A Midsummer's Sin by Natasha Blackthorne

Author:Natasha Blackthorne [Blackthorne, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing
Published: 2012-07-02T21:00:00+00:00

* * * *

Rosalind knelt and plunged her hands into the stream that made a boundary line on Goody Wilson’s farm. Her hands were sticky and purple from picking blackberries all afternoon. As she scrubbed herself, the cool water invited her to linger.

She unbuckled her shoes, hiked her skirts, shed her stockings, then immersed her feet. Her wiggling toes glowed white in water that glimmered like diamonds in the afternoon sun. The refreshment seemed to cleanse not only her flesh but her spirit.

She sighed, trying to release even more of her pent-up angst.

Her mind was so weary. She’d spent too many sleepless nights, torn inside with guilt. Guilt over the way she had dealt with Thomas. By seducing him into betraying his deeply held moral beliefs, hadn’t she proved herself to be wicked?

Just as wicked as he’d thought her to be all this time.

But I loved him, longed to know his touch. If only once.

It was no proper defence. She’d spent too long amidst people like Mr Boger and her gentlemen. She’d been accustomed to people abusing her and taking advantage.

She’d become just like them.

She’d taken advantage of Thomas in his weakest moment.

That wasn’t a loving act.

She could no longer deny the truth.

“Rose.” The word carried on the warm breeze, half sensual whisper, half prayer. An answering tingle spread like wildfire through her belly.

Maybe the whisper had been only her imagination. A trick of the wind.

“I was coming to see you.”

That had been no trick of the wind. She opened her eyes and looked up into Thomas’ face.

He looked hollow-eyed. Tired.

Had guilt kept him awake as well?

You could make things right. With one word.

No! She would not lock herself into a self-imposed gaol. She would not live out her days haunted by the likes of Patience Marlowe.

A better woman would fight for him. If you truly loved him, you wouldn’t leave him to suffer, alone with his ghost…

But fighting for him would mean being vulnerable. Telling him the whole truth of her past. Her heart gave a trill of fear at the very thought.

“Why would you come to see me, Goodman?”

“I thought you might like to take a walk with me.”

“A walk…with you?”

“Aye.” The wind blew his dark hair. Sunlight made the red and gold highlights blaze. He dropped to his knees beside her. “I think, if we were to spend some time to come to know each other as friends, I think you could accept a marriage with me.”

A little leaping sensation blossomed in her chest. Hope. Foolish, stupid hope.

Could he come to know her and see her differently?

Humour twinkled in his eyes. He smiled, showing his strong, white teeth.

Her heartbeat warbled briefly. A girlish nervousness heated her cheeks. She couldn’t help a small, tentative smile. “What?”

“Your lips…they are purple…” His voice trailed off. He reached out.

She tried to move away but trembling excitement made her too weak. The scents of blackberries, sun and sky intensified yet, in her vision, everything else in the world closed off except for him.

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