Daniel....

[the_saucy_wench]

Valerie's walking across the grounds, making her way up to the Chatterly house. She isn't always thrilled about having to go back there...she feels like she's got "failure" branded across her forehead for not making it on the staff there. No one's ever breathed an unkind word to her but there are looks

Comments

[vals_daniel]

Daniel thinks at first that he's fallen into some kind of waking dream. She looks like something out of a picture book. A thin ribbon of silk winds through her curls. Her lush, sweetly curved mouth is open in a little "O" of shock; she must have been daydreaming too. He knows her face; he's seen her before, walking to and from the house, and at least a couple of times, he's seen her on Walker Jerome's arm. He tries to bob his head, murmur a "Hello, miss," but he's frozen by the flash of emotion in her eyes. Is she annoyed at him for staring at her? He backs up uneasily, and Mia nudges him impatiently with her velvety nose.

[the_saucy_wench]

Valerie feels crushed at his reaction; he almost seems disappointed or annoyed at being disturbed by her. She supposes, though, that it must be disconcerting to have someone appear without warning, especially when that someone is still standing there like an idiot with her mouth hanging open.

He almost seemed about to say hello, so she decides to risk deepening his ill humor by actually speaking and greeting him. "Hello, sir," she says, trying to remember how to be more formal than she normally is. "I'm just on my way up to the house," she gestures vaguely. "I used to work up there and I--" she scrambles frantically, noticing he looks more uncomfortable than ever-- "I know I've seen you before. Your name's Daniel, right? I'm Valerie--" she stops herself, stops the run of dialogue she knows is about to burst forth, about errands and Miss Althea and gardens and she doesn't know what all. She just knows it will go on and on and then Daniel will actually run away from her. So she just stops. And waits.

[vals_daniel]

Daniel is convinced that she must think him addled because she abruptly stops talking and simply looks at him. Mia nudges him again. He wonders if he's got manure on his clothes again, but he's too embarrassed to look down and check. He swallows hard, then wills his voice to cooperate.

"Hello, miss," he manages in barely above a whisper, and then his courage dries up, even as his conscience and the manners his Mum taught him are urging him to offer to walk with her up to the house. He had been about to turn Mia back anyway; her lameness had obviously healed, and he needs to get back to the other horses. Open your stupid mouth and talk to her he thinks, but his voice is locked in his throat. Eejit he tells himself. Why do you have to be such an eejit around a pretty girl?

[the_saucy_wench]

Valerie waits a bit longer, but when it seems he's not going to say anything else, she starts to panic. It can't possibly be the end of the conversation, it will be too ridiculous to just exchange hellos and move on. Even if Daniel were a crusty old man in his 90s, she'd say something more, if only to be polite.

He doesn't seem to be running away at least, so she ventures a few steps closer. "That's such a pretty horse. I don't think I've seen her ladyship riding her before. Is she new?" God, I sound like I'm 5 years old... she cringes inwardly. She smiles, frantically trying to figure out the best way to arrange her features so she'll be at her prettiest.

[vals_daniel]

The pressure of her fingers around his hand as she steadies herself makes his already-sunburned cheeks grow hotter. "No, I was in the way," he blurts nervously. "My feet are so huge. Ma once told me that if I ever grew into these feet of mine, I'd be a giant

[the_saucy_wench]

Valerie has to bite her tongue to keep from making some silly joke about big feet...goodness knows she's made enough ridiculous remarks already without adding something like that. She wonders why she's never noticed how insane she really is...trying to have a normal conversation with a nice young man seems to be completely beyond her grasp. She starts to think that maybe she should enroll in charm school or something, just so she can speak to Daniel without embarrassing them both.

And now he sounds a little perturbed again, and she fears that she's ruined any chance of him liking her at all. When he so kindly offers his arm, it nearly kills her to think that someone so sweet is so unattainable.

"I'm sorry," she says softly, curling one hand around his upper arm, and bringing the other across to rest on his forearm. It's how she's used to holding on to a man, and she's not sure if it's too close, but she figures she probably will need him to keep her steady on her clumsy feet. "I didn't mean to keep you from your work." She looks

[vals_daniel]

The change in Valerie saddens Daniel. Her sweet, open smile is gone, and she won't meet his gaze. He wonders if he said or did something to offend her. Maybe he implied she was too clumsy to walk the path. He's so horrified by this thought that he can't move at first. He can only stare at her hand on his forearm, and his gaze innocently wanders to the expanse of curving bosom under her pretty white blouse. He squeezes his eyes shut briefly and hopes she didn't think he was ogling her chest.

Valerie's words---"I didn't mean to keep you from your work"---sink in, and he feels even worse that she would think such a thing

[the_saucy_wench]

Valerie is stunned, wondering at first if she's misheard him, if he's said something else, and now she's going to look silly by answering something completely wrong. But it filters through her addled brain, and it's true, he said he was glad they met. Maybe he's only being polite, but still, it's something, and she can't help smiling happily that he even seems to be teasing a bit.

"I knew it," she says, looking over at Mia. "I knew she was the jealous type the moment I laid eyes on her." She giggles a little and then looks back down at the ground, too embarrassed to look at him as she murmurs, "I'm glad we finally met, too." And then she can't help curling her hands a bit tighter, shifting closer so that her breast rubs against his arm as they walk. It's terrible of her, she knows, but he's so handsome and the taut muscles under her fingertips feel so good...her heart is pounding wildly and she's starting to get warm all over.

OOC

[vals_daniel]

I've been cutting and pasting our comments into a Word document. So far, the saga of Valerie and Daniel is up to 11 single-spaced pages. And we're just getting warmed up!! LOLOL!

*hugs you like crazy*

Re: OOC

[the_saucy_wench]

heee...seriously?? LOL...looks like we both have diarrhea of the keyboard...heeee...

*dance of joy*

OOC 2

[vals_daniel]

I nearly had a conniption fit...I'd typed up one more response, was chortling happily over it, and LJ ate it! I almost cried! Thank goodness I was able to get the comment back. *wipes sweat from brow* I'm really going to bed this time! I swear! *snoodles you* PS: Like my new icon? ;D

Re: OOC 2

[the_saucy_wench]

Believe it or not, I actually make a copy of each post before I hit send--that way I can just do "paste" and put it back in if LJ loses it. I've had too many catastrophes so now I try to save each comment I make! :P

*loves all over your icon* He almost looks a little Charlie Chaplin there...hee...

*squishes you*