Hart's Hollow Farm by Janet Dailey

Author:Janet Dailey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2019-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Orange, glowing heat seeped through Mitch’s closed eyelids and stirred him awake. He blinked, then inhaled, and the aroma of honeysuckle and fresh dew swept through his nose and filled his lungs.

The sun was up, the bright eye rising slowly above the horizon. Its rays cut through the rain-induced mist that still lingered over the fields, and cast crystal-like shimmers across the deep puddles scattered along the red driveway. Stronger shafts of light reached the steps of the front porch, stretched over the broad floor beneath his boots, then trailed lazily over the smooth skin of Kristen’s bare arm that rested against the arm of the rocking chair.

He smiled. The act stretched the tender flesh along his cheekbone, but her comforting weight pressed against his chest soothed him in this moment of discomfort. He lifted his hand, smoothed his palm over her soft blond hair, and studied the sprawling landscape surrounding them.

We’re going to bring it back to life.

And strangely enough, that was how he felt. His limbs, like his eyes, were light, filled with purpose and a renewed sense of energy. That gnawing ache in his gut had receded, a pleasant sense of calm having taken its place.

Pushing with one foot, he rocked back in the chair and eased it into a gentle rhythm. Each flex of his leg was met with a creak of weathered wood and the chipper calls of birds, the sounds an odd sort of comfort. The kind he’d never experienced at Hart’s Hollow and savored all the more for it.

“Mmm.” Kristen shifted against him, rubbing her cheek against his chest, and sighed. “We fell asleep?”

His smile grew. “Yeah.”

She placed one palm to his thigh and one to his chest, then straightened and looked up at him. Sunlight caressed her sleep-flushed cheek, highlighting her freckles, and brightened the tender, concerned look in her green eyes.

It was enough to bring a man to his knees.

“It bruised,” she whispered, trailing a fingertip across the sore flesh along his cheekbone. “Does it still hurt?”

“A bit.” He caught her hand in his, brought her fingers to his lips and kissed each one in turn, grinning. “But this helps.”

She smiled, all dimples, flirtatious expression and soft comfort, then cupped his jaw. Her thumb glided across the stubble lining his chin. “And this?”

A sweet ache stole through him, and he lowered his eyelids. “Yeah. That too.”

“And this?” She leaned closer. Her soft lips brushed his in the lightest of kisses, but it burned right through his skin, flooding him with heat and curling his toes.

He cupped the back of her head, covered her mouth with his, and answered her with restrained urgency in his kiss. Her pleased sigh awakened him even more, stirring his body and heightening his senses.

When he drew back, allowing them both to catch their breath, she murmured teasingly, “Better than Heather Andrews?”

A rusty chuckle escaped him, and he pulled her closer. “Hell, yes.” More than that. “Perfect.”

He’d give anything to hold her like this all day. Explore her body, mind, and heart.

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