Page 14 of Caught in Time
Chapter Four
“Please tell me wherewe’re going!” Charlotte begged in good-natured excitement as Spencer led her to the outskirts of the city.
“I told you it’s a surprise.”
He winked down at her and leaned close enough to tell her a secret, his warm breath tickling her ear.
“We’re almost there, I promise.”
His lips lingered and she felt him brush them across her hair.
As they approached a verdant large meadow on the banks of a crystal-clear brook, she wondered at the wisdom of letting him bring her to his secluded place ... alone. Now, a woman had little more than her reputation.
Spencer led her up a narrow trail to the meadow, glancing back every so often to grin as she gazed at the incredible beauty of the wildflowers surrounding them.
Taking advantage of the solitude, Charlotte released his arm and slipped her fingers intimately through his, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. He returned the gesture, dropping to an even more leisurely pace, their linked arms swinging between them. Spencer wove through a small grove of trees, never letting go of her hand, and then into an even more lovely grassy meadow. At this moment, contentment settled in her breast.
Spencer’s strong hands came upon her shoulders and a moment later he kissed the sensitive skin along the side of her throat. His fingers brushed a stray tress from the back of her collar, and his lips touched the slope of her neck at the very base where every nerve ending seemed to center. She shivered in anticipation of his touch, and she turned to him. No thoughts of work or time travel or holding herself from him entered her mind. Right now, she was happy to simply be with him.
“I come here to be alone and think,” he whispered.
Tenderly, he brushed a windblown hair from her throat as his lips moved to her cheek.
“I thought you might need a place of your own as well.”
They stood so close the heat resonating from his body sent tingles dancing across her skin. He kissed the delicate flesh at the corner of her mouth and the tingles shot straight to her brain. Her lips parted in response, warm, ready.
“It’s true,” she whispered, closing her eyes as he kissed the other corner of her mouth.
“Life completely overwhelms me at times. I need a place like this.”
She tilted her neck, responding without thought as his lips slid an intoxicating trail of kisses down the gentle slope of her throat. His fingers ran light paths up and down her spine until she shivered.
“Thank you for sharing your special place with me.”
Lifting her into his arms, Spencer’s piercing blue gaze bore into her eyes with such smoldering emotion her breath froze.
“There is much more I want to share with you,” he said. “God help me, Charlotte, you feel so good in my arms.”
A heady combination of desire, delight and passion swirled through her veins, leaving her light-headed and more than a little foolish. She twined her fingers through his thick, wavy hair, angling her face in to meet his lips.
“Kiss me.”
****
