The way he laughed! It wasn’t fair that he could laugh at her, where other people in her life quailed and cowered when she was less than pleased with them. And of course he had the luxury of laughing. Unfortunately, she did not – and nor did she have the luxury of bludgeoning his face in with her mallet, however she might have liked to.
Before she could fully recover from her awkward stumble, his hand had found her arm, and she was too shocked to shake herself out of his grasp. Instead she froze, and as his other hand settled on her hip – she resisted the urge to close her eyes, because hadn’t forgotten that feeling, no matter how many months it had been – the mallet she had raised in defence slipped back down towards the ground with a muffled thud. Estelle might have flushed at that, except that at that moment his pride was also taking a little fall, and in spite of herself she clutched at his arm to steady him in turn, no matter how angry she was at how close this had put them. She didn’t like how extraordinarily stupid it made her feel.
“I want an apology,” she breathed, channelling all that fury into the demand. “I could have been ruined because of you.” It had only been a kiss, he might say, but Estelle felt quite sure that it had been more than just a kiss, and if anyone had seen, Merlin, she would still have borne the stain of it on her reputation for good.
Before she could fully recover from her awkward stumble, his hand had found her arm, and she was too shocked to shake herself out of his grasp. Instead she froze, and as his other hand settled on her hip – she resisted the urge to close her eyes, because hadn’t forgotten that feeling, no matter how many months it had been – the mallet she had raised in defence slipped back down towards the ground with a muffled thud. Estelle might have flushed at that, except that at that moment his pride was also taking a little fall, and in spite of herself she clutched at his arm to steady him in turn, no matter how angry she was at how close this had put them. She didn’t like how extraordinarily stupid it made her feel.
“I want an apology,” she breathed, channelling all that fury into the demand. “I could have been ruined because of you.” It had only been a kiss, he might say, but Estelle felt quite sure that it had been more than just a kiss, and if anyone had seen, Merlin, she would still have borne the stain of it on her reputation for good.
