Moonlight Read Free

to
answer it.
    His head
tilted back and his eyes shifted to the moon. “The storm kept me
from walking.”
    Moonlight
kissed his profile, making it glow softly in a way that had her
heart fluttering like a butterfly. She swallowed and gave up trying
to get a grip because there was something about him that made her
instinctively throw all self-control out of the window. Long dark
hair caressed his shoulders, tied at the nape of his neck with a
ribbon. He held a jacket in his hand, black like his
trousers.
    He moved
to face her again and shadows hid his features. “May I ask why you
are here?”
    Her
eyebrows rose. He didn’t have to ask if he could ask.
    “ My aunt... Meredith... let me stay here while she was away. I
needed a break and some quiet.”
    “ I had not realised that your aunt had a guest. If I had, I
would not have presumed that I could still walk the
grounds.”
    He did
have a strange way of speaking. Something about it made her warm
inside and slowly swept her back to that fantasy. She wondered what
kind of jacket he held. In her mind, it was exactly the kind that
Mr. Darcy had worn.
    “ Don’t worry about it,” she said and moved out towards the edge
of the patio, forcing him to turn so his face was again bathed in
moonlight. She didn’t venture too close, just near enough that she
could clearly see his face. His gaze pierced hers again. “Did you
come from a fancy dress party?”
    He
smiled, handsome in the clear white light.
    Something
about him was so familiar. It made her feel strangely comfortable
around him.
    “ Have we met before?” she said, narrowing her eyes on his and
trying to discern whether he matched any face in her
memory.
    He
nodded. “We have, once or twice, seen each other. You are Ashlyn,
Meredith’s youngest niece.”
    Her eyes
widened with shock. He really did know her. How could he remember
her when she couldn’t recall where she’d seen him?
    “ I haven’t been here for a long time,” she whispered with a
frown. “It’s been seven years... since I was twenty
six.”
    He nodded
again and ran his eyes over her. They settled longest on her
face.
    “ You do not look any different. Your hair perhaps and there is
a little more worry in your eyes.” Something surfaced in his eyes
that looked like concern. They softened, losing the hard edge
they’d gained during his appraisal of her.
    “ I really don’t remember you at all,” she said with a nervous
giggle, fear creeping back in at the edge of her mind. He knew her
so well. How? Why was he walking the garden so late at night? “But
you are familiar.”
    She
stepped forwards. He countered her with a step back, leaving her
even more curious about him. A moment ago, he’d wanted to be close,
had allowed her to move into a position that brought them within a
few feet of each other.
    The
church bells chimed in the distance.
    He looked
towards them, his jet eyebrows meeting in a heavy frown.
    “ I must go,” he said without looking at her. “Good
night.”
    Before
she could utter a word, he’d bowed stiffly in her direction and had
walked away, disappearing around the corner of the house. She
stared there a moment and then went inside.
    He hadn’t
told her his name.
    It didn’t
matter.
    Something
told her that she’d see him again.
    ***
    The rain
was really beginning to spoil her holiday and ruin her mood. She
huffed, turning another page of the novel. It wasn’t holding her.
She’d been so distracted all day and she knew who was to
blame.
    The
mystery man.
    Who was
he?
    Several
times she’d picked up the phone to call her aunt to ask her about
him but each time she’d lost her nerve.
    Wind
splattered the rain against the large windows of the reception
room. She curled up tighter on the armchair beside the fire and
glared through the French doors at the wet world. This wasn’t what
she’d imagined. She’d pictured sunny days spent lazing in the
garden thinking. With all this rain, she didn’t want to think.