Page 97 of The Truth About Myths
"You color this pile of rocks." He moved between her legs and caressed her calves.
"It's the Portuguese sky. Our blue is stronger, darker, and it makes every color spark." Her gaze swept over the castle's granite walls and the lush land surrounding it. "Your estate is so… ancient and alive, so filled with history."
"Even the tower?"
"Especially the tower." She smiled shyly, then looked at their entwined hands. "Why sell it?"
Henrique shrugged, uncomfortable. "The Italian count made an outrageous offer and—"
She touched his cheek. "The truth."
Henrique stiffened but didn't dislodge her touch.
"Is it the memories?"
"I can't blame them. All good. Fishing with my father, chasing my sister around the corn fields, flustering my mother with my escapades. But they are gone now…" He blew air slowly from his mouth and gazed at the tired crenelation. His ancestors had perched there for centuries, fighting to protect king and country. "Generation upon generation of Penafiel blood was spilled for the sake of this pile of rocks. I'll break the pattern."
He hadn't brought her here to tell her of his lack of love for his ancestral home—and now it was out, floating between them like a giant boulder about to strike his head. His teeth ground down, and he released her hand, awaiting a reprimand from her patriotic lips.
She placed her palm atop his. "You wanted to fly."
Startled, he glanced up. Her green gaze shone with understanding and warmth. He nodded and pulled her closer for a taste. The kiss was bittersweet as if their bodies knew something they didn't. Being with her filled him with a devastating joy that bordered on pain. He was suddenly unable to breathe unless she admitted she loved him and had no intention of leaving.
With the sun warming their backs, a soft murmur of water babbling on rocks, he caressed the side of her face and kissed her palm. "If Alcmene had confessed her feelings for Zeus, he would have fought heaven and hell to stay with her."
She glanced away, her expression closing. "Lecherous Zeus? I doubt it."
"Perhaps not… but in matters of the heart, it is sometimes expected the woman to acknowledge her feelings first."
"Is that so?" She shifted, dislodging him, and slid from the wall. Hair flying behind her, she raced toward the castle, her skirts brushing against the tall grass.
Henrique closed the distance between them. "Why are you running from me?"
She increased her speed, her breathing labored. "Really, Henrique, as a temporary lover, you are proving to be a nagging—"
Henrique grabbed her arm, halting her escape. "I don't want to be a temporary lover, damn it!"
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, the green depths were replaced by steely determination. "Do you know what I want? I want friendship. I want respect. I want shared goals and to build a family. I want to set an example. I want to make a difference."
"I want you."
"I need more." She crossed her arms, her gaze sparkling with challenge and a question he had not expected to answer.
"I can do more. For you."
"Words, Henrique. How will I be able to believe in them? When they go against your nature? Do you think I forgot? You told me yourself. Monogamy is not natural." She hurled the words, and her eyes glittered with unshed tears.
He felt her slipping. The girl who laughed and soared with him was barricading behind her royal demeanor.
"I was wrong." Henrique pulled her into his arms and brushed his lips over hers, closing his eyes against the fierce wave of longing that shook him every time he breathed her scent. Conscious thought, motor coordination, sensory receptors—all shut down, his life energy demanding to fuse every inch of skin in his body with hers. His molecules had existed independently for thirty-two years, but now they required hers to achieve chemical stability.
"What if the mood passes and—"
"I wish this were a mood." He panted against her hair. "Moods are temporary. Moods sweep through a person harmlessly. A mood doesn't rearrange the structure of a man's cells. This? Us? Lifetime. Even then, my life will prove too short to live a love so long. I love you, you incredulous, shrewd woman. Curse your royal hide.”
Isabel whirled on him. “This isn’t fair. We agreed. One night, no guilt, no consequences.” Her voice cracked, and she punctuated each word by stabbing her finger into his chest.
Henrique didn’t move, didn’t defend himself. He just stood—a boulder of a man, determined to crush all her defenses. Isabel panted, every breath a struggle. Why did he have to do this? Why change the agreement now? When it would wrench her heart to sneak out of his bed tomorrow?
