Authors: Beth Trissel
“There’s that awful mark on the door like an omen
,” Julia whispered, as though not trusting herself to speak aloud
.
“
Oh, Will.
I’m frightened.”
“Don’t
be.”
He couldn’t resist
taking her in his arms
any
more
than
he could
forego
his next breat
h
.
She tucked her che
ek in the crook of his shoulder
an
d he stroked her
hair
, t
he coppery streaks
radiant by candlelight
.
“
We’ll find our way
, Julia
.
God willing.
”
“
Why shouldn’t
he be
willing
?
Swear yo
u won’t give up?”
“
Like some sort of quest?
I swear it.”
“Tell me more about
Mr.
Cameron, the Scotsman Cole argued with,” she
urged
.
“I should have th
ought you could tell me
.”
“Don’t make fun.
N
ot now,” she chided.
“I wasn’t.”
“Oh.
I
haven’t dreamt
of
him
yet
.”
An unlikely
chuckle rose in Will
’s c
h
est and rumbled in his throat.
“Cole is keeping you apart
from Cameron
even now.”
“Y
ou think
so
?”
“
Hell.
I would.”
Julia li
fted endearingly puzzled eyes.
“But how will I know what happened?”
“Ask my cousi
n the next time you see him,” Will
said
huskily, cupping
her cheeks
and
bending his head
to cover her
soft
full
mouth.
Dear Lord. H
is senses
swam with the touch
of her lips
against his,
the divine
supplication of
lovers i
n an ancient rite that never lost its near holy power
.
“
Julia...sweet Julia.
”
If o
nly he dared make love to her.
Every p
art of him pulsed
with desire.
As a man battling a strong current
, he couldn’t hold out much longer
under her
incredible
draw
.
Not without aid, and she wasn’t
any help
.
“Will.”
Dear Lord
, had she actually whispered his name?
His, not Cole’s?
Was she finally getting them straight, or did she just see no difference between them?
Will was almost beyond caring.
“Stay with me,” she pleaded
.
He broke from her mouth and staggered
to his feet
, wondering
i
f he ought to be shot
. “I can’t.
N
ot yet
.”
She stared
up at him as he stood there breathing like a winded runner
.
“
The time has to be right, Julia.”
“You mean you h
ave to be certain I’m not crazy.
”
That
, too
.
He’d better
bolt while he was on his feet.
“
We’re both tired
, not thinking clearly
.
Let’s make an early night of it
.
I’m
going to
go get
a shower
.
I
s
till have lime dust on me from old Joe.”
“The water will be cold
with the
electric
out
.”
“Good
.”
****
A
faint melody sounded in Julia’s ears, or was it her mind? S
tronger
the
music
grew,
haunting
and
beautiful
.
Was the melody
real
, or
the stuff of dreams
? Did it matter?
The dream world also held a kind of truth.
On
and on
the song
played, carrying her with it, and
then
a man’s low voice wh
ispered
,
“Jules
.
”
Her
wounded heart swelled
.
“Cole.”
The
one man
in the entire universe who didn’t regard
her as anything but cherished.
Julia
felt weirdly
as if she were having an affair with twins, yet
somehow
they were
the same
person
.
I
f she were going insane
, Cole would understand why.
She opened her
eyes to blackness
.
She
must’
ve
fallen asleep
on the couch and the candle
had burned
out.
“Where are you?”
“By your side.”
That was w
here Will had last been.
No light shown through the storm
-shrouded windows
and she
blindly
reached out her arms.
Cole didn’t
disappoint her.
His s
trong arms reached back, drawing
her close
to his solid chest
,
and
again
,
masculine fingers stroked her
hair.
L
ike Will
had
.
More...
Cole pressed his lips over the curve of her neck eliciting tingles
too rapturous for words
.
“Are you really here, or half a world away?”
she murmured.
“
Here, always
.
”
“Are you only
you
,
or also another
?”
“How can I be other than I am?”
he answered.
“Are you in
Will?”
“Only he can answer that.”
She nuzzled her cheek against
Cole’s
.
“He can’t, or won’t
.
”
“
Are you happy with him?”
The truth welled in her. “Yes. But I want you.
I’ve always wanted you.”
Cole’s breath was
warm
in her ear.
“Y
ou’ve found me.
”
Her spirits s
oared...a bird in flight.
S
he struggled
th
rough love-heightened emotion
to remember what
else
it was
that
she
had to ask
him
...something important.
The clash of swords echoed in her mind
.
“Cole
,
what happ
e
ned before?
How did you fall?
I can’t remember.”
“
No.
You wouldn’t
.”
“But I must know.
I fear evil
threatens again.”
“
It does. Beware the skulking stranger.
His fangs have death in their b
i
te, like the bane of the wolf
.”
Desperation grew in Julia
and she strove to understand. “What do you mean?
What do I watch for?”
“What you know best
.
”
“
P
lease.
T
ell me more.”
“Shhhh...
my love
, we have
so
little time
.”
With infinite tenderness,
he circled his
hands around her face as Will had d
one.
“
Kiss me
,
sweet
Julia.”
She stared wonderingly
at his faint outline in
the
inky blue
shadows.
“I thought you couldn’t do anything left undone
?
”
“
No.
But y
ou can.”
Her heart drummed out the
primal
beat
of all women desperately in love
as u
nbelievingly, she pressed her lips to his waiting mouth
.
He answered with a soft
caress,
like the brushing of
gossamer wings.
Then, bursting all bounds, he
pulled
her to him in throbbing
urgency
.
Sublimely powerful, every bit as hard as Will had kissed her.
All
hurts, wants and wishes...
the deepest longing of her soul spoke
through the press of their impassioned lips
, a sacred joining.
What were two centuries?
Love endured.
S
he ran her fingers through his thick hair,
as
black as night in the
velveted
darkness.
“Can I do more?”
The
pale moon sho
ne through the parting clouds.
A single beam of light slanted over
his
handsome face as
he
drew back with a sig
h of unspeakable satisfaction.
“You
have given me all you know to give
.
Thank you, dearest Jules.
”
“But
Cole, I love you.
I’ll follow wherever you lead.”
“I can’t lead you now.”
Agony tore through her as s
he felt him fading like moonbeams in her grasp
, s
l
ipping silver through her fingers
,
until she was left
only
with a soul-rending groan
.
“MMM
––
Mr.
Wentworth
?
”
Paul’s stumbling summons
caught Will’s attention
.
The ungainly
youth stepped out
from behind the hedge wear
ing the ever-present drab cap.
The
morning light shone in his
tawny eyes.
F
eral eye
s
, Will thought,
like the mangy
kitten
he’
d
taken in from the
dump
, but
Mr.
Tibbs
had grown into a sleek calico
.
Despite Will’s
best
efforts
to help
Paul
, he
still had that
wild,
pinched
look. As usua
l
, he
held hedge trimmers in his
grimy
hand
s
to sheer
the endless boxwood.
The
shrub’s spicy
scent
helped offset
the smell o
f unwashed body
that clung
to his
grungy
olive clothes
and
, no doubt,
to him
.