Lori Handeland by When Midnight Comes

Author:When Midnight Comes
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-06-04T18:15:47+00:00

When Midnight Comes

is available exclusively by download from www.lorihandeland.com

Look for a new chapter each month beginning in August 2006.

When Midnight Comes a novella © Lori Handeland, all rights reserved

originally published in ‘Trick or Treat‘ a Love Spell Halloween Anthology, 1997

Chapter 5

The past receded, and Lucia braced herself for what the future would bring. She stood just inside the doorway, remembering, watching the rain mix with the dirt upon the windows, then trace a leisurely path downward. So much remained the same, so much did not. She had walked through the rain that night to Saint Mary’s. They had taken her in, and she had never left there. Alive, at any rate.

The room hovered between dusk and night, difficult to distinguish because of the gray, storm-clouded sky, but the dwindling light combined with the intense urge to finish this and return to the graveyard made Lucia think night fast approached. On the heels of eve, midnight would come.

Even though the scene had disappeared, Jack remained next to the bed, staring down at the worn mattress with intense concentration. That night had been the most wonderful and the most horrible of Lucia’s life. She had experienced the fulfillment of her heart’s desire only to have joy snatched from her grasping fingers. The wrong that had occurred here, on that bed and afterward, had been as much hers as Jack’s. That was one reason she had been allowed to return to earth as his guide. He might have three wrongs to learn, but she had one—and hers had contributed to his. She must admit her wrong now.

Lucia crossed the room and stood behind Jack, close enough to touch if she gave in to the need. Instead, she allowed herself a moment to feel his warmth caressing her chill. Drawing in a deep breath, she committed the scent of rain and earth and man to memory. She hoped the essence of Jack would remain with her when she returned to the Hell that was hers.

He spun around before she could speak. Fury contorted the beauty of his face, and Lucia stepped back, for a brief second afraid, even though he could do nothing to hurt her anymore.

“I will not repent what happened on this bed. Say I seduced ye. I took yer innocence. Say what ye will. Perhaps I was wrong t’ make love t’ ye, but it is the only fine memory I have, and I cannot regret it.”

His eyes were wild, his hair damp and tousled about his face. How she loved him, despite everything. She wanted nothing more than to take him in her arms, pull him onto the bed that concerned them both so much, and invited him back into her body one final time. But she had one last thing she must do.

“I have not the power to make you repent anything.” She gave a slight smile, hoping the calm of her expression, false though it was, would tame some of his fury. He blinked, as if seeing something in her for the first time, then reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand.

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