Page 63 of Wicked Designs
“Don’t you dare joke about that, Em.” He growled the new nickname. “I want only you. I have no other women.”
He didn’t declare his love, didn’t promise a permanent relationship, but it was a start.
Emily leaned against him, hugging his waist briefly on impulse.
“Will you untie me now? I’m not in the least inclined to run off.”
“No. I like you tied to me.” His words seemed filled with a deeper meaning.
The forest was quiet and beautiful. A fullness settled into the air and woods, as though a sleeping god dwelt within a tree close by. The trees sighed and swayed with the pull of the breeze. Magic coated the forest floor, and leaves fell every few moments in a storm of gold and red.
Everything was perfect. She owned a loyal hound, and walked in the presence of a man who wouldn’t let her leave his side, albeit in a far too literal fashion, and the company of new friends built inside her a peace and joyful fervor. Words were unnecessary. Instead she spoke to Godric with smiles and the clasping of his hand in hers.
Life with her uncle had been cold. There were no jokes, no laughter, not even tears; just awful silence and the scratching of quills on paper. Why couldn’t timestop for just a few days? A few weeks? She could stay here forever with Godric and the others.
“What are you thinking about?” Godric asked. Emily came back to herself, trying to dissolve the sudden melancholy.
“It’s nothing.” She tried to wipe away the evidence of her tears.
Godric’s brow furrowed. “You are unhappy? Does the rope hurt?”
The caring tone clashed with his words in such a way that it made her laugh but it came out as a sob. “Unhappy?”
He massaged her waist, but she shook her head, and turned away, ashamed. She tripped on a broken branch but Godric caught her. He pulled her fully into his arms and held her tight to his chest.
“What… What can I do?” He couldn’t know what she wanted or needed, but his intentions warmed her heart.
“Please, Godric, just hold me for a moment.” Her lips brushed his throat as she snuggled against him.
He walked them back to the nearest log and sat down, cradling her in his lap. From the moment her parents died, no one had held her, comforted her. She’d been forced into her uncle’s household, where her heart withered and died.
Godric wasn’t offering love, but at least he cared, and that was a thousand times purer to her than anything her uncle had provided.
At that moment, Emily needed Godric’s warmth, hisstrength, his embrace, more than she needed the air in her lungs.
It finally hit. Her parents were dead, and they would never come back. She was alone.
Tears came. Harsh, painful tears, but she let them flow, let them rule her. Soon enough they faded, and she was empty, a skeleton on the inside.
“Emily, are you all right?” Godric’s warm lips caressed her ear.
“I’m…I will be all right. I am sorry to have cried. It must be annoying to listen to me.”
“The only thing that upsets me is knowing I’ve made you cry.”
“You? Oh, Godric, this was not… My tears were for my parents. It’s finally sunk in that my parents are dead…that they’re never coming back.” Her voice shuddered. “I can’t help but wonder what their last moments were like. My mother never learned how to swim… She must have been so frightened.” Emily couldn’t breathe, thinking about the cold, dark waters. A tightness gripped her mind, clenching around her head, making it hard to think.
“Breathe, Emily. Breathe.” Godric’s arms tightened about her body as he held her closer to him. Rather than feel suffocated, his embrace cocooned her with strength. She felt his mouth against her temple as he kissed her. Emily drew in a slow, painful breath.
“My poor darling,” he murmured between gentle kisses that traveled down from her temple to her cheek. He nuzzled her neck, and his scent flooded her nose. It was soothing, dreamy, and yet enticing.
“I know what I can do to make you smile again.”
“What? No, not that!”
“Oh yes.”
Emily threw her arms around herself defensively, but it was too late as Godric began to tickle her.
