Page 30 of Scars of a Passionate Revenge
It was a feeling like she had never experienced before, the softness of his lips, the tenderness of his caress, and the passion in his embrace.
He lifted his hand to her face, stroking her cheek as he kissed her deeply. She heard herself emit a small moan of pleasure as he pushed his tongue between her lips and began to explore her mouth. She could feel his breath quickening and her own breath was coming fast now, and her heart was pounding in her chest.
He pulled away and she felt a pang that was almost like hunger. She had not wanted the kiss to ever end. She had never known a feeling like it, never in her whole life.
“Alice,” he whispered.
She smiled softly at him. “I did not know it could feel like that.”
He returned her smile. “I have been wanting to do that for a long time.”
She gazed into his eyes but found that her mind was almost empty of words to reply to him.
After a while, they sat down on the grass, their horses having wandered to the other side of the clearing to graze.
She leaned against him and looked up at the sky. “It is beautiful here, is it not?”
He nodded. “It feels like a tiny piece of heaven.” He paused and looked at her. “Tell me about that summer, Alice. Tell me the things we did together. Perhaps it will jog my memory.”
She nodded. “I was staying with my father and stepmother for the summer, because my aunt was away. I told you, I think, that I usually lived with my Aunt Felicity. My stepmother preferred it when I was not living with them, and my father went along with it.” She felt a pang of sadness as she spoke the sorry truth out loud. “But that summer, I met you. I was sitting quietly under a tree in the garden reading, and I heard footsteps coming along the gravel path. I looked up and this boy appeared from nowhere—you, of course!”
She giggled at the memory. “Your hair was sticking up and you looked as if you had seen a ghost, or were being chased by a monster or something. You seemed like a wild creature to me—I did not spend much time with other children, you see.”
He nodded. “It sounds rather like me, running around like a crazy thing!”
“Indeed!” she replied with a smile. “You were a wild creature, and you nearly fell flat on your face when you saw me.
“Clearly you had an impact on me.”
She felt her cheeks warm as he looked at her, and she remembered the feeling of his mouth on hers. Had it truly happened? It felt like a dream.
She took a breath to try and regain her composure, so that she could finish the story of how they met.
“You had been running toward the stables, and you told me all about a new horse that had just arrived. We went together to see it, then you managed to convince me to go to the wooded part of the grounds with you to play on a rope swing that you had made, and that was the beginning. After that, we played together as much as we could.”
“And did anyone know about is?” Benedict asked, looking at her intently. “I cannot imagine that your stepmother would have been happy about you playing with a rough boy like me, and no doubt I had chores to do that I was shirking, in order to spend time with you.”
She nodded emphatically. “That is exactly how it was!” She paused for a moment. “Are you sure that you cannot remember?”
He shook his head. “My memory of that time has been wiped blank, I’m afraid. I wish I could remember, but I simply cannot.”
She sighed. “It makes me rather sad, Benedict, to think of that part of your life simply disappearing from your memory. We had such a wonderful time together.”
“Tell me more. What did we used to do together?”
“We used to race around the lake, and throw stones into the water. You always wanted to play in the mud, but I always refused, as I was worried about getting my dress dirty and getting into trouble with my stepmother. But one day, you managed to persuade me to try and climb a tree. I was so frightened—it was quite a tall tree, and heights made me dizzy.
But you stood at the bottom and shouted out instructions, and I did what you told me, placing my feet where you said I should, and I made it to the top.” She smiled at the memory.
“And there was such a wonderful view from up there. I understood why you wanted to see it. But then on the way down, I caught my foot on the hem of my dress. There was a terrible ripping noise and I knew I had ruined my dress. I knew that my stepmother would be furious with me and I would be in serious trouble when I got home.”
She saw that he was enraptured by her story, and she felt another pang of sadness that he could not remember what had happened.
“You were so kind to me, though, Benedict. You rubbed my leg where it was hurting, and tried to help me to disguise the tear in my dress. But it was no use, there was no way I was going to be able to hide it when I got home. My stepmother would not let me go outside to play for a whole week. I missed you so much during that week!”
Benedict smiled. “It sounds as though it was a magical summer.”
Alice felt her breath catching in her throat as she felt his eyes on her. “It was,” she whispered. “I wish we could go back in time and do it all again. Life was so much simpler then.”
