It Could Only Be You by Olivia Kelly

Author:Olivia Kelly
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-08-30T23:00:00+00:00

***

Holy Mother of God.

Harry shook his head again, backing away from Lily as if she was a red-hot iron, ready to burn him. Come to think of it, that’s just what she is. He blazed with the fire of passion and she had been the spark.

When he had woken from yet another nightmare, he had been drenched in a cold sweat, shaking from the images that he relived over and over in his dreams. The faces of the elderly, the women and children cut down in cold blood by the Fort Knox militia, just because they were Indians. Because they needed to set an example.

And Katarina, always Katarina.

Her sightless eyes accusing him of abandoning her when she had needed him the most, of not protecting her as he had always promised to. The memories left a bitter, ashy taste on his tongue. He usually drowned himself in cheap whiskey after one of these episodes, but then this angel in an almost sheer white nightdress had appeared, and she was a thousand times more potent then liquor. He hadn’t been thinking, still caught up in the despair and darkness that the dreams always brought him. He had only wanted to feel alive again, to warm himself with her.

But not at her expense. She deserved better than that.

Harry realized by the puzzled look on her face that he was going to have to be the one to stop, to protect her. She had no idea who he really was, what he had done—or failed to do. If she did, she would walk out that door and never look back.

"We can’t do this."

"Why not?" She studied him with those big blue eyes, patiently waiting for his explanation. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, and her eyes narrowed a fraction.

Harry cleared his throat. "Because it’s not right. You should be with your husband for your first time."

Lily snorted and stepped forward, reaching for him, but he smoothly countered her by stepping around the end of the bed, putting an extra few feet between them. The maneuver stopped her as if she had run into a wall, an injured expression settling on her pretty face. Her lower lip pushed out slightly in irritation. Harry wanted to leap over the bed and bite her right there on her sweet, sulky mouth.

He clenched his hands together behind his back and held on for dear life.

"Look around you, Harry. I am twenty-six years old. Twenty-six! And unlikely to find a match at this late date." She folded her arms across her chest, looking exasperated and stung by his sudden withdrawal. "If you are concerned with cheating some man out of his husbandly right to a virginal bride, don’t be."

"I don’t care about that, but I care about you." He cared enough not to ruin her. Lily might think she wouldn't marry, but she was beautiful and kind and clever. Some man would come along and see that, and Harry would not take that future from her.

He wished he could give her that future, but all he had left was the past.

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