard. Lucy wrapped her arms about her then looked in askance at Emily. What the hell was going on?
"Ah there you are, Lucy. Perhaps you have the answers I seek? Why did Emily go off and punch her friend's brother in the face?" Dad put forward the enigmatic question to Lucy.
Lucy stared back uncomprehendingly. What the hell happened? Then the bulb clicked in her fuzzy mind and she rounded on a cringing Emily, to cry out unwittingly," You didn't!"
Emily hit Lisa's brother Mark. What the hell good would that do? Unless of course he knew exactly which of his friends made use of his bed and her sister, that night.
"So, you do know what all this is about. I'm glad someone has an idea. Care to share my dear?" Her dad stared down at her expectantly. Lucy could only stare back stumped. She had backed herself into a corner with that one. But then she clearly wasn't the brightest when it came to think on her feet.
Lucy turned to Emily imploringly and heard her sigh in frustration before rolling her eyes in annoyance. Just then the doorbell pealed out a lifesaving tune. Lucy sighed with relief. Saved by the bell she turned to scuttle off and answer the door but her Dad beat her to it.
"Mary? Answer the damn door will you." Dad passed the privilege on to mum. Lucy stared on disappointed at having her escape route so effectively blocked. Time was ticking, and she drew up a continual blank over how to address this without igniting matters further.
"I would like to see Emily," a deep markedly male voice rang over the softer tones of her mum's initial greeting. There was a muffled conversation that followed and then the footsteps could be heard leading up to the kitchen where they were all gathered. She looked in horror at Emily wondering what new development this was and watched her turn a paler shade of herself when a tall good looking young man appeared behind her mum. Mark!
"Sir, I am Mark, Lisa's brother. I'd like a word with Emily please," he said with considerable congeniality considering the bruised chin he was sporting was from Emily's impressive efforts.
Lucy hid the grin that threatened to emerge before throwing a congratulatory wink at Emily. As luck would have it, the wink was not missed by Mark who barely contained his ire to inflect only the slightest narrowing of his gaze.
Dad gave up about then and sent Emily off to have a word with her guest telling her implicitly that she must apologise. They watched Mark and Emily step out of the house to discuss in private. Cat and Lucy used the opportunity to grab up their plates of food from the kitchen and dash upstairs to eat in Lucy's room.
As they drew past the door behind which Emily was conferring with Mark, they could hear their sister's agitated tones rise in berating Mark, "... If you had been in your own bed last night, you would have known...."
"Have you made a doctor's appointment yet?" questioned Lucy. It was the upper most concern now. There was no knowing anything about the man Cat slept with, he could be diseased, and Cat wasn't even sure if they had used protection. "Have you taken a morning after?"
"I went this morning while you were out shopping. The results won't be out for some time yet. But in no way, am I going to take a morning after pill," said Cat, quite decisively.
Lucy stared on at her incredulously, her mouth stuffed with food that she was suddenly finding hard to swallow. "Excuse me?"
"I am going to be a doctor, Lucy. It's my lifelong dream. I cannot start that journey by taking the life of my own fetus!" She gasped horrified. "Do you even know how the pills work?"
"You won't be becoming a doctor at all with a baby in your belly, Lucy," said Lucy aghast. "You're too young."
"Look, we don't even know if it would come to that. Besides, this might be the only way I could keep a part of him with me forever."
What the hell?
Who wanted to keep the part of a one-night-stand with them forever? "What are you high on Cat? This isn't at all like you." Lucy drew back shaking her head confused. "You're supposed to be the one with sense. The rational one. The brainy one. You're the one we come to when... wait... it is you, isn't it Cat? You and Emily are not pulling one over me, are you?"
The twins had tried, in the past, time over time to hoodwink Lucy by exchanging identities but they'd failed every attempt. She could always tell them apart, no matter how they dressed. Even looking at Cat now, she could tell she was Cat, only Cat didn't say things like that. But then Emily wouldn't say such things either. Even she had more sense than this. What was this? Hormones?
Cat quirked a brow before offering Lucy a small smile. "I am me, Lucy. That hasn't changed."
But Lucy only shook her head confused.
"Have you ever felt a moment that was just so right you never want to lose it, even as a memory?" Cat questioned, her eyes gleaming with an intensity Lucy had never seen before. "That was last night was for me, Lucy. It was not just sex. It was need. A need I didn't even know I had. He was divine Lucy. Why wouldn't I want to wake up to a memory of him every day for the rest of my life?"
The slap was unexpected and instinctual, shocking the both. It was a moment later before Lucy's heavy breathing subsided enough for her to form a rational thinking process again. "Sorry." She said, feeling not at all sorry. "But I had to at least try."
"Knock some sense into me," said Cat, nodding her head in understanding. "I would have done the same."
Lucy gave her an eye roll at that. "You must have been bingeing on too much Romeo & Juliet. Love is fiction, Cat. Swayed easily with the passing tide," she found herself saying with unexpected bitterness, directed at no one other than herself. Lucy still couldn't believe she'd let Richard kiss her... and then responded. Were her feelings that fickle? Lucy was too confused herself to properly advise Cat. But she still had to try.
Cat shook her head. "You would understand had you seen him." Her blue eyes pierced hers again earnestly. "He was not simply just a freeloader at a party, Lucy. His voice, his tone, his accent, his stance, his very bearing spoke of so much more. There was just this vibe about him. It's really hard to explain, Lucy."
They sat there a moment munching slowly. The solitude away from prying ears offered them a chance to speak of matters in confidence and Lucy needed to understand the whole of it. She needed to see what Cat saw in this man. She needed to know if Cat was being rational in her decision and she had curiosity to be appeased over what exactly transpired with Cat and the man the night before.
"He was gentle Lucy. Intense but gentle. Thorough but gentle... and then not gentle." Cat breathed out softly, her eyes unfocused in the distance.
"Have you considered that this may be some manifestation of long suppressed ideals? I mean you might have secretly been longing for a guy to notice you that way but...."
"Let me stop you right there, Lucy. I know I am blond, but I am not that blond," she said pointedly. It took a moment for Lucy to process that and Cat sighed. "I mean I am not the dumb one and I have been propositioned quite possibly as many times as Emily. I am her twin you know. Her identical twin. We look alike, so naturally, men find me as attractive. They just don't approach me first, when they could approach Emily. I don't dress to encourage their attention. You know that."
"Yes, yes, I do." Lucy muttered a little shocked by all she'd missed. She had always thought, no guy approached Cat with interest. Just as none had approached Lucy. That was till now that is. What was it about this time of the year?
Lucy and Cat trashed through her evening with her mysterious man to some detail, one with the hope of finding a flaw that went beyond the obvious and that would render Cat's unfounded infatuation with him mute and the other, with a need to simply relive it all over again in memory. That Cat was clearly besotted was obvious and Lucy, for the life of her didn't know what to do about it.
"Well whatever it is, I do think you should speak to mum about this, Cat," said Lucy sensibly, knowing when to call it quits. She was already at her wits end to do more but their mother would know what to do. She had to. She was their mother. "She ought to know what you should do, Cat."
Then they moved on into uncovering what Emily's efforts to find out Cat's mysterious stranger had festered out. No one noticed the time ticking away. It was well past the hour when the dragging footsteps of a very tired Emily could be heard marching on silently past to her room.
"Em?" Lucy called out as she passed by her closed door but rather than coming in she only called back out, "I'm tired, we'll talk later."
After that Cat went off to her room, no doubt to mope over her mysterious stranger and Lucy tucked herself comfortably onto a corner and begun the tedious process of packing for her trip. Jace would be there at any moment and Lucy was not yet half done with anything and she still had to get ready on top of it. They would arrive that night at Richard's farmhouse for the New Year's Eve party. A party that was expected to carry on to the early hours of the morning. But Lucy was not at all looking forward to any of it. Not to wear the new dresses, not to meet Richard's glances and mostly not to stare Jace in the eye. How could she face him? How could she ever face him again? The trip to the States was looking more and more enticing by the moment. If only it were sooner and not on the eve of valentine's day of all things.
Lucy rushed like mad tossing clothing into bags and getting dressed for the party. New Year's Eve at the Little's was clearly going to be a solemn affair with no one in the mood to party but that was still preferable than going to Richards. Anything was preferable to that. She had just sufficient time to stuff some underwear in her suitcase before Jace was there. Only it was not Jace alone.
The white limo that drove up the slope to their house looked as if it would topple over bonnet over tires back down the steep incline. But somehow it held, waiting precariously on the edge for Lucy to emerge from the safety of her home and plunge straight for the vortex of doom.
Which she did only shortly after, gingerly climbing into her seat and buckling up her seatbelt. Lucy exchanged the barest murmur of greeting with the rest of the occupants and then Jace was sliding in beside her. And they were off in Richard's limo heading to the Reeves farm house for the weekend. The stony silence in the limo was unbearable. Lucy ran a hesitant hand down the ruffles at the front her dress and grimaced at the colour gold.
The four of them riding in the limo to Richards country home was not the ideal combination. A grumpy Jace who looked decidedly unhappy in seeing Lucy attired in Richard's choice, Celine who appeared to be overly unaffected by it all and Richard who hadn't even spared her a glance. She wondered for the umpteenth time why was she was there at all.
Her glance shifted back to Jace's and the accusing stare within them. He'd known of the unexpected change of plans, Richard had made it appoint to let him know. Never let it be said he'd gone about kissing his friend's girlfriend sneakily behind his back. Although that was exactly what he'd done. Lucy returned Jace's accusing stare. As far as she was concerned all this was his fault.
Lucy hadn't wanted to go to the blasted New Year's Eve party, she hadn't wanted to go shopping for a stupid dress and she hadn't wanted to do it with Celine. But Jace had over ruled her on all counts so as far as she was concerned he deserved his comeuppance. He deserved knowing that not only was Lucy clad from head to toe on Richard's account but that his two best friends were eating face behind his back. Not that she would ever dare to tell him that last.
Lucy silently exchanged fire for fire with her gaze on Jace's. But Jace was never one to hold a grudge for long. The blue chill of his gaze simmered and warmed up with amusement. Jace was always easiest to laugh than to blow his top. That was Lucy's prerogative. But even her temper could not outlast his persuasive bent.
She felt the fire in her gaze fizzle out at the warm glint in his. No longer was she having to shoot lasers at his deep chill, instead she felt the urge to warm his waters with a mere glimmer of candle light. Lucy blushed and looked away, only to catch the sardonic amusement of Richard's gaze.
She ran a nervous hand along her dress, smoothing down yet another ridiculous ruffle on her dress. She could not say she was enamoured of the ruffles, but the fit was perfect, and the colour did bring out the gold in her eyes. But it was really her darkened skin tones that was brought into sharp contrast. The bronzed golden of her skin, in her eyes, had never looked so attractive as it did now.
She could relish in the deeply tanned hues of her skin and knew Celine secretly eyed the same quite jealously knowing her own bottled tan would never come close. Lucy could safely say she could now happily view possibilities in the world in all its varying shades of sun-primed gold but here in the approaching dark, with night fall about them there were no answers to be sought within the depths of its black, white and the spectrum shades of grey.
The drive was endless as it was boring. After the awkward avoidance of the first half an hour, Lucy threw good manners to the winds and dug out her phone to immerse herself in a romance that would hopefully shed light over her own muddled attempts.
The tale lasted throughout even when they moved past the line of civilisation and her network lost coverage. But the shrouding darkness moved in to enclose the four of them with uncomfortably intimacy. The muted lights within the limo serving to cast a shadow over the world outside while playing softly over the attractive features of those within. Lucy found her gaze helplessly caught within the equally dark glittering depths of Richard's hooded look. She tugged her vision away with effort to fix it on the dark scenery lit up by car's headlights and vanishing past her window eaten up by the gloom. She stared out unimpressed ignoring the reflection of the man who kept staring right at her with all the required determination till her neck ached.
The second hour saw an attempt of conversation between Jace and Celine, both having had enough of the stifling tensions within. It was at that point that Lucy turned to face the other occupants of the limo. Richard was now immersed in his laptop no doubt doing work. Celine was recounting some event or other and Jace was laughing at her little jokes.
The third hour saw Celine immersed on her phone and Jace asleep lounging against Lucy's shoulder. Did he not get a good rest last night? Lucy stared at the tired lines about his eyes and wondered how his day had went. Normally they would have made an easy conversation of it, the miles of a journey turning to nothing with conversation. At least that had been the case before last weekend. Lucy wasn't sure she didn't regret all that has happened since. She turned more fully so that she may look her fill of him.
His golden blond hair was tousled, his clothes carelessly tossed on and his sleeves were rolled up to display a fine sprinkling of golden soft hair. In the short time, the immaculate man dressed in a suit who'd met her at her door had been reduced to looking more like himself. Lucy ran an absent hand down his arms to test the softness of his skin.
A grunt from Richard's direction had her stopping and yanking her hand back as if she'd done something wrong. Lucy stared on at first confused and then angry. She met Richard's fierce gaze with her own, but the dark seemed to have lent terrible depths to voids of his and Lucy found herself involuntarily shrinking back into her own seat. If Jace and Celine were not in the car with them there was no knowing what he would have done.
The violence of his gaze was unmistakable. But it was a violence of the sensual kind. Primitive and possessive. The thought of his kisses rushed forth to her mind overpowering all else. She barely contained her reaction watching as his gaze burned hotter as if in sync with her thoughts. Desire flooded her, and Lucy squirmed in its heat.
Her hand reached out blindly in search for an anchor to ground her and found it in Jace. Her hand latched on to Jace's arm.
"Huh?" Jace woke up with a jolt.
Lucy blurted the only thing that came to mind, "Are we there yet?"
She got a lot of sardonic brow lifts at that. The car fell silent again after that and Lucy turned back to stare out the window. It was not long before she thankfully felt her eyes droop shut in fatigue.
"Lucy?"
A hand press down on her shoulder and gently shaking her awake. She snuggled further up against the warm chest she was lying on. "Hmm...Jace?" Lucy murmured sleepily.
"Lucy we're here."
She raised her head up then to look about and he was right, they were there. Her heart lifted in unexpected excitement. Outdoor torches lit up the long drive in. The farm was a buzzed with activity. Its rolling plains swallowed up by the dark so that it was only the house itself, all lit up that drew the arrival's eyes.
The sounds of horses whining, and dogs barking was all that could be heard as they sped-on past. The farm was unusually alive that night. It felt almost magical. It was as if the party spread out to its four-legged habitants as well. A couple of drovers rode in on horseback herding the limo off the path and guiding it away to where a huge marquee had been set up not a distance away from the main house.
As if out of nowhere another limo glided by right along them bouncing along on the uneven terrain and guided by its own pair of drovers. The vehicles pulled up alongside each other, and Lucy noted there were already many others parked side by side. The horses lingered with its riders and Lucy emerged from her vehicle to find out why.
"A pretty sheila like you can't be having her pretty little ankles in a twist. Hop on here darlin'," he said patting to spot between the spread of his legs. "... and I will ride you to safety."
The grin he flashed down at her was positively wolfish. Lucy was not so dumb not to notice the double entendre to his words, but she grinned back recklessly anyhow, already caught up by the magic of the moment and proffered her hand. In a move so quick it left her literally gasping she found herself hauled up and seated across from him. She lifted shocked eyes to take in the drover's widened grin and then they were off with Lucy clinging on for dear life for the short moonlit ride. He pulled to a reckless halt a short distance later and had the horse rear to purposefully send Lucy to cling to him harder. He smelt of horse and leather and a brutish cologne. It was fitting. Lucy felt her temper sizzle at his attempt to show off and impress, invariably putting her at risk.
But a flash of white teeth later and Lucy found herself out of breath but firmly on the ground. She gasped and turned looking around, trying to still her erratically thumping heart, only to find Celine standing there beside her, looking as cool, calm and collected as ever.
It was a moment later before the men joined them and Lucy was swept on ahead under Jace's reassuring arms, into the brightly lit canopy with glittering lights. An hour later and the lights dimmed to a sultry glow and the party took on a wild flavour, just crazy enough to appease the most discriminating reveller. The party begun in earnest then, in a whirl of delicious food, loud music and plenty of booze, Lucy didn't waste time regretting her night and instead danced to the beat, swirled and swung to rhythm and welcomed the New Year with all the gusto expected of high intoxication.
She lost count of the many dance partners she had, she lost awareness of the many groping hands and inappropriate suggestions she'd had to fend off. There were only two sets of arms that controlled her awareness so completely that whenever they were set about her lusciously writhing frame, Lucy was never in doubt of who partnered her.
With Jace she melted right up against him, openly encouraging his wondering hands and lips but with Richard... with Richard, she felt herself shake and then shake even harder at his soothing whispers to relax and enjoy herself... to relax and enjoy him.
"Shhh...," he whispered hotly into her ear. The sound of his voice oddly carrying over the din of the music. "Relax, Lucy," he murmured encouragingly, as he rubbed a soothing hand down the exposed back of her bodice, running it caressingly down her naked spine and drawing an unbidden whimper as Lucy fought desperately not to give in. Not to simply melt into his arms as he wanted her to.
His lips brushed down her neck to settle open mouthed at the base, drawing another involuntary whimper to escape her lips. The alcohol in her brain urged her to simply give in. But Lucy's inherent stubbornness came to her rescue. She shook her head in denial but was otherwise unable to help her reactions. The intoxicated crowd pushed and shoved around her till her resisting frame trembled helplessly against him.
He held her to him tightly, driving the rhythm of their dance to the slow thrust of his pelvis. It was sensual. It was hot. It reduced her to a boiling point. But it was also a shameless tease. For no longer than he'd started her blood pumping then he was gone. Off to another dancer and herself, swung on into the arms of another. Her partners were varied. Some made her laugh at their absurdities, others made her mad at their unwanted groping. Lucy was swift to settle the score with those.
Her stilettoes clad feet finally made sense. There was only one reason women would clad their feet in these torture devices and that was to administer that torture on their unsuspecting dance partners. Lucy deployed that at will. Laughing hardly as her abused partners stomped away for safety.
It was on her third send-off that she caught Richards' dark eyes laughingly meeting her own. His look of approval had her flushing unexpectedly and that sent her into a panic. She threw herself into her next dance with a lot more vigour but was unable to stop her arms from closing around Richards when he came for her again later and then again and again after.
But it was in Jace's arms that she welcomed the new year. Silently praying that it would not be as fraught with confusion as the end of the last one. Lucy rubbed her mounting frustration against Jace, guiltily knowing it was Richard's priming that had her wild in Jace's arms. Her lips devoured his hungrily just as his ate at hers happily.
"Happy New Year, Lucy darling," murmured Jace, grinning down at Lucy.
"Happy New Year, Jace." She whispered back, staring up at him with utter confusion. Overwhelmed by all that she was feeling, Lucy drew away, suddenly weary of it all. The alcohol and lateness of the hour all working against her. She teetered on her heels, woozy on the drink and was unhappy that she had indulged at all. It had seemed like the thing to do at the time.
Three hours of Richard presence in the close confines of his limo scraped her nerves raw. She'd needed a drink for fortification, and the other's that had mindlessly followed had consequently been out of her control. She'd always been light with her drinks and so now felt the punch smack on her dulled senses.
"Hey, you alright darling?" Jace's concerned blues peered down at her questioningly but Lucy only blinked back uncomprehendingly.
"You're completely soused, you know that?" Laughed Jace.
Lucy grimaced. "I don't feel so well, Jace."
"You're not about to spew are you, Luce?"
But Lucy didn't dare shake her head. Any movement on her part just might lodge it off altogether and then where would she be?
"Come on, let's get you out of here," Jace grinned, shaking his head in amusement. Lucy allowed him to lead her away, glad to be leaving the party. She had never been one for late nights and the last week had seen her up to all hours of the morning. The fatigue was clearly catching up to her. That and the alcohol. But Jace being Jace meant the long route on the way out. He saw the need to stop at many points along the way to greet and laugh with people she'd never met and was too soused to meet now.
It was at some point during that round that another, firmer hand slipped onto the small of her waist, successfully dislodging Jace's hold on her. A heated exchange blurred overhead and then Lucy was being led firmly and surely out. She could have cheered at this outcome but was too tipsy to do more than just slur out something incomprehensible.
The grip on her waist tightened and another hand slid around her front to hold her up and keep her steady. Lucy leaned against the strong frame happy to be led out. The din of the party slowly quietened, and Lucy realised they had moved away. The chill of the night's air set about her and Lucy accepted warmth her escort provided as he tugged her closer still shielding her from the cold and the chilled wind.
The walk to the house was slow. Not only did her heels keep digging awkwardly into the soft ground but all the fresh clean country air was making her head spin. It just didn't go with the alcohol fumes she had been inhaling only moments earlier. Feeling light headed, Lucy hardly winced when a fluent blue streak lit up the night skies.
It was only when the ground decided to rush up to greet her that she realised she had been falling. A moment later and she was whisked off her feet. The floating sensation that came with that stayed with her past the brightly lit entrance that had her burying her face against her valiant escort and on past the flight of stairs that led to the room that would be hers.
It was only as her body slid down his to be stood wobbly back on her feet that Lucy really looked into her escort's dark void for eyes. Richard. Lucy stared on unsurprised.
"Thanks for that, Richard. Don't think I could have managed it myself, old chap. Feeling a bit tipsy myself. What was in that punch? A pond of gin?" Jace slapped Richard's back as he came around them only to walk on past and fall carelessly across the bed. At any other time, Lucy would have grinned at his antics but at that moment, for the life of her, Lucy couldn't seem to tear away her glance from Richard's blazing depths to spare him a thought.
It was only when Richard suddenly smirked in a way that was both taunting as it was mocking that Lucy could come back to herself. But still she stood there silently staring till that mockery of a grin wavered then fell away altogether. Instead his brow furrowed in a frown worthy of Lucy's own taunting grin. But she found she still could do nothing more than stand there helplessly and simply stare.
Richard took a step back and then another, before with a muffled curse he turned heel and simply left.
Lucy felt her world come back into focus then. She looked around the large spacious room allotted to her and then narrowed her eyes on the king-sized bed in the middle.
"So, this is to be my room then?" She asked hesitantly. The room was strangely masculine, but it was not the stark design in furnishing that caught her glance but the largess of everything within.
"Your room? Babe this room is ours." He said smugly.
Lucy only glanced about again, glad to note that her bags had somehow made their way there. She longed to slip out of her dress and into something normal. She took the few steps needed to drop to her knees and dug out her usual t-shirt and shorts, only to have a wave of nausea making her dash for the bathroom.
The rest of the night passed in a blur, most of which Lucy spent curled into a ball on the surprisingly lush bathroom carpet. She was not even aware of when she passed out and how she got transported from the bathroom to the bed. But there was no guessing Jace had had a hand in that. Lucy woke up late and parched the next morning, with Jace still sound asleep beside her.
She left him there still snoring in bed and decided to make her way down in search for a cure to the pounding in her head. A quick shower later, that was in fact the slowest she'd ever had, and Lucy was ambling down the grand staircase she did not recall climbing the night before. Her gait was halted and her grip on the banister firm. It was not a fear of heights that held her so rigid but the ache in her head.
Surprisingly enough, Lucy made it down in one piece. Her search for medication did not prove futile with the many helpers on hand to make it happen. A maid pointed her to the right direction and yet another stirred up a concoction she swore would work. Lucy was in no position to question her. Closing her nose, she downed the fowl smelling drink in two mouthfuls and though sheer stubbornness managed to stop it from shooting right back up.
The cure was miraculous. The day then beckoned invitingly with daylight no longer painful to her eyes. Lucy managed a cautious smile then beamed her appreciation widely when the pounding to her head did not recur and her head failed to roll off her shoulders altogether.
"God, but this is great," she down the rest of her glass happily and even slurped at the remains. "You're a genius," she smiled at the maid, who merely bobbed her head, smiled her thanks and scuttled away.
Lucy was ready to face the world again. The sounds of hoof beats outside invited her interest but the need for food was suddenly a priority. Breakfast and then a tour would be the order of the day. Or what remained of the morning at least. Lucy was pointed in the right direction and moved on towards the sounds of conversation coming from the breakfast room. Several of the guests were all up and about.
A few left the breakfast room as Lucy drew closer, she exchanged the morning greetings with them and moved past to go in only to stop. Her heart pounded at the sight of Richard. Spotting him speaking into his phone while having his morning coffee had her backing away from the door. Breakfast was suddenly no longer a priority. Deciding to grab some fruits and visit the horses first then breakfast later with Jace, Lucy snuck back in to do just that.
"Don't rush off on my account," said the ever-vigilant Richard from behind her. She froze on hearing the chair scrape against the polished hardwood surface as Richards pulled back to rise from his seat. She knew he would take the opportunity to approach and he didn't disappoint.
"I see you couldn't locate the new pair of jeans I bought you or any of the tops for that matter. Tell me Lucy, are you at least wearing the underwear I got you?"
She was. The lingerie had irresistibly caught her eyes. She'd never owned anything like it. It was risqué. She might even have to take on a summer job to pay for it. No way was she returning them but that didn't mean she would be accepting them for free either. Jace hadn't been happy at Richard's blatantly flaunting his money on her but even he could appreciate a sexy apparel as much as the next guy.
"Er... yes, I am. Thank you," Lucy muttered feeling decidedly awkward.
"So why aren't you wearing the jeans I bought you?" he demanded.
"I wanted to see the horses and didn't want them to get dirty," she said practically.
"You didn't...," Richard broke off to laugh out loud at that. She didn't get the joke. Lucy stared on with her lips pursed unable to hide her clear disgruntlement with him. Did he have to laugh at her at every turn?
"Come have your breakfast. I promise I won't bite," he said still amused. Lucy was hungry, so she didn't demure and instead grabbed a plate to heap up with the delicious offerings on the buffet table. Jam and buttered toast simply won't do this morning. Lucy required greater sustenance. All the fresh country air must agree with her.
She loaded up her plate with bacon, eggs, baked tomato, sausage and fruits.
Richard refilled his coffee and took his seat beside her. He started, unexpectedly, to regale her with funny tales of living in the country. He'd grown up there in his younger days. Lucy took mincing bites as she settled in to listen. "But the farm," he said, "never looked like this."
"I always thought you were from old money, like Jace."
"My mum was old money; my dad was a bum. Dad and I worked this farm day in day out and then one day my mum left us for the city. She'd had it then with farm life. The novelty of it had worn off. She wanted the glitz and glamour of city life and that was something dad couldn't afford," said Richard, almost conversationally.
"I was fourteen when I took off after her. I was tall and built, so I lied about my age. I got to the city and I found her, living her cushy lifestyle with her folks. I decided to stick around for the private schooling she could offer me. Pursuing avenues to make my own fortunes came later and it came naturally. Living amongst society being put down continually as the son of a farmer made me want to prove myself, that I could do all they did and better. But I missed the farm. It was always one party after another with mum's life and I got dragged to the lot of them. It was at one of those when I met Jace and later, you. You were all of eight when I met you, and more than a handful. I doubt you even remember our meeting."
She didn't but she did recall a rather memorable birthday party when she had been all of eight. Not her party but another she'd attended. Lucy knew it was too much of a coincidence to be likely, but she couldn't help wanting to be sure. "Was that at a birthday party? When all the children were chanting that I was adopted? Was that when you first saw me?"
His gaze never leaving hers, Richard, lifted his cup to his lips and took a sip of his dark brew before answering. "Yes. Even back then you were a spit fire. Any other child would have cowered in the face of such bullying, but you didn't. I could see it in you. Given the chance you would have fought with every one of them. If Jace hadn't intervene like he did, I know you would have."
Lucy's hands fisted in memory. "I would have knocked his teeth out," she said agreeably, almost warningly, her golden eyes settling on his to narrow perceptibly. The corner of his lips twitched and then his smirk widened before his whole face was alight with genuine laughter.
The transformation was astonishing. It was only then that Lucy realised she had never truly seen him laugh. The sardonic and mocking kind had been plenty, but this genuine appreciation was a rare thing. It made him look less austere and oddly human. But than a thought struck her.
"A child being bullied. Was that what you meant when you said, you first saw me?" Lucy didn't like thinking he saw her as weak. Only the weak were bullied not her, never her. She was not weak.
The laughter faded from his eyes then and he leaned forward to stare at her in earnest. "You were always a beautiful child Lucy. Different to look at when compared with your parents and your sisters but beautiful all the same. You were surrounded by love your whole life. You had parents who loved you, and sisters who love you and you have Jace. These people are not stupid, Lucy, to love you despite yourself, they love you for you. The way you are, differences and all. There was no reason for you to have been bullied that day or any other and you knew that. Knowing that made you not the victim. Knowing that put you a step above the rest." Richard leaned back against his chair to eye Lucy consideringly, his perceptive gaze seeing far more than she was comfortable with him seeing.
"Bullies are just that Lucy, bullies. People who are underfed with knowledge. People who don't know any better. If I pitied anyone that day or any other for that matter, I pitied the bullies. But yes, from that point on, I always saw you. In any crowd, at any gathering, you always drew my eyes," he said, then added almost disturbingly. "But it was really when you turned sixteen Lucy, that I truly begun to appreciate you. Yes, even before Jace landed you your first kiss."
Lucy had to gasp at that. But she had known. She had felt it, when she'd seen him on escaping Jace's room that night. She'd seen him lounging out there in the dark. But how?
"How had you known?"
"That Jace was up there stealing what should have been my first kiss?"
At Lucy's fearful nod, the sardonic twist to his lips was back.
"A blind man could have seen it, Lucy. It was absolutely revolting how you had looked at him at the pool. Then you ran and he followed. I did the maths." His chuckle rang out hollow.
"That's... that's...," Lucy stuttered unable to form the words over the pounding of her heart.
"Disgusting? Licentious? Paedophilia?" Richard offered Lucy, a string of adjectives that did nothing to still the pounding of her heart. Her heart shook at a crushing beat with each word he uttered, till the sounds resonated about her head.
"How do you think I felt, Lucy? You were all of sixteen and I? Twenty-five. How sick did you think I felt? Lusting after a kiss that should have been mine and I make no bones about it Lucy. I had wanted that kiss for my own. Not a peck on your cheek either but my lips pressed to yours."
Lucy fell silent unable to answer.
"Don't get me wrong Lucy. It was never the child you were that interested me but the hint of the woman you would become. Was I wrong to earmark you as someone who could potentially mean more? It was no different to what Jace had done. Only he got involved right from the start and I waited... till now."
The chair scraped back, and Richard was on his feet, pacing restlessly as his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, in clear agitation. "Do you think I wanted to feel this way, Lucy? About you? About the girl my best friend was interested in? I wanted to pound into Jace. He was the one who kissed you, when he clearly shouldn't. At sixteen you were too young, Lucy. He was lucky he had the good sense to see the error of his ways. I would have made him see reason if he hadn't come to his senses on his own."
"You kept a close eye to know even that?" Lucy, questioned boldly, finding herself no longer able to be shocked over anything he said.
"I did, Lucy." His smirk was frightful. "I did."
Lucy was feeling suddenly nauseous again. It was all too much to take in. The sounds of laughter as other guests approached the breakfast room had Lucy rising gingerly to her feet. The pounding from her heart had moved back to her head. She felt positively ill. Perhaps she had eaten too much. Lucy eyed her plate still half-filled with food. Or perhaps, it was just the company.
"I need some air," she muttered out on a strangled tone.
"It was only you, Lucy," said Richard then quietly, as Lucy moved to leave. She paused, turning to face him. "You were the only one who made me feel that way." He took a pace closer, dropping his head to simply breathe her in. "No one else."