They stood on the cobblestones of a long narrow path that lead over the grounds, the once beaming sun slowly sinking below the horizon, casting an ominous outline on the large building looming behind them. Riven, breathing out a shallow breath of relief and adjusting her coat, the wind having picked up within the hours of the descending afternoon, turned towards her companion. He was tall and lanky and had messy brown hair that suited him perfectly. Frankly she couldn’t blame Mrs. Sutherland for being all over him. Although the affair had been rather awkward and a bit unnerving Matthew, for his part, had been nothing but a gentleman all night, trying his best to meet up to her expectations and play the perfect suitor. While she knew he was perfectly cable of being charming, she’d been rather surprised by his display. He really had done well and had put her needs above his own. Sure, it had been discomforting and they’d occasionally shared glances as Mrs. Sutherland continued her thorough interrogation but overall the evening had gone splendidly and Riven was fairly sure she’d have a shot at getting the woman to agree to be a valuable source for the newspaper. She owed him. And being clever enough, she wasn’t under any illusion that he’d do this for free. She’d practically roped him into a pitiful scheme and instructed him on how to behave, only to have him go through the motions of an inconvenient dinner with a woman who couldn’t seem to get enough of him. She’d have offered to help him with something anyways, he deserved at least that much. Assessing him now, the wind racking through his curls, she gave a soft smile. “Thank you.” Muttered she. “I really couldn’t have done it without you.” She meant it. If he hadn’t been kind enough to go along with her ruse she’d have had to confess to the truth and possibly lose her only chance at this. He seemed to be making some sort of comment and she shook her head lightly, laughing. “I mean it though. I owe you.” Those three words seemed to do the trick and his wicked grin was back to his roguish features, the glint in his eyes mixing with the greenness of his hues. Slipping back into his usual quick-witted personality he murmured on until Riven huffed out her breath. Moving to respond, some strands of her hair falling out off the tight bun she’d been sporting and framing her face, she could see the movement of a shadow within her peripheral vision. Starting at once, she turned only to be met with the sight of Mrs. Sutherland unsubtly trying to watch them from the window. Honestly, had this woman no dignity? She appeared worse than the awful lady in charge of the interviews of London Bound. Frankly, her unseemly obsession with the love life of other people made Riven wonder what sort of marriage she must have to elicit such a reaction. Scrunching up her nose and regaining her attention onto Matt, who’d watched her with a curious expression and had his hand in midair, supposedly to wave at her, she uttered. “I think someone’s expecting us to kiss goodbye.” Her tone dripped with something akin toexasperation. He seemed to catch on and grin, challenging her. Something she’d noticed he liked to do a lot. With a heavy sigh, mainly for his benefit, she closed some of the distance, standing on her toes. With a swift motion she brushed her lips against his, pressing softly. Tender, sweet, simple. Nothing he probably was used to but this was pretend and this was Matthew and why should she make it into anything more? She had nothing to prove. And she didn’t like the idea of just snogging anyone senseless at random. Especially not after… Drawing away, not letting him initiate anything more even if he wanted to, she muttered. “This makes us even.” And left him there on the cobblestoned path.
