This Time Next Year – here it is again

Soon, dear readers, you will learn why I am tempting you with all these juicy snippets and the low low cost of less than $3.00!

His face appeared ragged, as if he hadn't slept at all, and tortured, as if he'd been lost in a world she couldn't imagine. His eyes conveyed a sadness she swore hadn't been there previously. Swore, too, that the tight set of his mouth was all that kept the corners from turning down in a sorrow too deep to bear.

She didn't need to be here. She shouldn't have come here. She had to go, to leave him. Looking away, she reached for her coat. "I just wanted to say that. I didn't mean to intrude."

Three heavy steps brought him to her, and he grabbed her arm to keep her from walking out of the warm barn and back into the frigid morning. "Wait."

His hold was firm and gave her little choice. She stared at his hand, the hand of a stranger, a man much larger than her, a warrior who'd been damaged, and realized she wasn't frightened at all. Instead, compassion coiled in her center, and she did as he said.