Scarlet Rose

Chapter 26

Candy felt Christian's body tensing the moment she hugged him. All the relief she felt had transformed in a tight embrace. Her body on his, without any inch free for even the air to pass between them.

"Rose...", he whispered in her ear, his voice carrying something more than just tender feelings.

He pushed her back and his grey blue eyes dived in hers, wanting to catch her soul. Keep her safe.

A small seed of a thought had started spreading its young roots in Candy's mind. There was something about him. As if everything had changed but still desperately trying to remain the same. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what her instinct was telling her. Instead, she let his cool hands pushed her hair back. Without any more words but just his stare keeping captive her own, he lowered his face and kissed her. It was almost a kiss of fear, so tender and light, precise in its flow. 

She remembered the time they had encountered a young deer on a day it had rained in London. It had come within their sights inside Richmond park as if it had escaped a dream world parallel to the real one. They had moved with outmost care, not to lose its stare, hoping they could persuade the beautiful creature not to fear them. It could trust them. 

That's what Christian's kiss felt like. Instead of calming her, it added even more jitters in her blood. "Christian, where have you been?", she asked him right when his lips left hers.

"Can I tell you later my love?", he replied. It was not the place or time there. In his mind still, various excuses were being tested for sounding truthful enough for him to use. "I'm more than fashionably late as it is and I am very sorry for that", he added.

Candy tried to read everything on him. His face, his voice, the way he moved. But he was right. This was not the place nor the time for them to talk. It would have to wait. She pushed all the nerves back. He was there, and that would need to suffice for now.

"Lord Wooster, Christian", she started saying as they went up the stairs and in the mansion. His eyes moved through the crowd. The antithesis of where he was and what had happened to him just over an hour ago. Τhe revelry he was just witnessing in front of him...there was no greater distance from what his heart and mind were feeling just then. But he had to put up an act.

"He wants to see you straight away", Candy turned and said to him after letting him take in all the joyous atmosphere. "Great party isn't it?", she added and smiled in an attempt to start feeling normal again.

"It is, Rose." He sounded absentminded. "Let's go find Richard." He added and they walked further in the main hallway, mingling with everyone else there as they went along.

Terry's stare kept up with them. Perhaps he had been influenced by Archie's words, but he felt something had been off. He stood by his words however. Candy wasn't his. If he had a say, he'd take her away. Far from here.

He understood she had grown up, she had changed. Events is what shape our lives, or to put it even better our reactions to them. Didn't he know this better than everyone? Alone after their break up, she had lost even more people she loved. People very close to her heart. So she had reached her limit. Candy had reacted to all that loss by rebelling against such an unjust fate. Keeping happy. That was their deal. To think that they could recreate what was all those years ago, it would have been at best a romantic fallacy, a dream under a star studded summer night. At worse...pure and foolish craziness. No, he wasn't ready to turn this trip into his own quixotic mission. He had entered this arena clear headed. As much as he could of course. Dealing with his feelings over Candy had always been a conscious effort from his part not to lose it. Exercising control, he had become good at that. Having to live with a woman he hadn't loved.