Jeannie Hudson's Blog: Bookmarks - Posts Tagged "warm"

"...She looked down at her hands twisted in her lap,determined to dismiss what he said. Still, she was unsure. One part of her wanted to argue that Lareina wouldn't disapprove as he feared. Another remembered how little she still knew about her aunt. In the end, her doubt kept her silent. 'Can we be friends?' she asked after a long time.
'I truly don't know. I long to say yes but I doubt putting that label on what exists between us would change anything.'
'So, are we to wait 'til I reach a suitable age?'she demanded. 'What age will that be? Twenty-one? Thirty? How old will you be then? Sixty?" She stashed the hamper and slid to the far edge of the seat.
Aiden jumped down and strode around the
wagon, then placed his hands at either side of her waist and lifted her down, his eyes warm despite his earlier detachment. 'I don't know the answers, Regan,'he said, his voice weary. 'Perhaps when Lareina returns....'
Regan pulled herself free and walked a
few steps,angry,afraid,feeling the joy sliding out of reach.
Aiden followed and took her shoulders,
turning her to face him again. 'Please,
let's not talk about the future. Let's
enjoy today and let that be enough for now.'
She searched his eyes, acknowledging a
faint hope. He hadn't denied that a future existed for them.
'Are you with me on that?'he prodded.
Knowing she had no choice, she nodded,
wanting what time was left. 'But I won't
give up. Not until you've given me better
reasons that what I've heard so far....'
He pressed one finger to her lips, then outlined mouth. She stood beneath his sad,wanting gaze, his body tense. He appeared about to kiss her and she willed
him to, but slowly he disengaged himself
and stood with his back turned.
Shaken by their intimate exchange, she
moved to her equipment. A damp wind had
come up and she shrugged deeper into her
cloak. Aiden approached, touching her arm. 'While you do your work, I'm going to load the gold, then we'll start back.'"

'Grateful when she neared Aiden's camp she found him seated at a small table covered with papers. He leaned over his work, intense in his concent-, ration and she faltered to a stop.
She yearned to run to him, giving free rein to the joy rushing along every nerve but uncertainty kept her rooted a few yards away. Slowly drawn by her eyes, he looked up as if she'd just appeared in his parlor.
His brain could not accept that she
was truly there. His preoccupation with her shining hair, the soft lines of her stylish frock suspended time. He wasn't immediately obliged to face the danger yet again. He could drink her in like a man dying of thirst.
It took time for the truth to catch
up with his runaway reaction and he was
possessed by the profound desire to take her in his arms, bury his face in the silk of her hair and weep.
Regan watched emotions playing over
his features like light on water and she
struggled to decipher what he was thinking. She identified pleasure and a
bemused confusion. His dark, wary eyes
seemed to worship and rebuke her all at once;she saw no trace of the cold she feared. But gradually the rest seeped away, and he looked at her with unmist-
akable panic. And something else, some-
thing that jolted her.
Was it a warning she saw? Or terror? Revulsion? She couldn't be sure.
She was only conscious of the terrible
pain deep inside as she glimpsed what
had been hidden until now....'