Chapter 9: Who Did This First

After dinner, Tiernan drove me back to the farm to read my grandfather's logbook somewhere Ambrose wouldn't look.

His office was the only room in the house with a lock.

I was wearing the red dress.

I did not know why until I was standing in front of his desk, with the door shut.

The desk lamp was on, and he was looking at the dress.

"I have to make a rule," he said.

"I thought you hated my rules."

"Mine's short. You don't do one thing tonight because she did it first."

"I don't know what she's done first."

"Good," said Tiernan. "Then we're even."

I took a step toward him.

He took one toward me.

He did not touch me.

It was the longest second of my life, and I did not copy him once, because I didn't know who had moved.

"You're engaged to my sister," I said.

"I'm engaged to her on paper. I haven't been anywhere near it in months."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the one I've got," he said. "Tell me no, Gwendolyn, and I'll drive you home."

"Entry 413," I said.

He laughed.

It was the first time I had heard him laugh like that, all at once, with his head back.

Then I put both hands on his shirt and kissed him.

His mouth was warm, and he tasted of red wine.

For one dizzy second he did nothing at all.

Then he made a low sound in his throat, and his hands were in my hair.

The pins went.

I heard them hit the floor, one, two, three, and my hair came down over his wrists.

"Say it again," he said against my mouth.

"What?"

"My name."

"Tiernan."

He lifted me onto the desk.

Papers slid off the other side, and a stapler, and a framed photo of a horse, and neither of us looked.

His hands found the zip at my back.

I felt it go down, slowly, one tooth at a time, and the cold air touched my spine.

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