Page 120 of If the Slipper Fits
She was his. His.
She had agreed to marry him. Their lovemaking, as far as he was concerned, sealed the promise. God help anyone who tried to take her from him now.
Contentment like he’d never known filled him.
He could lay like this, listening to the fountain softly gurgling, the birds cooing, the wind whispering through the trees beyond the garden walls forever, so long as Anna lay with him, her cheek nestled into the curve of his neck.
Her fingers toyed with his hair brushing his collar. She sighed and nestled closer. Yes, he could stay like this forever, Anna in his arms.
***
“Do you remember the two of us, whiling away those long summer days along the river bank? You dictating the rules of the game and never relenting? When I rescued my stolen princess, I had to bestow a kiss on her. Always.”
His question came out of nowhere. Spoken in a soft voice that felt like a caress, it nevertheless dragged her from the near idyllic state she’d been in.
She stirred in his arms, lifting her head to look at him.
A small smile played at his lips and his eyelids were open a mere crack.
She traced her fingers over his jaw, her heart overflowing with love. “So I did, as you’ve already establishedmanytimes. You recently admitted you liked kissing me. Too much, you said. Or will you deny that now?”
“I will not. Do you recall the last time we saw each other? In Derby, I mean.”
She folded her hands on his chest and rested her chin on them. “I do.”
“What do you recall, Anna?”
She licked her lips, suspecting he meant garner her admission she wanted his kisses more than he wanted hers, yet unable to work up any heat at the moment.
“I was moping about, our day of departure looming ever closer. You said you felt sorry for me, and offered to play Prince Charming rescues the stolen princess as a way to cheer me. I agreed.”
“Agreed? You leapt at the chance,” he teased and tugged a lock of her hair. “What else do you remember?”
She closed her eyes, feigning concentration. In reality, she remembered every detail. Lying at the base of that large yew tree, ignoring the knotted roots poking into her back, pretending to be in a dead faint.
Caden swooped her up in his arms and carried her to a shaded, grassy knoll overlooking the river bank. She could still feel the warmth of his firm, lithe body as he held her. Could hear the gentle cascade of water flowing, smell the foliage, and damp earth as he laid her on his coat.
She could see the blue of his eyes as, slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers.
He’d kissed her before. Hard, quick presses of his lips that left her giddy and giggling for days. This time was different. He kissed her so gently, so tenderly, her heart threatened to burst from her ribs. Rather like it had a few minutes ago.
Unlike today, he ended the kiss with an abruptness akin to a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over her head.
Before she could open her eyes, he was on his feet, grabbing her hand, all but dragging her to the path leading to her family’s cottage, where he left her to take off in the opposite direction.
His apparent anger baffled her—and grew into a hurt more painful than she could have imagined. Especially as she never saw him again.
She had no intention of telling him any of those things.
Instead, she opened her eyes and sent him a studious look. “We were in the forest clearing, equidistant between our homes. You rescued me, delivered me to safety, and then…kissed me.”
He nodded. “I see. Not such a momentous occasion for you, then. For me it was,” he paused, blew air out his cheeks, “…beyond anything.”
Her pretense of indifference vanished. She stared at him, heart in her throat.
“Before that summer, you were a playmate, a younger one at that whom I needed to protect. That summer, the moment I saw you, I knew things had changed. You seemed different. Not only the bullying termagant from the years before, but…”
She could not speak, much less work up any heat at his less than flattering description. Butterflies swarmed her belly, squeezing in around her heart.
