A/N – well this chapter formed quite easily, and I thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. TwilightSy – if this is what you thought Luke's plan was, then congratulations, if not, please tell me where you thought this story was going as a comparison.
On a totally irrelevant note, Adam Lambert's new song has just started to air over here (Better than I know myself). If you haven't seen the video yet youtube it, as it is amazing and very creative. His voice is brilliant, and I have just ordered his first album, so I can't wait for it to be delivered :)
As always I do not own OTH or any of the characters, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter xx
For the first time the riding lesson was a quiet affair, with the only sounds coming from the two horses as they made their way along the trail. Lucas had decided to fit Storm with a Western saddle, to help her understand the difference in technique, so Peyton had spent the first ten minutes adjusting to a new riding position. Opening her mouth to ask a question, she glanced towards Lucas, taking in the deep look of concentration in his eyes and she quickly decided against it. There seemed to be a tension between them that hadn't been their before, and it was something that the horses were picking up on. The dainty gelding, Duke, which Lucas was riding today, pranced nervously along the path, causing Storm to swivel his ears back and forth in response.
Seemingly without thinking Lucas gathered his reins, pushing the young horse forwards into a trot, channelling the excess energy and excitement. Smoothing her hand down Storm's grey neck to settle him, Peyton watched the duo with wide eyes as the path opened out into a large field. Letting out a couple of high spirited bucks, which Lucas sat to easily, he raised the horse's head and pushed him forwards, forcing Duke to concentrate on the work he was asking. Peyton gathered her reins into one hand, raising her free one to tip the brim of her hat back so she could see more clearly in the morning sun. Lucas had been right about the weather, and his Stetson that was still wedged on top of her plaits, shaded her eyes perfectly.
After some large turns and circles, Duke quickly settled down underneath Lucas' strong legs, eagerly breaking into canter from an invisible instruction and executing a perfect figure of eight, complete with a flying change in the centre, before Lucas reined him back to a walk. Squeezing gently with her calves, Peyton trotted over to where the pair was now stood overlooking the river.
"Wow, that was... wow," Peyton eventually broke the silence, watching as Duke shook out his mane looking visibly more relaxed.
"We had better be heading back," Lucas replied, flashing his blue eyes up to her for a split second before reining his horse around in the opposite direction. "I need to get as much work as possible done before school if I'm intent on going to the lawyers this afternoon."
"Lucas..." Peyton called, the tone of her voice forcing him to halt whilst she caught up. "What... Are we... I'm sorry about earlier," she eventually got out, looking down to her hands as she twisted her fingers through a section of mane.
"Hey, it's ok," his deep voice sounded sincere, and his fingers stretched out across the space separating them to cup her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I'm just trying to fix this for you," he breathed, a small smile filtered over his lips and Peyton couldn't help be to hesitantly smile back.
"Okay," she confirmed, her eyes flashing between his deep blue ones and the curve of his lips, as they walked back down the trail. "As long as we're okay," she nodded; forcing her eyes away from his before she did a second stupid thing before school even began. "I'll come and find you later?"
"Sure," he replied as they clattered into the stable yard, and she swung her leg over the saddle, dropping to the ground and both going their separate ways.
Days quickly turned into nearly two weeks and Peyton had yet to talk to Lucas after his meeting with the lawyer, and Christmas was quickly approaching. Since the night of the ball, Mr. Scott had been home constantly, setting the staff on edge and requiring both Peyton's and Nathan's attendance at dinner every night. He seemed to be watching over their every move, forcing Peyton to accept a lift to and from school with Nathan every day, even though she had sworn never to get in a car with him again.
Early morning riding lessons were quickly put on hold, as Mr. Scott 'did not like the smell of horses whilst eating breakfast' and any time after school was either taken up with homework, changing for dinner, or the worst item on the agenda in Peyton's mind was dance lessons to prepare for the next ball. Mr. Scott had so elegantly stated that 'she would not disgrace the Scott name with poor footwork' and he had quickly assigned Nathan as a tutor to put his years of expensive dance lessons to some use.
Currently using one of the spare drawing rooms, Nathan was trying to explain something about a 'heel turn' and Peyton was quickly getting to her wits end. Kicking off her high heeled shoes into a pile in the centre of the room, she padded across to one of the sofas, curling her feet under her as she sat down.
"Sawyer, if he walks in now we are both going to get killed," Nathan protested feebly, standing in the centre of the room for a moment before following suit and dropping down next to her.
"You do realize he is preparing us for our first dance as man and wife?" Peyton stated, staring at him with her eyebrows raised and she watched as his shoulders dropped.
"Urgh, yeah I know," he replied, stretching out and resting his head against the back of the sofa. "Has Lucas not found that loophole yet?"
Curling her right leg up into her chest, Peyton rested her chin against it, playing with the hem of her dress nervously. The two brothers had fallen into an easy rhythm of not quite friendship, but at least acceptance and Nathan had stopped making Lucas' life a living hell at school. "I don't know," she eventually replied with a sigh. "I haven't been able to talk to him properly since we found out. You don't think..." she paused, glancing around the room and Nathan broke his gaze from staring at the ceiling to look at her expectantly. "You don't think he knows that we know?"
"No. Trust me, if he thought for an instant that we knew anything he would have marched us down to the church faster than you could blink to stop us from trying anything," Nathan replied, a look of realization spreading across his face. "Which does mean something can be done to prevent it," he concluded, looking proud of himself for the epiphany. "You need to talk to Lucas asap."
"Yeah well that is easier said than done considering I am being watched under a microscope at the moment," she retorted, annoyance filtering colouring her voice and she ran her fingers through her curls.
"We won't be tomorrow night," Nathan smirked, stretching out his muscles and standing back up. "He let slip earlier that he has to go out of State to sign for some horses he bought whilst at the Breeder's Ball."
"Oh thank god," Peyton whispered under her breath, following Nathan's lead and standing up. Accepting her heels from him as they walked out into the hallway, he paused halfway up the stairs. "We will have our answers tomorrow," she smiled, relief flooding though her.
"Night Sawyer," Nathan punched her shoulder lightly before making his way up the second flight of stairs to his room, quickly disappearing from view. Pausing by the large window, Peyton's eyes automatically flashed over to the yard, hoping to see a glimpse of Lucas, but the stables were in darkness.
"Night," she whispered into the silence, before retreating up to the sanctuary of her room.
Sitting in her Comet at the end of the school day, Peyton was waiting for the signal from Nathan that the coast was clear, and they could all go home to talk in peace. Across the car park, Brooke was sat in Nathan's car re-applying her lip gloss, whilst he made the important phone call to Marissa.
Having searched for Lucas for most of the morning, Peyton had eventually found him in the library during lunch time, sat in one of the quietest corners pouring over a large leather bound book. Having discussed her approach at length with Nathan, Peyton had casually wandered in his direction as though she was looking for a book, wedging her pen behind her ear and ripping a page out of her sketchbook as she got closer. His blue eyes had flashed to her instinctively, but the only acknowledgement he gave of her presence was to run his fingers through his messy spikes. Folding the paper into a small square, Peyton paused by the shelving close to his chair, crouching down to read the titles on the lower shelf and flicking the paper in his direction, whilst skimming her finger over the dusty spines pretending to read each one.
With a quick thumbs up, breaking Peyton from her daydream, Nathan threw his car into gear, screeching out of the student parking lot, with her following suit. The roof of her car was down, and Peyton let the wind blow through her curls as she reached forwards to turn her music up. She felt almost giddy with excitement, which she told herself was because she wouldn't have to dress for dinner or to endure scrutiny from Mr. Scott for a night. She almost felt free.
Shaking her head as she turned up the gravel drive, she was surprise to see that somehow she had beaten Nathan home. Scrambling for her phone, just in case the plan had been changed, and she saw 'one new message – Brooke' flashing on the screen.
'Gone to pick up some pizza for tea, it's Nate's idea. Be there soon B. Davis Xx' she read, a smile forming on her lips as she realized it hadn't just been her stuck in the monotonous routine.
Climbing out her car, Peyton visibly jumped when Lucas rounded the corner and she couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her lips about her reaction.
"Hey, you're in a good mood," his deep voice washed over her as he crunched over the gravel towards her. "That's probably a good thing considering..." he tailed off, coming to a stop in front of her and his eyes flashed over every inch of her.
"Brooke and Nate stopped for food," Peyton explain, trying to keep her voice at a normal level, walking around the back of her car towards the front door. "We might as well grab plates and stuff from the kitchen ready," she continued, turning around when she realized he wasn't next to her. His eyes flashed between her and the front door, looking apprehensive and she immediately knew what the problem was. Re-tracing her steps, she slid her hand into his, giving it a gentle tug forwards. "It's okay," she whispered, drawing light circles on the back of his hand with her thumb, even though she knew he wasn't likely to relax any time soon.
Leading the way through the entrance hall, she smiled when Marissa made an appearance through the kitchen door, carrying a tray filled with plates, condiments and sodas. Dropping Lucas' hand, she took three of the sodas from the tray to lighten the load, knowing that she wouldn't let her take the entire tray from her.
"Where would you like them?" she asked politely, glancing at Lucas warily.
"I think we should go to my room," Peyton replied, walking up the stairs next to Marissa. "Mr. Scott will never find out," she whispered, giving the other girl a small smile and she nodded looking slightly more appeased.
"Call if you need anything else," she reminded Peyton, as she slid the tray onto a nearby table before quietly exiting the room. Lucas stood by the door looking awkward, and Peyton could feel the tension in the room.
"Make yourself comfortable," she smiled, dropping the cans onto the bed gently before crossing the room to locate a hair band to tie her unruly curls back into a knot on her head. "So, how... is Storm doing?" she asked, turning around to watch Lucas shuffle nervously further into her room as she slid her leather jacket off her shoulders.
"Storm? Yeah, he's ok... missing you though," Lucas' eyes flashed up to her, before he moved to pull out various books and papers from his bag, laying them all out on the floor in a semi-circle.
"I've missed him too," Peyton agreed, grabbing two of the sodas and sitting cross legged on the cream carpet nearby.
"He got really bad the other day," Lucas sighed, accepting the can she was offering and sitting in the centre of the circle he had just made. "I'm surprised you couldn't hear him from here. I eventually figured out that if I put him in the field that ran adjacent to the lane, where he could at least see you, then he was slightly happier."
"Mr. Scott is away until tomorrow, so I'll come down to the yard in the morning," Peyton smiled, and Lucas immediately looked happier, making her wonder if they were still talking about Storm.
"I'm sure he would like that," he agreed, flipping open one of the book and producing a further pile of papers from the centre. "So... speaking of Mr. Scott, this is a copy of the contract, and this right here is the problem paragraph," he pointed to a section of black text surrounded by various notes in red pen.
Shuffling closer to take a closer look, Peyton tried to understand his small handwriting, reaching out to take the page from him but freezing when her hand made contact with his.
"Basically," he breathed, causing her to glance up, not realizing that there were only a couple of centimetres separating them. "It's like what Brooke said. You have to marry into the Scott family in order to claim your inheritance."
"And there is no way for me to get out of that?" she asked, unable to move away when the answers were so close.
"Unfortunately not. The contract is ironclad, with the marriage being the determining factor, but..." Lucas tailed off, taking in a shaky breath before locking his eyes onto hers.
"But...?" Peyton prompted, sensing a change in tension in the air.
"But, it doesn't specify that you have to marry Nathan in order to fulfil the contract," Lucas breathed, watching her reaction carefully.
"But? I don't... understand. I thought..." she eventually got out, her green eyes flashing as she tried to work out what he was getting at.
Sliding his hand out from under hers, and gently running his fingertips down her jaw, adding to Peyton confusion, Lucas held her gaze. "Don't marry Nathan. Marry me instead."
"Food!" Brooke bounced into the room, quickly followed by Nathan carrying two large pizza boxes, but the only reaction Peyton could have was for her jaw to drop open in shock.