Andrea Kane by Black Diamond

Author:Black Diamond
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-11-04T19:26:48+00:00

Chapter 10

DAWN’S PALE RAYS AWAKENED her.

Rolling onto her back, Aurora blinked, opening her eyes to stare up at the familiar ceiling, wondering why she felt so out of sorts awakening in her own bedchamber.

The answer spilled forth like the sunlight.

Julian wasn’t beside her.

Propping herself on her elbows, Aurora scanned the room, confirming that her husband indeed was not there. She’d waited up half the night for him until her aching body and heavy eyelids won out and sleep had claimed her.

Perhaps that had been for the best.

She was still reeling from her conversation with Courtney, or rather, from its outcome. She’d expected many things from her friend: compassion, understanding, profound discussion. All of which she’d gotten in abundance. What she hadn’t expected was the sheer impulsiveness of Courtney’s response. It was she who was the reckless one, the one who rushed impetuously into situations. Courtney was calmer, more rational, capable of weighing all the ramifications before acting. And yet, just when Aurora was facing the most overwhelming of challenges, when she’d somehow found the sensibility to restrain herself from blurting out her feelings to Julian, Courtney had urged her to do precisely that.

What’s more, she’d agreed.

Had she agreed because it suited her nature to do so, or because she truly believed telling Julian was the right thing to do? Swiftly she reevaluated the reasons she’d originally conjured up for deferring her revelation: the compelling search for the black diamond, her own reticence, and, most significantly, Julian’s.

Courtney’s reasoning annihilated them all. If what her friend suggested was true, Julian might be taken aback, even unnerved by her declaration of love; but ultimately he would need that love, rely upon it as his foundation while he sought not only the missing stone, but an internal peace both he and his past had wrested away.

Groaning, Aurora swung her legs over the side of the bed and tossed back her thick mane of hair.

Hell and damnation, Courtney was right.

With that woeful admission she rose, an ironic smile curving her lips. Love obviously did change a person. For the first time, deferral had seemed infinitely more appealing than candor.

Crossing over to the wardrobe, Aurora pulled out one of the few gowns she’d left behind for those times she visited Pembourne—a welcome fact, given that the dress she’d worn yesterday was torn beyond repair. She washed and dressed hastily, her thoughts now veering in a completely new direction.

Julian had never come to bed. That could mean but one thing: that he and Slayde were still in the library, poring over James’s books in the hopes of finding the one from which the hidden page had been torn.

And she wanted to be there when they found it.

Running a brush through her hair, she glanced briefly at her reflection in the looking glass, then dashed out the door, through the hallway, and down the stairs.

She burst into the library.

“What have you found … ?” Breaking off, she stared about in amazement. The library shelves were three-quarters bare, the floor piled high with volume after volume of discarded texts.

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