Close Your Eyes (56 page)

‘Well, you look very fitting yourself
.
’
She
had to grin as she let her eyes travel over his broad chest
.
He wore
a white tunic with an emblem of a cross
. S
ilver chain mail peek
ed
from underneath
the tunic
. His hands were covered with gauntlets
,
and dark leggings
dressed his legs, which
end
ed
in
a pair of leather boots. She spotted his shield lying in the grass
. Two
little boys discuss
ed
each detail of it with
endearing
concentration. ‘
You
should consider this for a job,
Matt
. School presentations and such.’

‘Very funny
.
’
H
e grinned and grabbed his little friend
trying
to climb his leg,
but
sliding down over and over. ‘How about some grub, guys?’
He
ruffled
up
the boy’s
short dark hair. ‘
You
know, to become a knight
,
you have to eat and a lot. I know a secret
.
’
He paused
dramatically
as he
waited for the kids
’
full attention. ‘
There
is a huge table inside, full of all kind
s
of food. If you want to grow up to be knights, you better start eating.’

A squealing race started
. T
he kids
ran
to the back door, wide open and inviting.
Then
Megan and Matt
were alone
without
distractions to keep them from noticing the fact they were together.

Meg
felt shy for the first time in all the years she
had
known
Matt
.
He looked different
,
and she was
almost upset with his good looks. Anyone else would look ridiculous in the old
-
fashioned clothes meant fo
r
theatre
actors. He should look cheesy and gaudy,
but
instead
,
he looked masculine and dangerous
.
His
indescribable aura made
her think he’d fit perfectly into the olden days, fighting his way across Europe on the back of his horse with only a sword and shield to protect
him. He
must have been born with this nobility because no
money in the world
could buy it
.
Unsure what to do next, Meg bit her lip.

‘
O
kay
, I get it.’ He smiled at her, only the slight flicker of uneasiness betraying the fact he wasn’t quite
as
self-assured
as he tried to appear. ‘I took it too far,
Meg
. I swear
,
it wasn’t my idea in the first place. I’d trade with
Ry
for the monk, but he insisted that it was my turn to be ridiculous. So here I am, a Templar knight
,
ready to serve and protect whenever you need me.’

He bent his head in a playful gesture, his strawberry
-
blond hair shining in the setting sun.

‘You don’t look ridiculous at all,
Matt
.
’
S
he smiled back, some of her shyness disappearing as the
ir
old familiarity finally kicked into place. She might
see
him differently now, but it didn’t change the fact
that
they were friends
,
very close ones
,
at that.

Could
I
really have it both
ways
?
Her heart hammered against her ribcage
and her throat dried out
as she asked herself this question.

‘You’re back.’ His quiet
statement made her look
up to him
. T
he tenderness in his face
made
it impossible to breathe. ‘I
hoped every day that
you’d come back. I called your parents so many times that I
’m
sure they must have considered changing
their
number. Your dad advised me to be patient, though. I guess he felt sorry for me by my tenth attempt
.’ He laughed softly
and took
a step closer to her still frame.

She should have said something, preferably
something
witty and maybe even self-
deprec
ating
. Only she
couldn’t
.
H
er head
was
totally empty as she felt wave upon wave of joy wash over her and fill her with happiness she had forgotten
existed
.

‘You
did
?’ she
asked
, cursing her own clumsiness. This was important
,
and she
was acting
like some witless doll
that was
low on batteries
.

‘Of course
.
’
He
nodded
matter-of-factly
. ‘
What
else did you expect,
Meg
? I mean, I know I messed things up, but to run away like that, without a word…’
H
is voice trailed off helpless
ly
.

‘I panicked,
Matt
.
’
She was suddenly
past caring what was appropriate to say. He needed to know how she really felt
. A
ny falseness or artificial indifference
was
bound to hurt
him
in the end. ‘I didn’t
even want to
contemplate what you must have thought of me after my dr
u
nk
en performance
. And to put it simply
,
I couldn’t bear to have you do
your
usual thing, when you turn the things around and take all the blame, chivalrous as you are.’

He stepped even closer,
leaving only
a foot of space between them. Briefly, she thought that they must have looked rather ridiculous to a casual observer
since they were both
clad in fancy clothes from another time
,
as
though
they were actors star
r
ing in a historical drama. But this was no movie, she reminded herself
. T
his was life, real and impossible to repeat if she messed it up again.

‘I am not chivalrous at all, sweetheart.’ He reached out,
attempting to stroke her cheek with his gauntlet-clad hand
. He grinned repentantly and shrugged
off
the metal glove
. H
is warm fingers
felt
ten times better
than the metal
against her skin.
‘Sorry about that bloody glove,
Meg
.
I just keep forgetting I
’
m wearing this stuff. I guess the real knights were much handier with all those uncomfortable pieces.’

She would take the gauntlet
,
too, she thought dizzily, her face leaning into his
hand like a flower
turning its head to the sun.

‘I missed you like crazy
.
’
His voice was rough.
‘
I am not
as
good with words
as
Ry
,
you know that
. I wish I could tell you how I feel and not sound pompous, but I don’t know if it’s possible.’ He took her hand and pulled her along, away from the
library
into the thicket of lilacs. She followed him eagerly, lifting her feet
to avoid tripping
over the rim of her long dress. He was onto something
,
complaining about all those old
-
fashioned outfits
. With her free hand, she grabbed
a handful of her full skirt and
lifted in a
desperate attempt to walk freely.

‘
Here
.
’
Matt
slowed down, and she looked around
with amazement
. This was the old library garden, from the days when the frugal librarian and local teachers
had
decided to
turn a
patch of land into a veggie garden to
supplement
the meager food
supply
after the war. It
had been
left alone for so long that the shape of the original garden was almost completely suffocated under the weeds and
self-
seeded bushes. Still,
if she
looked carefully,
she could still find
the remnants of the path dividing the plot into neat, geometrical rectangles, leading to the old, crumbling wall.