You Can't Hurry Love

Chapter Thirty-Seven

'LINCOLN?'

I'm gawping at him dumbfounded, hardly able to comprehend if it was actually him standing before me and I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't been for his thunderous blue eyes staring straight back at me, daring me to explain what was going on.

It was that, alongside his surly expression, that was stopping the air from reaching my lungs. I could barely breathe, my heart was racing at his sudden appearance and although it had only been a few days since we'd seen each other, it had felt like a lifetime. Looking at him now, I realise no matter how much I try to pretend I hadn't I'd missed him, and my traitorous little feet were itching to run over to him and greet him with a hug.

But I remain in place, and it wasn't until his glowering eyes moved swiftly to the man standing next to me that I even remembered Danny was there. He was still holding onto me tightly, his lower half remained pressed into mine and I hastily ease myself out of his grip, ignoring the curl of Lincoln's fingers as they formed a fist by his side.

'It's not-', I go to speak, but Roland's appearance in my line of vision breaks my train of thought and I gape at him with as much surprise as I did when I first saw Lincoln.

'Dorothy? What are you doing back here already? I wasn't expecting you until later.'

Roland's face was creased with guilt and I watch as his wide, concerned eyes roam from me and Danny to Lincoln and back again, his fingers twisting nervously in his hands.

'Er . . .' I croak but the words weren't coming to me. I couldn't speak. I felt like a criminal caught in the act of a badly thought out crime and the one person I wanted to avoid at this very moment in time was the very person standing behind me, looking like he was none other than repulsed by the scene he'd somehow stumbled upon.

This wasn't what I had planned. I don't even know how I got to be in this situation. One minute I'm kissing Danny on an ice-skating rink in Hampton Court and the next we're back here, and I know how it must look from the outside, but I can assure you, this little situation I had gotten myself into was never going to go any further than a goodbye kiss on the doorstep.

If only I could tell Lincoln that though. Because right now he looked just about ready to pull Danny's limbs off, one by one.

'Dorothy?' Roland steps forward and takes one of my hands in his. 'Are you okay? You've gone awfully white.'

'I'm fine,' I manage to reply, only somewhat coherently, and then the coldness of his fingers wrapped around mine act as a stimulus to my surroundings and I step back promptly, letting my eyes take in his usual attire of half buttoned-up grey cardigan and tatty old slippers.

'Roland! What are you doing outside in this weather?' I shout, finally finding my voice at long last. 'I told you not to come out without your coat on. You'll freeze to death.'

'Oh, but I'm not going out, dear,' Roland chuckles and he nods warmly at a spot just over my left shoulder. 'I'm here for this young chap.'

I whip my head around and my eyes lock onto Lincoln's once again and whilst his still held the steely glare of self-contained rage, mine were now wide shock.

Lincoln was here to see Roland!

I feel like I've jumped off the edge of the earth into a parallel universe. Nothing was making sense to me and I didn't like it.