Page 39 of To Enchant a Rakish Viscount

“Yes, I agree. It feels rather smaller though, wouldn’t you say?”

She observed it as if for the first time. “I don’t think so. But my grandmother used to always say that things do tend to seem smaller as you get older. I just never experienced it myself.”

There was a pause between them and then Brian replied. “I think that you and I are much like we were when we were younger as well. There was always that point before we were at each other’s throats.”

Harper looked at him with kind eyes. “Yes, that’s right. We weren’t always friends who were also enemies.”

“Frenemies.”

“That’s clever.”

“But now look, we are somehow husband and wife.” Brian was shocked that he allowed himself to say it. The look on Harper’s face expressed her shock as well.

“Don’t get all excited. I am just stating facts. Can a man state fact without being marvelled at?”

Harper rolled her eyes and let her attention drift towards the lake once more. “Always with the bland humour. Why can’t you be more like this lake, it commands your respect without even saying a word.”

“That is because lakes do not speak, Harper.”

“Sometimes, I wished you could not speak.”

Brian laughed. “I guess our banter started like that one day and just continued forever. But we could still be like kids if we choose.” Brian then pointed to a tree.

She knew immediately what he was hinting at when she said, “Ha. I know what you are trying to say, and we are way too old to climb trees, Brian.”

Watching her walk, he observed how much she had grown since being a kid. In that, there had been so much that had happened over time. They had been through a lot in their lives and together. It made him feel closer to her. But, in her maturity, he had the desire to break her from her shell. She had always been the one to try and break down his, he felt it was time that he did the same with her. She could use a dose of silliness, a means to release stress. After all, she had endured a lot because of him. She needed a way to let loose.

“No one is around Harper. When was the last time you actually lived?”

“I am breathing. I am blinking. That seems like living to me.”

“That is the absolute minimum to living. This,” he said as he gestured to the tree, “Is living.” Brian then took her hand and led her to the tree while they both laughed together.

He had felt old from time to time. Any ageing would do that to a person. But in that moment, he felt like a kid again. And that felt good.

And so, they both climbed the tree together. Brian had taken the lead and Harper followed right behind. She had let out a few laughs along the way which led to Brian laughing as well. The tree wasn’t huge to the point that either of them risked injury, but it was big enough to get the heart racing a bit.

The dirt and wood beneath his fingers felt right. Sometimes it was best to leave home and be with nature. Brian looked back for a brief second to make sure that Harper was doing okay with her climb, and she had only been a few inches behind him. She was rather quick on her feet. But it didn’t at all surprise Brian being that he had seen her in action in the bedroom. He knew how fast she could go when she wanted to. That thought made him smile.

“Why are you smiling so big?” she asked when she caught a glimpse of his face looking back.

“I am just thinking inappropriate thoughts about you. That is all.”

“Grow up,” she said with sarcasm.

“No. That is the entire point to climbing this tree. To not grow up, Harper.”

After a minute or so, they made it to the top of the tree and gathered their breaths. Brian could not tell what made him feel the freest; being up so high with the birds or being up so high with Harper. It gave him a nostalgic feeling, almost like he had lived it once before and was reliving it in a different body with different eyes.

“There!” Harper blurted out. “I climbed the tree. I am not a complete bore. But you on the other hand, you are filled with boyish spirit. You should carry great shame,” she teased.

“Is that so? I think for that, I may just tell the entire world that you, a viscount’s daughter, climbed a tree at her adult age.”

“You are a man of great impulse. So, I believe you. But I do not care. If there is one thing that I have proved in my adult age, it is that I do not care what the public perceives of me.”

Brian thought back to the whole Michael situation. It was surely the one she had been referring to. “You’re right. You have proven that you are your own woman. But we mustn’t kid ourselves here. You did marry me to reduce that negative perception. Did you not?”

Harper shrugged, leaning back on the tree branch. The slab of wood was big enough to where they could both spread out comfortably without losing their balance.

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