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There could be no delay, Mina told herself as she packed up her suitcase at the end of term, bidding farewell to her favorite pupils. Sweet Lucy in particular was sad to see her go, and though they would meet again in a few short months for her final year of finishing education, the pretty girl had begged the privilege of hosting her dear Miss Murray in London for a week or two this June. Mina was glad to agree, though with this added affair her summer was sure to be a busy one.
There could be no delay, she told herself as she boarded the 3:05 train bound for Exeter, taking a seat beside the most staid elderly gentleman she could find in the compartment. He engaged her in polite conversation for only a single minute before subsiding into a meditative silence, but it was no matter to her. Mina’s mind was racing with meditations of her own, much too pleasant to be distracted from by courteous chatter, and when the train pulled into the station fifteen minutes early, the efficiency of public transportation was not the only thing that excited her.
There could be no delay, she told herself as she hurried through the streets, having stored her belongings safely at the modest ladies’ boarding house in town. Some of her former schoolmates lived there now that they had completed their education and could no longer depend on the generosity of the orphan school’s benefactors to house and feed and clothe them, but Mina did not stop to say hello. There would be time for greetings later, for she had an overwhelmingly important task at hand.
Her feet took her down the predetermined route automatically, so ready and willing was she to reach her destination in the swiftest possible manner. Three streets away, then two, then one, and then she was standing before the unassuming door with the frosted pane of glass and neat little letters that read “Peter Hawkins, Solicitor” in faded golden paint. A familiar sight and one that gladdened her heart to see, but for all her mental hastening, Mina paused before she could make her entrance. She had walked through this door many times before, even run through sometimes as a young child overexcited to see her friend, but of course this time would be different. It had to be, for the last time she had spoken to that particular friend he had proposed to her and she had accepted his proposal, and now they were engaged to be married.
Letters had followed, of course, innumerable letters written in the sweet firm hand of her beloved, but they had not seen each other in person since that day. Sometimes the distance made Mina feel as though she had lived that precious handful of moments in a wild dream, but then the next letter would come and she would be reminded that they had been deliciously real.
But that was precisely what weighed on her now as she stood before the law office door, hand hovering at the doorknob. After so long a time spent apart, what if their next meeting was awkward or strange? She could not bear it if there was any fundamental change between them. Mina had been in love with him since she scarcely knew when, but there had only been a single moment to own that truth before him and then they had barely had the space of fifteen minutes to adjust to their new state of relations before separating once more.
Their romance had been built over letters rather than personal encounters, and the distance had lent itself to an outpouring of mutual passion that was manifestly more bold than anything she would have dared to speak aloud. It was one thing to write those sorts of things down to be sent off to Exeter and quite another to meet him in person and remember what had passed between them, and all the fervid anticipation in the world could not quell the little sting of nerves at the thought of such a passionate meeting.
Oh, but if she continued in this vein she would be pink as a rosebud before she even clapped eyes on him, and that would not do at all! Steeling herself to the task at hand and pushing a particularly vivid line she had read about her “midnight tresses” firmly out of her mind, Mina entered the law office and shut the door firmly behind her. The front room was the same as it always was, but admittedly she spared no attention on the finer details as her eyes were instantly drawn to the only man in the room.
Her heart beat wildly in her breast at the sight of him sitting behind that polished wooden desk, papers spread out before him as he thumbed through the pages of one of his law books, hands slightly ink-stained and evidencing hours of his long and hard work. He was the very picture of solemn dignity, resolute and strong, moving through his work with a purposeful air most becoming to him.
“Jonathan,” she breathed, letting his name fall past her lips like a benediction, drinking in the sight of him like hot tea after a winter walk. At the sound his head flew up, and his lips parted in amazement as he saw her standing in the office.
“Mina!”
He was on his feet in an instant, bolting over to her with nary enough time to draw a second breath between the motions. Handsome eyes gladdened at once to see her, and a bit of ink was transferred to his cuffs as he unconsciously touched them to ensure they were properly fastened.
“I wasn’t expecting you just now. Not for a while, at least.”
“The train came in early,” she said by way of explanation, and Jonathan grinned at her.
“How wonderful for you.”
“It is, rather.” She smiled back, made all the happier by his happiness for her, and suddenly she felt as though this first meeting would not be so strange after all. Jonathan was just as he always was. Romance had not altered the basic qualities of their relationship but enhanced them, and that was plain as day now that he finally stood before her again. Now there was only excitement to see what could be read from this new chapter of their lives together.
“Mr Hawkins is out on business,” Jonathan said abruptly, glancing towards the private office where his employer usually worked. “He left but a moment ago to meet a client, and it is like to take him the greater part of an hour to return.”
It took a moment for the true meaning of his words to hit her, but when they did, Mina blushed to her very core. If word ever reached her finishing school and its headmistress that she had so much as stood in the presence of a man unchaperoned—let alone exchanged private words with him—she would be out on her ear before she could muster two words to her own defense.
But word would never reach her place of employment if she had anything to say about it, and she was not with a man; she was with Jonathan, her Jonathan, the only man she would ever be alone with for the rest of her earthly life. Even with the added restrictions placed upon her conduct as the protector of many a young lady’s modesty, there was some leeway for an engaged couple, surely.
What a reversal of fortunes it was! Mina recalled the hemmed-in nature of his proposal, the headmistress sitting by with a watchful eye, their hurried whispers and promises to speak further at a later time. Jonathan had not even been able to kiss her hand for fear of upsetting her position at school, for the headmistress was very stern and would not like for her etiquette teacher to put on a passionate display in the parlor when such wanton behavior threatened to corrupt the young ladies she had under her tutelage.
But they were not at her school any longer. They were home in Exeter now, miles away from anyone who knew her as their employee or their schoolmistress. Mr Hawkins was gone and not to return for nearly an hour, and in his absence the whole of the office was given over to a nearly unrestrained freedom….
“I received your letters,” she said, and immediately realized it was a foolish thing to say. Of course she received them, for she had replied to each and every one, her pen caressing the page as delicately as she imagined the words falling past his lips as he read the letter to himself in a delighted whisper.
But Jonathan did not comment on the banality of her words. Instead he said, “I received yours,” in a manifestly serious tone, as if she had made a most intelligent comment that deserved an equally well-considered reply. With a sudden wild thrill, Mina thought that perhaps he really had done what she imagined.
“I have been thinking of you since your visit. I knew I had to come and see you at once, for I could not stand to be apart one minute longer,” Mina admitted, blushing even more at her earnest confession.
“The wait seemed unbearably long,” he agreed, “but now you are here. Oh, Mina” —and suddenly his voice broke in a high key of passion with the following words— “how I have longed to take you in my arms! I could not do so then, with your headmistress watching so sharply, but will you permit me to do what I should have done all those months ago?”
Agreement fairly burst forth from her lips, and there was only a moment to think that perhaps a woman should not sound so eager for a man’s affection before she reminded herself again that it was her Jonathan, and that made everything all right.
She held out her hand and he came to it eagerly, taking it up as if it were the grandest prize in the world. In turn he laid his hand quite deliberately on her waist, and though there were many layers of fabric between them still, the move was undeniably bold. Nevermind that she had just invited him to do so, nevermind that she welcomed the touch with all her heart; it sent a deliciously naughty thrill through her that she knew she ought to suppress even as he let go of her hand and took her by the other side of her waist as well.
Mina slid a hand over his cheek, and Jonathan tilted his head into her palm to gain more pressure from the touch. The movement was unconscious, she thought, born from months of longing for her presence, and she liked it immensely. How easy it would be now to tilt her head up and catch his lips with hers as she had longed to do after his proposal!
But of course she could. Who was watching?
When she lifted her other hand to cup his face entirely, she found that he was already moving closer. His fingers curled into her shirtwaist as she lifted her face to meet his, and there was just a moment for Mina to feel his breath against her face before they came together at last. His lips were just as soft as she had imagined, warm and gentle and oh, oh, oh! Mina sighed aloud, a most undignified sound, and Jonathan responded in kind, his mouth melting against hers as they embraced.
All too soon, they parted. Mina leaned back, though his arms would not let her go far. Jonathan’s eyes were blown wide open with their delicious darkness fixated totally on her, but she could not look at him for long, for her own eyes fluttered shut again and then she was leaning, leaning, leaning in to catch his lips with hers once more.
If the first kiss had been gentle and tender, the second was passionate and hungry. The slightest familiarity with the action bred desire and boldness in equal measure, and Mina allowed herself to give in to the wants surging up in her now that her beloved had her in his arms at last. As they embraced, she moved her hands over his coat, squeezing his arms through the many layers of fabric, grasping at his necktie to bring him closer, pressing kisses over his face as she had wished to all those months ago. She ran a hand through his hair, luxuriating in the softness and warmth she found there, so much like the man himself.
The brim of her hat presented no obstacle to Jonathan’s approach, for all at once her head was tilted back as far as was possible for it to go and a flurry of kisses was pressed round her neck, soft but fervent in their attentions. Mina gasped aloud, so pleasant was the touch, and her trembling little cries only encouraged him further. She nearly swooned in his arms as he caressed her, moving lips and tongue along her jaw and down her throat and back up again in one frantic continuous motion. Time and place ceased to have any meaning, and all she could think of was Jonathan’s lips on her neck and his hands on her back and her own grasping desperately at his coat lest her legs give out under her from sheer pleasure.
“We must stop,” he moaned at length, tearing himself away from her neck as though it physically pained him to do so. “If we continue, your reputation—”
“You have always been a gentleman to me,” Mina said thickly, her mind clouded still by the wonderful sensation of his lips. They were gone now, but she could feel every press of them burning against her bare flesh still, tiny embers sending sparks down to her very bones and lighting her wholly on fire for him.
“I still must be, at least until we are wed.”
With those regretful and quiet words Jonathan stepped back, and the loss of his arms around her was felt too dearly. Disappointment was tempered only by the natural respect she felt for his esteem for her person—esteem that was undeniably shown in such an honorable move—though she predicted they would continue to sail perilously close to the wind until he had passed his exams.
Now that he had stepped away, she could see the whole of him more clearly. His necktie was untucked and locks of dark hair fell over his forehead, disturbed in the fervor of their shared affection. His lips were pink and plump and kiss-bruised, and the color that rose high in his cheeks seemed to be an answer to her own. Mina felt a little burst of pride that she had been the one to ruffle him so, the one to rouse a man of calm and quiet dignity to the heights of passion with only a few words and a touch on his cheek, but such self-important vanity was a wicked vice; she should not think so.
He turned away for a moment, straightening his vest and putting himself to rights. Mina realized that the topmost buttons of her collar had come undone as well, and she did them up with shaking fingers.
Unfortunately he was right; they should not have continued, for they very well might have unbuttoned each other beyond the point of no return and there were innumerable reasons why such a thing simply could not happen. It was a sin for one thing, and Jonathan’s exams were more than nine months away for another. But still, Mina wanted to touch him again. She wanted him to touch her again. There was a wide gap between unrestrained passion and total celibacy, after all, and they could take full advantage of that.
“Won’t you hold me?” she asked, blushing a little at her own request, a thing that seemed somehow more intimate than the ardor of just a few moments ago. “Simply hold me in your arms for a moment?”
“It would be my greatest pleasure,” he said, and his eyes were full of such tenderness that she truly believed it truly would.
They stepped forward again at the same instant, and then his arms were solid round her, warm and heavy as a thick woolen blanket. He smelled warm too, strange as it was to think it, but the very air around him was comfort through and through and Mina thought she could stand there forever.
“I must return to work,” she felt rather than heard him say at length. His necktie pressed against her cheek in time with the vibration of his words, and the sensation was so pleasant that it took her a moment to parse the meaning behind his words.
He kissed her gently on the forehead as he pulled away and slid his hands into hers, guiding her to his desk and saying, “Won’t you sit here with me?” as he fetched a chair and placed it beside his own.
“What are you working on?” she asked, scanning the topmost paper of the pile. It was covered in cramped, neat writing just like all the others, but it only went down half the page; it seemed as though he had left off halfway through a sentence when he jumped up to greet her. Mina could pick out a few legal terms he had taught her over the years, but she did not understand the specifics of what was written.
Jonathan’s eyes lit up as he hastened to explain, speaking of his work with a passion that was quite becoming to him. “Background reading for a case; I must take plenty of notes so we might advise our client properly. This case in particular is quite interesting, for you see, it is a matter of precedent more than anything else, and there is no unanimous decision for how similar cases were handled in the past. Even the smallest detail will make all the difference, and I cannot leave any stone unturned.”
“Perhaps I might be able to help if you tell me what it is you’re looking for? I could find the general entries and give them over to you for specifics.”
He nodded, looking quite gratified by her offer, and promptly handed over one of the thickest books she had ever clapped eyes on in her life. “So there is a problem over an inheritance,” he began. “Ordinarily it would be quite cut and dry, but there are a few confounding factors in this particular instance….”
They sat side by side at his desk, slowly working through the books and his notes. Mina blushed when their fingers touched over a passage detailing a 1803 case of disputed acquisition of the deceased’s property or when Jonathan reached past her to procure a fresh sheet of paper for himself. A few times she glanced up to find that he was looking admiringly at her rather than their work, and that only made her cheeks color more furiously as she bit back a smile and carried on as calmly as she was able. She now saw that her thoughts about turning into a rosebud were manifestly understated; all it took was one look from Jonathan to become an entire garden!
His pile of notes grew larger and larger as they made their way through the book, Mina double-checking the index all the while to make sure they had not missed anything in their search. They had not as far as she could tell, but she left the final determination up to him since he had the most knowledge of the law between the both of them.
Mr Hawkins found them still sitting together half an hour later. He greeted Mina warmly, folding her hand in his in a kindly way, and insisted that the pair of them join him for supper that evening. They gladly accepted, and then he took Jonathan into his office to discuss the meeting with the client that had taken him out on business in the first place. Mina was infinitely grateful to Mr Carter, whoever he might be, for requiring his solicitor to meet with him for so long outside of the office and consequently allowing the clerk to attend to other, more pleasant duties.
Pleasant indeed, for if the past hour had been only the prelude to their marriage, she was quite sure the thing itself would be immensely enjoyable.