On Folly Beach by Karen White

Author:Karen White [White, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Family Life, C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781101404379
Publisher: NAL Trade
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

FOLLY BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA

April 1942

Maggie stared at the emptied shelf on the top of the rack with some satisfaction before moving her step stool around the stacks of her travel books and atlases, stopping in front of the pile of books that Peter had given her over the period of the nearly four months since she’d met him. Her mother’s books had been precious to her, but these had become more so. Which is why she’d decided to find them a place on the shelves where people wouldn’t have easy access to them or ask to borrow them. They were hers, and she would share any other book she owned, but not those.

After she’d gone into the back of the store to find a soft cloth to wipe dust off the covers, she heard the bell over the door ring, followed shortly by the sound of a nickel being dropped in the borrowing library’s can. Hurriedly walking out of the storeroom, she called out, “I’ll be right there. . . .” Her words stilled as she saw Peter staring back at her, a lopsided grin on his face.

“Hello, Margaret. I’ve brought you some more books.” His face was tight and drawn, but his eyes brimmed with an intensity meant only for her.

Forgetting about decorum or the real possibility that someone could walk into the store at any minute, she ran and threw her arms around him, almost knocking them both into the bookshelf behind him. He dropped the books he’d been holding and enveloped her in his arms so that no space separated them.

His warm breath tickled her neck, and she sighed. “Oh, darling. It gets harder and harder each time you leave.”

“I know.” He kissed her behind her ear, sending delicious shivers over her skin. “When this war is over, things will be different, I promise.”

“But when? When will this all be over?” She pulled back to look into his amber eyes that always seemed to be backlit by a fire that burned inside.

“Soon,” he said, kissing her gently. “Soon.” He moved her to his side but kept his arm around her shoulders. Examining the piles of books and empty shelves, he asked, “What’s going on here?”

Maggie smiled guiltily. “I’m being totally selfish and placing all the new books that you’ve brought to me on the highest shelf, where nobody can see what’s up there. That way, I don’t have to share them.”

He raised an eyebrow but his smile gave him away. “How very bad of you, Margaret. But I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same thing.” Leaning over, he kissed her again, longer this time until they both had to come up for air.

“Can I see you tonight?” he asked.

Maggie tried to push back her disappointment. “They’ve opened the fairgrounds for the summer, and Cat, Robert, and I promised to take Lulu after I closed the shop a little early.” She rested her forehead against his chest, smelling wool, aftershave, and salty air. It was as if Folly Beach had already claimed him, branding him with her saturating scent.

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