The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 42

Damon takes the basket in one hand and the strap of his horse in the other and he nods for Valentina to follow him. They walk for some time, neither saying a word, but mostly Damon not trusting himself to speak. Slowly, the rain lets up, the intense moment from before fading but not entirely gone. They walk for a while more after the rain stops, hoping to dry off before they get back on the horses to ride to the country house.

Damon turns to see Valentina’s flames are bright and strong, and it’s at that moment that he becomes consciously aware of her heat. He sees just how dry her skin is and how her usual wavy hair has curled into slightly frizzy, tight ringlets. He notices that while her clothes are still pretty damp, she pays no attention to the sloshing of the water in her shoes or the wet swishing sounds her clothes make with every step she takes.

Damon becomes all too aware of his own dry skin and damp clothes. He becomes attune to the sounds of the water in his own shoes sloshing around with every step and the way his clothes make a similar swishing sound as he walks on. Suddenly, he is all too eager to get back to the country home. He doesn’t want to stay in these clothes or in the space a second longer than he has to. Damon takes the basket in one hand and the strap of his horse in the other and he nods for Valentina to follow him. They walk for some time, neither saying a word, but mostly Damon not trusting himself to speak. Slowly, the rain lets up, the intense moment from before fading but not entirely gone. They walk for a while more after the rain stops, hoping to dry off before they get back on the horses to ride to the country house.

Damon turns to see Valentina’s flames are bright and strong, and it’s at that moment that he becomes consciously aware of her heat. He sees just how dry her skin is and how her usual wavy hair has curled into slightly frizzy, tight ringlets. He notices that while her clothes are still pretty damp, she pays no attention to the sloshing of the water in her shoes or the wet swishing sounds her clothes make with every step she takes.

Damon becomes all too aware of his own dry skin and damp clothes. He becomes attune to the sounds of the water in his own shoes sloshing around with every step and the way his clothes make a similar swishing sound as he walks on. Suddenly, he is all too eager to get back to the country home. He doesn’t want to stay in these clothes or in the space a second longer than he has to. He stops walking and turns to Valentina.

"We should get back to the house before night falls,” Damon says.

He turns to clip the basket to the saddle of the horse, mounting Weather and gesturing for Valentina to do the same. Damon and Valentina kick at the horses, pushing them to gallop towards the country house.

Valentina and Damon make it to the country home in record time, stopping by the stables to allow the stable hands to collect the horses, clean them up, feed them and leave them to rest. As Damon walks to the door of the barn, he reaches for her hand, tugging her to him until their chests are pressed tightly against one another. He releases her hand and he lifts his hand to her cheek, cupping it softly.

“Did you have a good time?” he asks, his voice dropping just a little.

She smiles up at him, nodding her head and leaning into his hand.

“Good,” he says. Tempted to kiss her again, he steps back from her and traces his hand down the length of her arm, locking their fingers together and leading her to the house.

“I have a surprise for you,” Damon tells her as they stroll.

“Another?” Valentina says.

Damon looks over at her curiously.

“Today was a surprise for me. Well, I should say the both of us really. But if you’re saying now that you have a surprise, then it is another one, not the first one,” she explains.

Damon chuckles to himself at her logic, his confusion giving way to clarity.

“Fair enough,” he says to her. “There’s one more place I would like to take you but there’s a certain… dress code for this place.”

His crypticness intrigues Valentina, but she simply nods. She feels her element blaze just a little higher than normal and she wonders, for the briefest of moments what her fire is trying to tell her. She would love nothing more than to probe for answers but she doesn’t allow her curiosity to get the better of her. Damon and Valentina step into the house.

“There are some things I need to take care of in the study, but you should start getting ready. I’ll meet you down here at around six this evening,” Damon tells her.

Valentina nods and runs off towards the stairs, Damon standing at the base watching her every move. When she disappears behind the guest wing doors, he turns in the direction of the study, writing a quick note that he calls for a messenger to deliver straight to his father and the shepherd. He looks through all the home’s accounts quickly, ensuring that everything is in order before he leaves and when he is sure that there is nothing more for him to do, he races to his room.

Damon bounces around from his dresser to the bathroom to the closet, getting ready as quickly as he can. The footmen and the valet rush around him, preparing him for the evening. He steps out of his room dressed in a navy blue suit, with a white pressed shirt and brown shoes. He feels in his pockets for the little box and replaces it already tucked in the inside breast pocket. He takes a deep calming breath before walking out of the wing and heading down to the main foyer to wait for Valentina.

He paces at the foot of the stairs, waiting anxiously for Valentina while going through his impromptu speech in his mind. He can feel the barely contained excitement of the staff of the house but Damon does his best to focus on the limited time he has to propose to Valentina before she figures it out for herself.

He hears the muffled sounds of shoes on carpet and then the tell-tale sounds of heels clicking down the stairs. He is hesitant to turn around, fear that he might blurt out the question or fear that he might talk himself out of it, he isn’t quite sure. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see almost every member of staff lining the edges of the room, watching in awe as Valentina glides towards him.

Damon turns and his mouth runs dry at the sight of her.