A New Ribbon

For almost three weeks she avoided further contact with Tobias Gorse, because it was easier than dealing with the confusion she felt when she thought of him. There was no way she could admit that she had felt exactly what he had described - familiarity where none could possibly exist. Instead she dismissed the encounter and after a time she could easily pretend it had been a dream. Perhaps she really had been ill with exertion, and the conversation had been some kind of fevered hallucination. Perhaps.
She came across him by accident on the eve of midsummer, as she wandered in the woods behind her home. The book she'd been absently reading as she walked dropped from her hand in surprise when she saw his naked chest bending over a water barrel. For just a moment she hesitated to watch him splash his face and then he had seen her, and it was too late to flee.
'Good morning,' she called politely, kneeling to pick up her book and examine the damage done. He hurried over, drying his face absently on his shirt, and offered her a hand as she rose to her feet. Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
'I do not believe it is considered appropriate to hold hands with a man who is - only semi-clad,' she suggested, forcing herself to look into his eyes and not the broad expanse of his chest. In the brief glimpse she had gotten, it was clear to see that his flesh was sun-browned, not a thing she would expect from anybody with such a reputable name.
'Among strangers, perhaps not,' he conceded. 'And yet, I do not feel uncomfortable at all.'
Eleanor shook her head and turned slightly away, pretending to be absorbed in a bent page. With a little sigh Tobias slipped his shirt over his head, and then she looked at him again.
'I apologise for disturbing you,' she said. 'I was not aware that you lived so near by.'
That was only partially true - she had been aware that the Gorse manor was in this direction, though she had not consciously searched for it. Tobias saw some hint of this in her eyes and smiled.
'Eleanor,' he began, but she interrupted him.
'Miss Aberfeld, please,' she said coldly. He bowed a little from the waist.
'Miss Aberfeld,' he began again, reaching into his pocket and holding his hand out closed tight. 'I have a gift for you, if you would accept one from me.'
Eleanor pursed her lips. Her father would not approve. His waved his hand a little, as if he wasn't sure she'd seen it. When she shook her head, however, his face fell. A moment later the look was gone but Eleanor had seen genuine hurt there. This confused her more than anything and she found herself shrugging in a very unladylike manner. He smiled. It made her feel reckless.
'Perhaps my father would not like me to accept,' she said, 'But he needn't know.'
She closed the book with a snap before tucking it into the deep pocket in her skirt and holding out her hands beneath his.
'Do I need to close my eyes?' She said, and didn't even blush. What was it about this man?
'If you like,' Tobias replied. Eleanor spent almost an entire minute thinking before she smiled, and closed her eyes, and waited. Finally she felt his hands on hers, not to pass something over but to hold them and draw them closer to him as he leaned in and kissed her.

Eleanor stood rigid with shock, eyes still tightly closed. Tobias had withdrawn very quickly but still their lips had met, and this was what had frozen her. Not that he had done it - though her father would consider that offense enough! - but that, when he had, she had not minded at all. That it had felt like the most natural thing in the world.
'Forgive me, Miss Aberfeld,' Tobias said from somewhere not so close by.
'Of course,' Eleanor replied breathlessly, not wanting to open her eyes. It would be improper to lick her lips now but she could still half-taste him on her breath. Slowly she turned to face away from where Tobias had stood and only then did she open her eyes. The sunlit woods stared back at her without accusation.
Her hands were clasped tightly together as he had held them, and she looked down to see a length of ribbon tucked between them, the same colour as her Sunday hat. With a smile she turned to thank Tobias, but he was gone.