Page 11 of Enkindling

As he resumed his upright posture, his eyes swept over me, and I felt both a thrill of excitement and a pang of frustration as I remembered how frumpy I must look.

“A promise is a promise, my lady,” came his reply. “It’s taken a while, but here I am.” His lips curled in the slightest of smiles. Oh, this man!

I drew myself up and regarded him imperiously. It must have looked ridiculous given the height difference, but I didn’t care. I even forgot to bother about my unflattering attire. He wouldn’t just come back when he pleased and have me eating out of his hand. “So, you remember promises, do you?” I scoffed. “Mind if I ask what took you so long?” I folded my arms under my breasts.

His eyes followed the gesture before looking into mine again. “It’s a long story, I’m afraid.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Will I ever hear it?”

“Perhaps.”

I rolled my eyes, my emotions flaring. “William Carter, I—” I sputtered, prepared to give him a proper tongue lashing.

He reached for me without warning.

His touch was what did it. I melted as soon as his hand brushed my shoulder. Two hurried steps brought me to him, and I collapsed against his chest, pressing my trembling body against his solid frame. I felt fear. I felt anguish. I felt desperate hope. His arms encircled me, and the dam finally burst.

Chapter 5

In Search of Dawn

Will

For a while we stood there under the shade, Kathy in my arms, her body shaking with the force of her sobs. I held her there in silence as the seconds zoomed past and turned into minutes. She clutched at me and cried, and I stroked her raven hair in what I hoped was a soothing way. The feel of her body pressed so tightly to mine was magic, and I tried not to dwell too much on what her soft, full breasts cushioned against me were doing. I had just arrived, and already Kathy was doing things to me. My body had come alive all at once, and I tried to subtly maneuver her away from my growing erection. I forced myself to ignore it all. This was her moment, not mine. I would not take this away from her.

After a while, I felt her draw a steadying breath, then I heard her tremulous voice. “Will Carter, you’re a beast… You are absolutely, positively a beast. You’re horrible,” she cried as she devolved into fresh sobs, visibly shaking.

Her words stung, but I took them to square on and held her, continuing to stroke her hair.

I hadn’t thought it, yet she somehow pressed herself even closer to me.Christ, the woman was going to end me. Iwas not at all prepared for the raw intimacy and sheer vulnerability of such move was capable of stimulating in me.That’s it, I thought.This is the limit.I began looking around for somewhere to sit. Spying a bench only feet away, I shifted, preparing to take her with me.

She reacted with a reflexive jerk, refusing to let go. “Will—!” she began to protest.

She thought I’d meant to let her go. Well, she was right, and she was wrong. There would need to be at least an inch more of space between us, or I was sure I would forget myself and take her right there and then. But now that I had felt her against me like this again, clinging to me with such desperate abandon and longing, I would not let her go again,so help me God.

“Shush,” I cut her off, swept her clear off her feet, and made for the bench.

Her shock was of an entirely different sort this time, and her arms that now snaked their way around my neck did not do so out of panic. I might have made a mistake, I thought with chagrin as I beheld this woman now curled up in my arms, her face still hidden from view as she stained my vest with tears. I might have just landed myself in the fire in an attempt to get clear of the pan.Dear God if this woman was any more beguiling—!

Hastening my steps, I arrived and avoided collapsing onto it in my hurry. She curled up on my lap like an infant, arms still wrapped around my neck, and that was how we remained for several minutes more. All the while, I sat there doing my level best to channel my inner stoic. This was her moment, I kept telling myself – her moment, not mine.

Finally, she calmed down enough to stop crying and slowly uncurled herself. She leaned back to look at me, and I found my face dangerously close to hers, staring into teary blue eyes, no less. Dropping the book she had somehow managed to keep hold of during all this onto the bench beside us, she cupped my face in both hands and looked at me with all the thoroughness of a mother examining her child for signs of injury. Her gaze was so endearing that I was sure I'd kiss her any moment now. It was with the utmost strength that I contained myself. Then tentative fingers explored my face with the softest of touches. Her eyes were filled with wonder and doubt as if she expected to wake from a dream. I endured it all and was careful not to touch her beyond having my arms around her loosely to keep her steady.

“Will,” she finally breathed and moved in close once again. “Oh, Will…”

For one perilous moment, I was sure she was going to kiss me, and I would surely have lost all control then. But she had only meant to hug me tight all over again, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was one of the most conflicted moments of relief I had experienced in recent memory. I hesitated to return the hug; lost as I was in hazardous thoughts.

When she finally let me go again, she had a smile on her tear-stained face. “You came,” she whispered. “You finally came back for me.”

“That I did,” I replied with a smile of my own. “Hi, Kat.”

She looked about to burst into tears again as she gazed at me, but she caught herself and took a steadying breath. “Hi Will,” she said. Then she climbed out of my lap and seated herself rather sheepishly beside me. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “For losing myself like that. I’m a little embarrassed. Scratch that. I’m embarrassed in the extreme.”

“I didn’t mind,” I said truthfully. What I did mind was her having vacated my lap, but it was probably for the best, I decided.

She wasn’t touching me at all now, but she was still gazing at me with an intensity to make anyone uncomfortable under normal circumstances. “I’m still not sure I believe it. You were alive all this time…”

“Did you miss me?”

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