ASilverMirror (60 page)
Authors: Roberta Gellis
“I parted from Melisande, who, if you remember, was ten
years older than I, because what had started as a game to both of us was
becoming serious to her—and my heart was already full of a girl with the mane
of a horse.”
He reached out and tangled his hand into the thick curling
mass. Barbara guessed he was about to pull her into an embrace, as much to
divert her as to display his affection. She had no desire to loosen his grip,
but had no intention of permitting him to abort the conversation without
satisfying her curiosity.
“You cannot tell me you left Madame Janine for fear of
injuring her heart. She had none.”
Alphonse’s expressive brows rose. “True enough. Janine broke
off our affair, not I. She did not tell me why.” He smiled and his black eyes
glittered with amusement as he continued blandly, “And the others—may God bless
and keep them all, the silly hens—were so taken up with their own beauty and
thus so boring that I could hardly keep awake in their company long enough to
futter them.”
Barbara burst out laughing. He had courted each so briefly
that what he said must be true.
He looked at her with eyes made round like those of one
afflicted with eternal innocence and added, “A man can close his eyes and
imagine any body he likes,” the eyes narrowed into laughing slits, “but one
cannot enjoy that body if he has been bored asleep. I have no trouble keeping
awake in your company,” his voice took on a plaintive note, “even after a hard
battle and a long ride when no entertainment is offered.”
Laughter sputtered out of Barbara again, but what he said
that time was true too. A man could close his eyes and see any body he desired,
but it was impossible to hold a truly interesting conversation with oneself.
She felt warm and more content than ever before—not that she really believed
the green-eyed devil was dead, but for now he had been defeated.
Still laughing, she pulled off her bedrobe. “I think you are
quite mad, all bruised and battered as you are, but if it is entertainment you
want, I will provide it in full measure so that you need seek no other body.”
He caught her and held her away, and now, as only a few
times before, she saw his naked soul—hopeful and vulnerable. “Barbe,” he said
softly, “I love you. Do not use coupling to hide your heart from me.”
She bent and kissed him. “My love, my love, I cannot help
being a jealous woman. It is my nature. But I will try not to plague you.”
He laughed suddenly. “Plague me! Do!” he exclaimed. “I am
getting older. I have fewer offers already. Can you not understand how
flattered I will be when I am fat and toothless and you still believe me too
desirable?” Then the laughter was gone as suddenly as it had come and the bare
soul looked out of his eyes again. He drew her against him and murmured, “Do
anything but withdraw from me. I cannot bear that there be anything between
us.”
“I have no more secrets in my heart,” Barbara whispered. “I
love you too. I have always loved you.” He sighed with content, believing her
at last, and she touched his face tenderly, then firmed her grip so he could
not jerk away and nipped his chin. “And since you and I are both as naked as
fish, if you will only let me into the bed, I can get warm and there will be
nothing between us but love.”
About the Author
Roberta Gellis was driven to start writing her own books
some forty years ago by the infuriating inaccuracies of the historical fiction
she read. Since then she has worked in varied genres—romance, mystery and
fantasy—but always, even in the fantasies, keeping the historical events as
near to what actually happened as possible. The dedication to historical time
settings is not only a matter of intellectual interest, it is also because she
is so out-of-date herself that accuracy in a contemporary novel would be
impossible.
In the forty-some years she has been writing, Gellis has
produced more than twenty-five straight historical romances. These have been
the recipients of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for
historical novels from the West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate
from Affaire de Coeur, the Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval
Period (several times) and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy.
Last but not least, Gellis was honored with the Romance Writers of America’s
Lifetime Achievement Award.
The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and e-mail address on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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