“I can assure you I have no ill intention,” he said. “I simply wish to assure your good health and I cannot understand why you would reject my offer.”
Rose was getting vexed now. He was far too close to her. She just wanted to get back to the anonymity of the castle. What was it about men that they never took no for an answer?
“Look, kind sir,” she started. “I am not a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. I can take care of myself.”
She was aware he was walking around in front of her to effectively block her path. This made her even angrier.
“I would ask that you get out of my way, and I will bid you good day, and we shall say nothing more of it. I am perfectly capable of returning home alone.”
“If you were perfectly capable, I don’t think you would have left home in this weather in those dainty boots,” he said derisively. Rose’s head snapped back to challenge his tone but for one fraction of a second, she laid eyes on her tormentor.
Rose froze. Everything went silent. She couldn’t hear the rain, the birds, or the breathing of his horse. Everything was suspended as she looked at the face of the one person she had fallen asleep with every night and woken with every morning for year after year. In that one moment, as he was still assessing her footwear, she saw the tousled brown curls peeking from beneath his sodden top hat. Every wonderful, glorious, precious moment they had ever shared together flashed before her eyes. Then, she snapped her chin back down to her breastbone as her heartbeat began to pound in her ears.How? How is he here? Am I dreaming? Why does he sound so different?His voice was a richer, deeper baritone, but it was unmistakably him.
She had to get away from him. It was imperative now. She had wronged this man so badly. She could not face his reaction if he realized who she was. She moved quickly to the right, intending to go around him, but as she lifted her foot, her boot caught again, and she almost fell sideways, twisting her ankle. She groaned out loud.
“Are you in pain?” he was next to her immediately as she shook her head, trying to quieten the sound of her rapidly-beating heart, making her feel quite breathless. He took that as an indication of her frailty. “Come now, I will brook no argument. Let me escort you back to your family at once before the cold infiltrates the rest of you, and you succumb to a fever.”
He was older, broader, and even more handsome than she remembered, but why was he dressed like a lord and riding a horse fit for royalty? His arms were reaching for her now.
“Don’t be afraid if this is your first time on a horse. She is as gentle as a deer,” he said, next to her hood, and with that, his arms came around her body and lifted her free of the mud, swinging her up as easily as he would a child against his chest.
“Will, stop!” Rose screamed.
CHAPTERTWO
Rose threw her head back against his shoulder as she attempted to free herself from his arms, and the wet hood slid off her tell-tale long blonde hair.
“Rose!”
Rose cringed at his shout, not wishing to look at his face, having longed for but dreaded this moment for so many years.
He had stopped mid-step, but he did not release her. Instead, if anything, he held her more tightly.
“Rose! Is it really you?” His voice cracking on the last word.
She turned her head to look at him, and he was staring at her face from just inches away with a look of wonderment. “How did I not recognize you? Your voice? The shape of you? That dance! That accent!” As she watched, a slow, delicious grin spread across his features. “How could I not realize that only you would be mad enough to be out in this downpour?”
Rose said nothing, her heart still pounding in her chest but marveling now at the play of emotions across his face. It was the same face she had lain in bed with every night for nine years, conjuring up that very smile, imagining the feel of his hands on her body. And now his handswereon her body, and they burned where he touched, even through her layers of clothes and undergarments. She could feel his breath on her face as he seemed to be struggling to maintain his composure. She could hear the pounding of his heart, too, against her cheek. Hers felt like a printing press. The rain was still falling, running in rivulets down their faces.
“I truly can’t believe it,” he was murmuring. “I can’t believe you are here!”
And then, without any warning, he bent his head and kissed her. His warm lips pressed against hers, sealing out the rain, moving gently and tenderly, and igniting a melting heat in almost every part of her body. Rose knew she should push him away, but as his arms tightened around her back and knees, she found herself pressed against him, as if he was attempting to meld them into one. His lips brushed against hers so delicately that she felt as if she were dissolving into liquid. Then he suddenly raised his lips and looked into her wide eyes.“Sorry,” he said softly. “I couldn’t help myself.”
For a brief moment, he rested his brow on hers, allowing her to feel his ragged breaths against her skin.
“It has been so long,” she said.
“So very long,” he agreed. “May I kiss you again?”
The fact he was asking for her permission seemed incongruous. All those years before, they had simply belonged to each other, and he had never asked to touch or caress her. Maybe he felt as she did, she thought, that one wrong move might shatter this sudden, unexpected, magical moment. She had so expected him to be angry, to shun her and ride away. But he was holding her as if she was a precious prize and seemed to have no desire to put her down.
She raised one hand to touch his hair and caress the side of his face, almost as if she was drawing him. He rubbed his cheek against her palm, then she ran her hand around to the back of his neck and slowly, gently pulled his lips down to hers. The warmth of his mouth was intoxicating, made all the more so by the cool of the rain as his lips danced across hers, their tongues intertwined.
Rose remembered this feeling so well; how her body used to surrender to his; the feeling of his soft, warm lips on her mouth, on her neck, against her ears.
“Oh, Will,” she groaned and was rewarded by an even tighter grip on her body.
“Rose,” she heard him gasp.