Read Online Far From My Father's House by Elizabeth Gill - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Elizabeth Gill
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where I am.’
She made as if to move and he got hold of her arm.
‘You’d better let go,’ she said flatly.
‘Or what? You’ll set your tame watchdog on me? All right then, I will take Clara riding and to hell with you,’ and he walked off back into the hall.
Annie wasn’t very happy. She stayed outside so long that Blake came looking for her. She was sitting on a low wall with her head down. He went over and sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
‘Have you had enough? Do you want to go home now?’
‘In a minute.’
Blake took off his jacket and put it around her and she looked up. Afterwards she could never quite work out why but at the time it seemed natural to lift her face and kiss him. She thought that it would be like kissing Alistair had been but it wasn’t. For a start he already had an arm around her over the jacket and that stopped it from being a brief casual thing. Also he hadn’t initiated it and surprising somebody by kissing them had an exciting element to Annie. And then he didn’t let go. He tightened the hold he had on her and drew her nearer. His lips were warm and sweet and being close against him was even better than Annie had imagined being close would be. Annie stopped thinking and just did what she wanted to do which was to put one hand into his straight fair hair at the back of his neck and invite the kind of assault on her mouth that brought from her a little sigh of pleasure.
The sound of voices in the doorway brought her back to reality and she drew away and he let her. People were leaving, talking and laughing. She listened to the noise until they had gone down the road which led into the village.
‘I think I’d like to go home now,’ she said woodenly and she slid down from the wall.
‘Annie—’
‘I just want to go home.’
All the way there nobody said anything and when she finally thankfully reached the house Annie fled. She didn’t even say goodnight and when she was safely in bed she lay there and wished and wished that she hadn’t done it or that he had been Alistair or that she had had enough sense to come home straight after supper. She wished it was before the dance. Things had seemed so simple then and now they weren’t.
She didn’t sleep and therefore slept in the next morning. Luckily it was Sunday but her mother was not well pleased when she appeared in the middle of the morning when everybody else had either gone to church or was doing something useful. She set Annie to peeling potatoes and all Annie could think was that she would have to face Blake at dinner across the table.
She couldn’t eat and afterwards would have escaped to her room but that her mother made her do the washing up and when it was finally done Annie fled again, out of the house and down the fields to the river.
After a while of just sitting there in what was trying to be a warm day she felt calmer. An hour or so later she didn’t even hear Blake until he was right there. Even so she managed a face the colour of poppies before she turned away.
‘I want to be by myself.’
‘I know you do. I’m not staying. I don’t want you to be upset, that’s all.’
‘I’m not upset.’
‘Yes, you are. It was only a kiss. It was just the – the night and the dancing and the gin and the fact that we worked too hard and . . . it was like being let out. It doesn’t matter at all if you don’t want it to.’
‘It did matter,’ Annie said quickly. ‘I didn’t think, I didn’t know . . . When Alistair kissed me it wasn’t anything like that at all.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like that. Like . . . I didn’t want to go to the dance with you. I wanted to go with Alistair.’
‘I know.’
‘You dance too well,’ she said.
‘We had long winters at Sunniside.’
‘I want it never to happen again.’
‘All right,’ Blake said.
* * *
The following day when she went to work Alistair appeared in the dairy and since they were alone she
She made as if to move and he got hold of her arm.
‘You’d better let go,’ she said flatly.
‘Or what? You’ll set your tame watchdog on me? All right then, I will take Clara riding and to hell with you,’ and he walked off back into the hall.
Annie wasn’t very happy. She stayed outside so long that Blake came looking for her. She was sitting on a low wall with her head down. He went over and sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.
‘Have you had enough? Do you want to go home now?’
‘In a minute.’
Blake took off his jacket and put it around her and she looked up. Afterwards she could never quite work out why but at the time it seemed natural to lift her face and kiss him. She thought that it would be like kissing Alistair had been but it wasn’t. For a start he already had an arm around her over the jacket and that stopped it from being a brief casual thing. Also he hadn’t initiated it and surprising somebody by kissing them had an exciting element to Annie. And then he didn’t let go. He tightened the hold he had on her and drew her nearer. His lips were warm and sweet and being close against him was even better than Annie had imagined being close would be. Annie stopped thinking and just did what she wanted to do which was to put one hand into his straight fair hair at the back of his neck and invite the kind of assault on her mouth that brought from her a little sigh of pleasure.
The sound of voices in the doorway brought her back to reality and she drew away and he let her. People were leaving, talking and laughing. She listened to the noise until they had gone down the road which led into the village.
‘I think I’d like to go home now,’ she said woodenly and she slid down from the wall.
‘Annie—’
‘I just want to go home.’
All the way there nobody said anything and when she finally thankfully reached the house Annie fled. She didn’t even say goodnight and when she was safely in bed she lay there and wished and wished that she hadn’t done it or that he had been Alistair or that she had had enough sense to come home straight after supper. She wished it was before the dance. Things had seemed so simple then and now they weren’t.
She didn’t sleep and therefore slept in the next morning. Luckily it was Sunday but her mother was not well pleased when she appeared in the middle of the morning when everybody else had either gone to church or was doing something useful. She set Annie to peeling potatoes and all Annie could think was that she would have to face Blake at dinner across the table.
She couldn’t eat and afterwards would have escaped to her room but that her mother made her do the washing up and when it was finally done Annie fled again, out of the house and down the fields to the river.
After a while of just sitting there in what was trying to be a warm day she felt calmer. An hour or so later she didn’t even hear Blake until he was right there. Even so she managed a face the colour of poppies before she turned away.
‘I want to be by myself.’
‘I know you do. I’m not staying. I don’t want you to be upset, that’s all.’
‘I’m not upset.’
‘Yes, you are. It was only a kiss. It was just the – the night and the dancing and the gin and the fact that we worked too hard and . . . it was like being let out. It doesn’t matter at all if you don’t want it to.’
‘It did matter,’ Annie said quickly. ‘I didn’t think, I didn’t know . . . When Alistair kissed me it wasn’t anything like that at all.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like that. Like . . . I didn’t want to go to the dance with you. I wanted to go with Alistair.’
‘I know.’
‘You dance too well,’ she said.
‘We had long winters at Sunniside.’
‘I want it never to happen again.’
‘All right,’ Blake said.
* * *
The following day when she went to work Alistair appeared in the dairy and since they were alone she
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