“I was surprised that Leon was sleeping with you. In retrospect, it doesn’t surprise me. After all, we do have the same tastes as you can imagine. We’re twins.” Archer was still grinning, enjoying the way Ivy’s face lit up, from shame and anger.
He didn’t seem fazed. He seemed like he didn’t care, while Ivy was aware of what Leon’s reaction was going to be. She cared that she had betrayed him the same way Vivienne had.
“Well, I’m going to just leave then.” She said, whipping around. Archer had heaved himself up in one quick motion and pulled her towards him, so that Ivy landed with a thud on his glossy bare chest. Despite herself, how much she was mad at him, how angry she was with herself, she couldn’t help but admire the strength of his maneuvers, how absolutely smooth this man was.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” He asked, in a whisper, looking down at her face menacingly. Ivy jerked her arm away from him, her nostrils flaring. As sexy as this man was, he wasn’t going to be able to hold her back.
“I’m leaving this place. I don’t want to be a part of this. I can’t do this to Leon.” She said, finally managing to break free from Archer’s grip.
“Are you afraid of not being able to resist me?” He asked, flexing his muscles at her. He was standing with his feet apart, grinning at her, enjoying the fact that she couldn’t keep her eyes off his washboard abs.
Ivy rolled her eyes and whipped away from him. She was glad she had made this decision. She was glad that she was going away. Archer was right. He was a temptation. She knew how he could make her feel, how easily he could make her come. He wasn’t just a fine thing to look at. And she didn’t want to put herself in that position again, of betraying Leon.
“Just don’t tell him.” She said, suddenly remembering what she had come here to say to him. When she turned, she found that Archer was in the process of silently putting his shirt back on. He took in a deep breath as he slipped it over his shoulders. Ivy saw his muscles arch, his torso move, the dark trail of hair down his navel that disappeared into his jeans. She forced herself to look back up at his face.
“But I don’t keep any secrets from my brother, Ivy.” Archer said, with a teasing cruel look on his face. He seemed like he had nothing to lose. He knew his brother couldn’t fault him. He didn’t know Leon was sleeping with Ivy, she did. And she had chosen not to tell him.
“Please, don’t. Not till I leave.” Ivy said, gulping.
Archer shrugged his shoulders and gave out a short laugh. Ivy knew immediately what that meant. She had to leave the ranch, and soon. Before Archer told Leon, before the cat was out of the bag.
Ivy turned on her heels and started running towards the house. She still had a chance to make it. If she ran fast enough, she might still be able to get out of the house before Archer told Leon and he found her, and stopped her, and made her regret that she ever met him. Ivy was afraid, very afraid now.
Ivy threw her clothes into her bags, and was out of her bedroom door in a matter of minutes. She hadn’t even had a chance to look at herself in the mirror, or prepare herself otherwise for leaving the house. What she also hadn’t thought about, was how she was going to get to her own home. Her father’s house was several miles away, closer to the town center, which meant that she definitely wouldn’t be able to walk it there.
Her only option was to leave the ranch and start walking, after that she would have to try calling her father on her cell phone and hope that he would be able to drive over and pick her up. What else was there to do?
Ivy felt like a criminal, or someone who was trying to escape alive as she rushed towards the main door, carrying her bags in her hands, stumbling and rushing. She knew she had to stay strong. She had to make sure that she didn’t just burst into tears.
She had spent nearly seven weeks at this ranch. This place had soon become her home. And now she was going to leave this place forever.
Thankfully, she could sense that she was alone in the house. Neither Leon nor Archer were in yet, but she had a feeling that Archer had found Leon in the fields and now they were both on their way back to the house.
Ivy stumbled to the front door and let out a huge sigh. She only had a few moments to give one sweeping look to the whole house, drink in the space, the luxury of the mansion, the kitchen where she had spent so much time. The door to her study, which Leon had set up for her was open and she could see in, at the computer…she was going to miss it all. Most of all she was going to miss being surrounded by the scent of Leon, that masculine musky scent that permeated the whole house while she lived in it.
She didn’t have time for more, and picking up her bags again she burst through the front door.
Only to discover that she was too late. Leon and Archer were on their horses and were riding towards the estate from the far-off horizon. Leon especially was riding his horse in great speed, Archer was trailing behind. There was no way she was going to be able to make it to the front gates of the ranch without being intercepted by him first.
But still, she had to try.
Ivy bunched up the skirt of her dress in one hand and ran, silently cursing herself for having chosen to worn this long dress today, out of all days. But she had no other choice. With the bags dangling heavily on one arm, and hitching up her dress with the other, Ivy was running towards the main gate. In some strange hope that Leon wouldn’t be able to reach her, that he wouldn’t just ride after her, past the gate, till he had caught up with her.
She wasn’t thinking about anything else, other than getting away from the brothers. Not because she didn’t want to see them again, not because she didn’t want them, but because she couldn’t face up to the look on Leon’s face. She didn’t want to see the look in his eyes that would tell her exactly how she had betrayed him.
Ivy arrived at the gate which was closed shut and hurriedly, dropping the bags to the ground, she tried to unlock
it, scanning the land behind her, where still in the distance she could see Leon and Archer galloping towards her. They weren’t simply silhouettes in the horizon now, they had nearly caught with her, she could almost see Leon’s rigid face.
She swung the gate open with one hand and picked up her bags again and when she turned to give the brothers one last look, she realized that they were too close now. It would only be a matter of seconds…
Leon had grabbed her, and Ivy shrieked. He had barely slowed the speed of his horse down but scooped in to lift her up. His arms held on to her as he continued riding, and lifted her up further so that finally she was sitting on the saddle in front of him, with her legs both dangling from one side.
Ivy was still shrieking. She was still in shock. In those moments of panic, she didn’t know if he was going to hurt her, if she was going to fall…but he had caught on to her tightly, he had managed to lift her up swiftly and smoothly on to the saddle. But Ivy’s heart didn’t know that, it was still beating harshly out of her chest.
They were containing to ride. She in front, aware of Leon’s hard muscular chest pressing against her back as he held on to her, his arm encircling her waist. Ivy felt hot, too hot under her dress. Her golden ringlets were blowing in the breeze as they continued to ride. She had no idea where Archer was, she didn’t dare to try and look for him, but she knew he couldn’t be too far away.
“Where did you think you were going to go?” Leon’s voice was strong and loud in her ear. She could feel his lips moving against her earlobe. Ivy couldn’t reply, she was panting hard, she felt like her chest was going to burst any moment. She knew Leon was capable of many things. But scooping her up like this? Despite everything that was going on, she knew that this man was sexier than ever.