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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 17, 2012 21:17:12 GMT -5
Charles did not look at her, slowly nodding his head. "There wouldn't be room for... a-ha!" He sat up straight again, diving right back into his work with a little grin and new-found confidence. He worked at the doors of the lock, tightening the bolt until it could tighten no more. His flexed his large hand and wrung it a bit.
The lock became more elaborate over the next couple of hours, where he worked, enchanted with his tiny little mechanisms and whatnot. They chatted about nothing in particular--but at the contraption became more complex, it started to make more sense. She could see where he was going with it, though it was really strange.
"I'm never going to affix this to a door," he explained as he tried to hold a tricky wire in place. "This is just practice. But it gives me something to do, doesn't it?" Charles smiled, but did not take his eyes off of his work once.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 17, 2012 21:29:24 GMT -5
Emma greatly enjoyed the next few hours, and spent them watching Charles intently, while her strange appetite for his looks grew stronger. An hour or so in, she decided she must be going mad from looking at him for such a longer time, and pulled out her journal, beginning to work intently on a sketch of Charles. If she was going to stare at him, she might as well put it to work...Unfortunately, she had never been much of an artist, and she couldn't seem to pin down the look in his eyes as he worked on the lock, resulting in just as much concentration from her as from him.
When he spoke, she would answer, though she inwardly wished he would not move so she could get a good reading on that lip bite of his that she had suddenly taken a great fondness to. Her hair began to fall from her bun and hang in her face as she worked hard at the drawing, her brow furrowed, seeming extremely frustrated. She ripped out several pieces of paper, balling them up and tossing them in the wastebasket, though Charles was too immersed in his work to notice what she did.
She looked up at him at his last statement, smiling just a little bit, "Why in the world would you ever want to put that on a door? Why would you need to keep someone in or out so securely?"
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 17, 2012 21:35:29 GMT -5
Charles laughed and finally looked up, his hazel eyes shining brightly into hers. "Exactly. They're fascinating though, and many people would pay good money for one, I would bet," he said, cocking his head. He looked around and noticed the balled up paper around the waste basket.
"Would you like some more paper?" he asked, raising a brow with a little smile. He wondered what she was doing--maybe a poem? A drawing? He'd have liked to see her draw... he hoped she wasn't bored... "Here, let me get you more."
Charles scooted away from the workbench and stood, running a hand through his hair, going to fetch some paper from a cabinet in the corner of the room. He crouched, rifling through the boxes there until he found some nice, clean paper. He smiled, stood, and walked over to present it to her.
"Ta-da."
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 17, 2012 21:55:20 GMT -5
She smiled as he laughed. She liked his laugh, quite a lot, and it made her happy to hear it. She giggled a little at his words, teasing him gently, "Of course, sir...You'll be rich within the year!"
She opened her mouth a little as he offered to get her more paper, looking down to the wastebasket and back to her journal, rubbing the ripped seam of the journal, her cheeks turning a little red. The last thing that she wanted was for him to see the drawings...Good lord, what would he think of her?! Sitting and focusing on his face so intently...How immodest of her....
She raised a hand, her protests muted by her desire to not call attention to the drawings. If she protested too much, he would surely grow curious and look at them...She made a mental note to snatch them from the wastebasket the first chance she could. She would not have him laughing at her for her poor artistry, not when he was so good at it...She should have stuck to writing...
She gave a half-hearted smile when he brought the paper over, and took it from him with a murmured thanks, though she hardly planned on drawing again. No, she would focus intently on what he was doing...The embarrassment of him finding the drawings outweighed her desire to capture the way he looked. She was awful at it, anyway.
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 17, 2012 22:02:47 GMT -5
Charles was happy to find that she didn't already consider him too rich--he did not want to seem like he was above her in class, which he certainly felt he wasn't. Oh, everything had to go perfect! Everything had to be perfect so she would say yes!
He sat back down and continued with his work, though his head wasn't completely in it at it had been before. His mind wandered to other things, and this caused him not to speak to Emma, just tinkering mechanically and thinking about everything that had happened and everything that could happen. He had completely ruled out the possibility of her saying no--that was ridiculous, she must love him exactly as he loved her.
His brow was furrowed intensely again, but this time, it wasn't because of his work. Did she really love him? She went out of her way to be with him, as he did with her, and he knew she was very fond of him. Charles tried not to notice her staring at him, and it finally clicked in his mind that she must be drawing him.
With a blush, he went back to work.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 17, 2012 22:46:42 GMT -5
Emma bit her lip a little as he went back to sit down, setting the stack of paper in her lap and looking down at it, not entirely sure what to do with it. It would be rather rude to do nothing with it, seeing as he had gone to the trouble of getting it...But she was not going to let him see her drawing again...She resolved to write him a poem or something of that sort. But later.
Her attention, for now, was focused yet again on his face. Her mind wandered as she looked at him, deciding to name off the finer portions of his face, of which there were many. His jaw, his sideburns, which complimented it well...His eyebrows weren't perfect, but then again, everyone had flaws...She barely suppressed a giggle as she imagined herself making a very serious list of the good and bad points of his looks. How ridiculous she could be...
She sighed just the littlest bit, wrenching her gaze from his face to look at the lock he was working on. It would hardly be proper to be caught gazing at him for so long...Proper...The finer points of being proper, of being a lady, had always eluded her. Such as the need to get married, find a husband and have children straight away. Why would anyone want or find the need to do that, when there was so much more for the world to offer? She had so many more things to do before settling down like that...
Her gaze wandered from the lock to the ballerina that Charles had shown her in the beginning. She smiled just a little, looking at it. She liked that ballerina...It was pretty and the mechanics of it were very impressive...
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 18, 2012 11:02:23 GMT -5
Charles noticed her sigh and looked over, concerned. What if she really was bored? This was hardly the evening he had hoped for, filled with merriment and teamwork.
"If you're bored, you can go pick out a book?" he offered hopefully, smiling at her. He hammered something as he looked at her, a little tense. Once he noticed this, he stopped and set the hammer down. Had he been angry? But over what? He'd been smiling!
Charles turned back to his work and took a rag, wiping the grease off of his hands--but there was already a streak down his jaw and down his neck. Somehow, a couple of his shirt buttons has come undone and she could see the start of chest hair there. He still didn't seem to notice, focusing on the task at hand. Or trying to.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 18, 2012 11:54:43 GMT -5
Emma looked up when she heard his words, but they didn't process fully at all, seeing as the moment she looked over at him, her attention was completely taken away from his words. Her eyes widened slightly and a little flush came over her cheeks as she saw the state that he had put himself in.
Truly, she had never seen a man undressed before. She had never had any reason to, had never really wanted to. And it wasn't proper, though the idea of propriety seemed thoroughly antiqued to her at times. She had, of course, protested to his lack of a waistcoat earlier but now...Well, she had no conscious objections to the bit of his chest that she could see. He was surely very hot, seeing as he was working so hard. Goodness knows, his muscles seems to be getting quite the workout...
But she couldn't shake the strange jerk in her stomach that seemed to happen whenever she looked at him, at the grease that traced down his jawline, his neck and to the start of fair curly hairs...She shook herself. Good lord, Emma, what would he think...It was a moment or so before his words sunk in, and she shook her head a little when they did, smiling demurely at him, hiding her inward confusion, "No! No, it's quite alright! I enjoy watching you work...."
And this was certainly growing truer and truer the longer she looked at him...
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 18, 2012 12:02:49 GMT -5
A corner of his mouth lifted, and he looked at her from the corner of his eye for a moment before going back to whatever it was he was doing. The work was hard and the room was getting warm. If she had not been here, his whole chest surely would be exposed.
Finally, he straightened up and looked over at her, his hazel eyes shining from the exercise on both his muscles and his mind. "Would you like to take a break with me? I'm quite thirsty, and it's such a nice day out..."
Charles thought for a moment how funny it would be if he asked her to marry him right then, covered in grease and half undressed. But no. Everything had to be perfect for that moment--he even knew exactly what he would say. Charles stood from the chair and offered his hand to her, looking down at her with a smile. He noticed her cheeks were flushed--she was probably warm too.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 18, 2012 12:13:58 GMT -5
Emma started a little when he looked up at her, her cheeks getting redder still, having been caught looking at him so intently. He didn't seem to notice, luckily, and she chanced a small smile, trying to forget about the feelings she had been fighting for. Yes, fresh air would be good...It would clear her mind...
"Oh, yes! That would be lovely..." She nodded, slipping off of her stool, holding up her dress from the ground with one hand and taking his hand with the other, smiling a little up at him. She had always been a tall girl, but of course, Charles was taller and always towered over her. It made her feel quite inferior and she didn't like that at all...No, she liked sitting with him far better.
She slipped her journal and the extra paper into the folds of her dress, deciding that she would write him something later, or perhaps not at all. She pressed her lips together, eyeing the waste basket, wondering if there was any way she could snatch her drawings without him noticing...But it didn't seem to be possible. His attention was focused on her now. But they would surely come back later, and she could get them then. She simply wasn't going to leave until she fetched them. She couldn't chance him seeing them. He would tease her horribly about it.
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 18, 2012 12:34:14 GMT -5
The look of reluctance was clear in his face when he had to let go of her hand to walk beside her. As they passed by the wastebasket, he paused and bent, picking up the nearest ball and gingerly unfolding it. Slowly, he expression went from doe-eyed curious to confused, to a soft smile, and then to a bashful smile.
He turned it toward her. It was one of the better copies. "You drew me?" he asked softly, the hand holding the paper shaking slightly.
It wasn't very good at all, but Charles didn't notice that. He didn't care, for one thing. Everything she did was perfect, and to see that she had been thinking of him and looking at him long enough to draw this made him feel all fuzzy inside.
As she fumbled for an explanation, he folded it neatly and slipped it into his pocket.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 18, 2012 12:52:53 GMT -5
The expression on Emma's face was one of the deepest embarrassment one could feel. Her eyes were very wide and she cringed visibly as he looked at it. There were so many things wrong with this, so many things. To start with, the drawing was simply awful. It made him look a good deal chubbier than he actually was, and his nose stuck out horribly (She obviously was never meant to be an artist). Even though it was one of the better copies, it was still horrendous...
Secondly, it was extremely improper for her to be simply staring at him and drawing him without his consent. Charles was a gentleman, what must he think of her manners...He probably thought she was very strange and she watched him anxiously as he studied the drawing, trying desperately to think of an explanation that would excuse her behavior.
It was, therefore, quite the surprise to her when he folded up the drawing and put it in his pocket, smiling at her. What was he doing?! Surely he was saving it as something to show to his friends, to mock her with...She bit her lip a little, looking up at him sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I just...I know it's horrendous..."
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 18, 2012 13:02:30 GMT -5
"Horrendous?" He frowned deeply. "No! Not at all!" Charles's soft smile returned. "You needn't be embarrassed... I'm flattered that you wanted to draw me in the first place..."
He had drawn her many many times, even times when she wasn't around, so it didn't seem especially improper to him. She must have been quite bored. He didn't mind that she was staring at him in the first place... He wondered if she'd noticed his unbuttoned shirt and felt embarrassed himself for a moment.
"Shall we... go out, then?" he smiled bashfully and then discreetly took her hand as try exited the workshop and started toward the kitchen, blushing like a schoolboy.
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Emma Ravenhearst
Love can hold one captive in more ways than one...
The bride of Ravenhearst
Posts: 269
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Post by Emma Ravenhearst on Jun 18, 2012 13:14:54 GMT -5
Emma smiled just a little bit as he pushed her negative comment aside, though she was sure he was only doing it to make her feel better, not because he actually thought so. At least it meant that he didn't intend to make fun of her, which was something she was quite happy for. It was hard enough getting accustomed to a new home without someone telling people bad things about her...Though, now that she thought about it, it hardly seemed a thing that Charles would ever do. He adored her too completely. And she adored him.
"You have lovely features...I couldn't capture them accurately enough to suit myself..." She ran her bare fingers over the back of her neck, smiling up at him, before letting her hands fall to her side. It was incredible, really, how comfortable she had become around him. She felt as though she must have known him all of her life, for she felt as though she could tell him anything. She also felt that there must be a mutual understanding between them, about what their relationship was. Of course, they were courting, but it wasn't going to result in anything more than close companionship. Not in the near future, anyway. Emma was adoring her time in England so completely, she saw no reason to sully it with sordid affairs such as marriage. It would cause unneeded problems.
But the friendship and adoration she had fond with Charles was most certainly the highlight of her time there. Their relationship was like that of two young people still in school, such was the innocence and fondness of it. And so, she merely smiled when he took her hand, her cheeks flushing a little yet again. He had held her hand before, of course, but never without a glove separating their two skins from touching...
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Post by bedeviledmanor on Jun 18, 2012 13:39:49 GMT -5
Charles smiled sheepishly--did she really think him so handsome? He wondered if it would be proper to tell her what he thought of her, but then realized he didn't care. "You, too, are lovely. One of the most beautiful women I've ever known," he said, and it was clear that he meant it completely and sincerely.
He squeezed her hand as they entered he kitchen and let go of it. One of his maids was there, putting away dishes, and she looked over when they entered. It was one of the younger maids, and her expression became chipper. "Good morning, Mr. Dalimar! And Miss Ravenhearst." She smiled and folded her hands.
"Good morning, Hilde," he said tiredly, running q hand through his hair. The maid watched his every move, doe-eyed. "Could you set a pitcher of water out on the porch? We'll be resting out there for a bit," he said.
She nodded, he nodded, and then he turned back to Emma, leading her out of the kitchen. Hilde watched him go the whole way.
"It's a lovely day," he said again as they went out onto the porch and he took a seat on one of the benches.
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