Page 25 of The Burning Passion of a Fiery Lady
She started to tremble again, clinging to him. “I never realised that it could be like that. I never knew …” Her face twisted with emotion. Almost in pain.
“It is alright, my Susannah,” he whispered. “I want to do this with you again. As many times as you will let me. I want to give you pleasure, over and over. I do not want this to be the last time that we will lie in each other’s arms. Do you feel the same way?”
She nodded slowly. “I think that I would die if you did not hold me again.” She hesitated. “I never thought that this would happen to me again, let alone that I could experience such wild pleasure. I thought that part of my life was over …”
His heart started to thud painfully. “I thought that it would never happen for me again, either, after what happened with Helena.” He paused. “I did not want it to happen, Susannah. I have been fighting it from the very first moment that I saw you. But I might as well have been trying to fight the sun from rising in the sky.”
She sighed deeply, then, nestling into his arms, almost burrowing like a small creature. For five minutes, they said nothing, merely breathing, relishing the joy of being in each other’s arms.
He gazed out over the river, tightening his grip on her. This beautiful woman, who had known such pain in her life. He wanted to give her the entire world. He wanted to give her everything that she had never had before. He wanted to show her that love could be good, that it didn’t have to end badly, that there was another way.
He blinked back tears. She was healing him, as much as he was healing her. He had not trusted that love could be good, either. He had retreated into his shell, spurning the very idea of it, scared of being hurt again. Thinking that he could not endure it if it turned out the same way, and he was betrayed again.
But then, Susannah Drake had abruptly come into his life and changed everything. There was simply nothing that was the same now.
“We should go,” he whispered into her hair. “David and Mrs Lambert will have noticed that we are not there, by now …”
She clung to him harder. “Must we? Can we not stay like this forever?”
He smiled. “I wish we could stay like this forever, too. But that is not the way of it.”
She smiled, a little sadly. “No, there is never much time to be truly ourselves, is there?” Gently, she started to untangle herself from his embrace, before turning to him, staring at him. “But I am just grateful that there are these pockets of time, now. For I never know when they will happen again.”
***
Even though they knew they had to return, that the others would surely be wondering where they were by now, they did not gallop back. Instead, they wove their way slowly through the woods, marvelling at every sight.
Winter was a distant memory, now, thought Jasper. Spring had arrived, in all its glory; even the sun was celebrating it, burning high in the sky, spreading golden rays over the woodlands. In the distance, he saw bluebells and wild roses, pushing up from the earth, just budding. He could imagine that in a few weeks, they would be blanketing the ground.
Suddenly, he spied a nest of baby birds, chirping on a low branch. Their eyes were barely open as they chirruped frantically, seeking their mother, who did not appear to be in the vicinity.
“Look,” he called to Susannah, pointing to them. “What type of birds are they? I do not recognise them.”
She stopped, leading the horse back so that she could stare into the nest. “They are blue tits,” she said slowly. “See their yellow beaks? When they are grown, their feathers will be golden and blue, just like their mother’s …”
They both stared into the nest, fascinated by the tiny birds.
Suddenly, his gaze was arrested by a wide expanse of yellow in the distance. He gasped. He knew what this was. It was a field of creeping buttercup that seemed to have bloomed early. It was so expansive it seemed to cover the hillside entirely.
“Come on,” he whispered, staring back at her. “Follow me.”
He didn’t wait for her response; he knew that she would follow him. She was enjoying this foray into the woodlands as much as he was and was in no hurry to return. It was as if they were squeezing the last out of these precious moments when they were alone together.
At the edge of the field, he dismounted, wading through the yellow flowers. He heard her following, just behind.
When he had reached its centre, he turned around, grabbing her hand and pulling her against him. She laughed as she lost her balance, and they both tumbled onto the ground.
“We are angels,” he whispered, gazing at her fervently, as she lay against his chest. “If we hold out our arms, we can spread out our wings, like this.” He let go of her, pushing his arms outwards, moving the buttercups so that they undulated underneath him.
She laughed harder. “You are an angel,” she insisted. “I think you have come to me to help me through this time, just when I needed it most …”
He kissed the tip of her nose, then turned and carefully picked some buttercups, twining them together into a chain. When he was finished, he placed them on her head, adjusting them.
“Your crown,” he whispered. “It suits you, Susannah. You are a queen in this realm. You seem to belong here, in nature. I can hardly imagine you anywhere else now.”
She laughed again. “Angel or queen? Or can I be queen of the angels?”
“Both,” he said slowly, smiling. “You are an angel, and a queen, all rolled into one!”
