Little Time Thief Ch. 02

The older woman smiled and kissed the girl on the cheek, soothing the girls pout before she moved out of Dara's view. "You do not need a husband to be a great woman, dear. But you do need to play by their rules.." She chuckled, her voice throaty with age; as she returned with a conservative looking grey dress, laying it across the bed. She glanced once more at the girl in the mirror and smiled with all the love of a mother before she made one last comment, having turned to leave the room. "Besides my dear, you may yet fall in love."

Left with a scowl, Presley slid from her chair and slowly moved to the bed, seemingly lost in thought as she traced slender fingers down the material of her dress. Before Dara realized and with a frustrated movement she lifted the hem of her night dress, removing it for the one on the bed.

Gasping with a sudden burn in his cheeks, Dara turned from the key hole; twisting his body and moving to sit down on the lower step, his head resting in his hands. He hadn't seen... anything, yet the almost view made him feel shy; flustered like he had never felt before. Where he was from there wasn't much time for girls, let alone well bread, beautiful and naked girls.

He sat silently waiting until he heard heeled footsteps. He reached for the door knob just as Presley swung it open, her vulnerable green eyes meeting his and instantly filling with surprise and a little of something else.

What had been a conservative dress now hugged the well formed shape of Presley's body, the dress bringing out the specks of gold in her green eyes and the red blush of her pouted lips.

"Good morning... I was about to...um.." Mumbled Dara, his eyes briefly meeting hers before he looked around the room behind her, her clean bedroom bathed in warm sunlight. It seemed like any well born Victorian girls room, classy and girly, plain. Though there are scattered books and limp candle sticks hidden in small alcoves behind her bed and along the window seat.

"Good morning...Dara." Spoke Presley, slightly subdued compared to her attitude last night, making Dara's brow crinkle in slight concern. "It would seem I have things to do and as I promised you food I was coming to see if you would like some breakfast." She hesitated slightly, her shoulders slumping weakly under his scrutinizing gaze. "I have a household to run and I can't help you look for whatever it is you need, until later. No matter how much I want an explanation."

Dara almost chuckled, the girl clearly having other idea's of how her day should be going, but for Dara; this could work entirely in his best interests.

He took her elbow with a surprisingly gentle experience, steering her towards the door as he spoke, and it struck Presley that perhaps he wasn't such a brute after all.

"Miss Duke I will; as I have promised, tell you everything when it is the right time and I do thank you for your offer and of course last night. If I might ask your assistance I need to leave the house, there are some leads I must follow and of course, my bag isn't with me, I need it." Dara spoke with an educated eloquence that left Presley in such a state of shock all she could do was agree to help.

Soon they were downstairs, having easily passed Gloria and made it too the small back door that lead out into an alley situated behind each house in the street. Scanning the damp way Dara inwardly cursed himself at not having found the entrance the night before.

"This leads into Black Ash market street...are you sure that's..." Presley faded off, looking at the young man as she pulled a cap down over his head, his grey eyes keenly scanning the area before he gave her a cocky smirk.

"I'm sure, I'm a big boy; I can take care of myself." And with that, Dara jogged in the direction of town that many avoided, the black market of a modern, Victorian age and exactly where Dara wanted to be.