Garden of May - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
“A spider?”
Vanessa managed a small nod, tears welling in her eyes. Blood beaded on her lip, bitten to stifle a scream.
Theodore choked back a laugh, rubbing his face with a dry hand. He’d found it irritating from the start. Was there any reason to be so desperately restrained? Vanessa acted as if she had to be, or as if she had spent her entire life suppressing her screams and tears, unable to express them.
Theodore slowly exhaled, the pent-up emotion constricting his throat. He understood now. He knew whose face he had been superimposing on Lady Vanessa’s. He knew why her suppressed gaze, yearning for his attention, felt so familiar.
“River, please….”
“Stay still.”
He grabbed Vanessa’s trembling arm and pulled her towards him. His momentary suspicion that this might be another one of her schemes vanished. There, beneath the loose collar of her blouse, lurked a large, hairy, reddish-black spider.
It was quite large, and even he found it rather ghastly. Without flinching, Theodore plucked the spider off and flicked it to the ground. Then, as casually as possible, he picked up a strand of Vanessa’s golden hair that had been caught on her collar. The moment he let go, Vanessa’s tightly closed eyes fluttered open.
“Is, is it gone?”
“There was no spider. It was just your hair, you mistook it.”
“…What?”
“Here.” Theodore opened Vanessa’s palm and placed the strand of hair on it. She tilted her head, her lips pursed, and looked up at him, her eyes wide with suspicion.
“Are you sure? There really wasn’t one?”
“I told you so.”
“That can’t be. Look again.” Vanessa pulled open the collar of her blouse and bent her head, gathering her loose, wavy hair to one side so he could see clearly.
Theodore burst out laughing at the absurd sight. What did this woman take him for?
“Do you want me to put my hand in there and check?”
“Would you?” The immediate reply to his half-sarcastic question left him momentarily speechless. Theodore’s eyes widened, and then a smirk twisted his lips. This was a rather novel tactic. Or perhaps she was simply hopelessly naive.
In that brief pause, Vanessa unbuttoned a few buttons of her blouse and looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Hurry, River.”
He swallowed a harsh laugh. She was an extraordinary woman. Always skirting the right answer, yet never entirely wrong. And so… he wondered just how long she could maintain this charade of innocence.
Theodore wrapped an arm around Vanessa’s waist, pulling her close. With his other hand, he unfastened the buckle of her skirt and pulled out the neatly tucked-in blouse. It was then that a crack appeared in her innocent facade.
“Ah….”
The belated blush that crept up her cheeks was infuriating. As if she hadn’t anticipated what would happen, despite having requested it herself.
Theodore’s hand slid slowly across her back, beneath her clothes. Warmed by the summer sun, her skin was pleasantly warm, soft, and supple. Her skin was so smooth and delicate that his touch left faint marks that appeared and disappeared.
Keeping his gaze fixed on her face, he trailed his hand slowly along the curve of her back. He tapped with his fingertips, lightly grazed, and then gently rubbed with his palm. With each firm stroke of his calloused hand against her delicate skin, Vanessa’s breath grew shallower.
“Mm….”
Her fluttering eyelashes, her tightly bitten lip, the crimson flush on her neck, the hair cascading over it, her hand gripping his arm… It would be a lie to say he wasn’t captivated by her every subtle reaction.
“Vanessa.”
He whispered her name, and her ear, peeking out from her golden hair, twitched like a cat’s. He chuckled and gently nipped her earlobe with his teeth.
“I can’t be sure like this.”
He lifted her slightly struggling body and sat her on the garden table. Her fingertips, clutching his forearm, trembled faintly. Her blouse was rumpled, her skirt had ridden up to her hips, and a small, ribboned undergarment barely concealed her full bre*sts.
The sight of her disheveled, at his mercy, sent a slow burn through him. He could hardly believe it himself. That he could be so aro*sed by a woman covered in dust, dog slobber, and with her hair in disarray.
