Exposed: Laid Bare (Laid Bare #1)(18)

Well, I was here to get my fix, even if it was only from afar.

I got out of the car and walked in the direction of Lucien’s estate, trudging through heavy drifts of snow like they were nothing. I was on a mission.

I’d not felt Lucien’s presence in so long. This was my experiment to see if narrowing the geography between us would result in re-establishing his connection with me. I’d not felt him in my head since the morning he’d left me.

We were still tethered, though, and I missed him.

Continuing on through the heavy snow, I worked my way to the edge of the lake. With no leaves on the trees, I was hoping Lucien’s mansion would be visible up at the northernmost tip of the large body of water.

So, I headed north.

Unfortunately, it was slow going as there was lots of ice around the lake. I walked and walked, still, and as I made my way along the lake shore, the geese honked at me as if I were an intruder. I supposed in their iced-over world I was an unwelcome sight.

“Sorry,” I mumbled when I passed an exceptionally noisy group.

“Or would that be a gaggle?” I said to myself, smiling at my own random musings.

Suddenly, to my utter shock and surprise, someone answered.

“That would indeed be a gaggle, Miss Vaughn,” a smooth male voice replied.

I spun to face whoever had snuck up on me. However, I knew before I turned around whom I’d find standing there. I knew not just from the voice, a voice I missed, but from the presence I felt.

“Lucien,” I whispered, “you’re here.”

I smiled, and he smiled back at me, as dashing as ever. He was bundled up in a long black overcoat and a gray wool scarf. His dark hair was a little mussed and slightly longer than usual, making him look wild and untamed.

“Dahlia,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue deliciously, like the day he’d first uttered it.

Oh, how I burned for this man. I longed to tell him how much I had missed him, but there was no need.

“I missed you, too,” he quietly replied.

“This is crazy,” I said as I stood there and simply stared at him.

He threw back his head and laughed. “Indeed, it is.” He offered me his arm. “Come, Dahlia, walk with me.”

When I touched him, looping my arm through his, it felt as if I’d come home. Relaxed in a way I’d not known in months, I leaned into him. “Are you mad I’m here?” I asked.

“No,” was his simple reply.

And then we walked in silence. We continued in the direction I’d been heading, to the north end of the lake. And as I’d anticipated, Lucien’s looming stone mansion was completely visible from that vantage point. What I hadn’t anticipated, though, was the perfectly cleared trail leading to his home.

“Is that where you came from?” I asked, looking up at Lucien as we came to a stop.

His dark eyes met mine. “I came from behind you,” he reminded me. “If I’d taken the trail, you would have seen me heading in your direction.”

I had no response other than, “Good point.”

A beat passed, and then I asked, “Where do we go from here, Lucien?”

My question was laden with double meaning.

We resumed walking, and he chuckled. “That depends on you, Dahlia.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” His tone implied, now sit with that.

As we neared the cleared trail, I asked, “So, where are we heading right now?”

“To my house, if that’s okay with you.”

Was he kidding? “Of course it’s okay with me,” I replied.

Confused, however, I halted my steps. When Lucien did the same, I said, “Just one thing.”

“Yes?”

Shifting from foot to foot, I said softly, “I thought we were done, Lucien. I never heard from you after you got the picture back. I figured that was it. It’s been more than two months, and I know you’ve been with other women.” I gasped in a breath, the air a cold knife in my lungs. “There’s no use pretending. I know you’ve moved on.”

Lucien touched my arm gently. “Dahlia, Dahlia,” he murmured.

“What?” I looked up at him. “Did you even hear a single word I just said? You’ve given me every indication to think we are over and done.”

“Yes, I suppose I have.”

“Two months,” I stressed. “And not one word.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I suppose I view time differently. And maybe that part of us, those few days we shared, is over.” He smiled, as radiant as ever. “But no one ever said there can’t be a new beginning, right?”

With that possibility out there, I smiled back at him.

We resumed walking, walking toward his home, walking toward a new, undefined future. Where it would take us, I had no clue.

But it didn’t matter.

I was with Lucien now. And whether it was for an hour, a year, or an eternity, I was game for whatever length of time we might have together. Together—as we were meant to be.

Or so I hoped.



Read on for a preview of the next installment of the Laid Bare novellas, Unveiled: Laid Bare (Laid Bare Volume #2)





Unveiled: Laid Bare