Susan Squires - 08 Time for Eternity by Susan Squires

Author:Susan Squires
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Francoise blinked. Someone was kissing her hair.

Ahhh. Henri. The scent of him surrounded her. Life seemed to throb in lazy luxury around him, rather than thrumming in the air.

She lay in his arms. The weight of his thigh over hers was delicious. She felt warm and safe from anything here.

"Wake, Francoise," Henri whispered in that husky baritone. She smiled. She had made the panther truly growl this night. She opened her eyes.

It was dark. The candles had long ago sputtered out. Did he want to make love yet again? She ran her hand down his ribs to his hip. She'd like that. She was a little sore, but it was a good kind of sore. And she didn't want the night to end. She looked up into his eyes and their expression was soft.

Some part of her was startled. I don't remember him ever looking at me like that. A stupid thought on the whole, since of course he'd never looked at her like that before.

"It's time to go." He looked sorry. "I let it get too late. It's almost sunrise."

She sighed and nodded. "I have no idea how I'll dress in the dark," she said, pushing herself up to one elbow.

"I'll dress you. I see well in the dark."

And he did. He didn't fumble or grope. He knew just how to lace and tie. She didn't like to think about how he knew that.

"Now if only you dressed hair."

He ran his fingers through her curls. "This is all you need."

She touched her neckline to make certain nothing was showing that shouldn't. Dear me but this was a sensual dress, just made to drive a man wild. A dress he hadn't bought for her.

You fell for him. You've only made it harder. The voice must be only her own thoughts but it came out so distinctly, as though it were a different person altogether. It sounded accusatory. Fell for him. Did the voice mean she'd fallen in love?

She wasn't in love with him, she told herself firmly. Love a man who cared for nothing but his own pleasure and made money off the weaknesses of others? He took their coin and their ideals in one gesture. One couldn't fall in love with a man like that.

She watched him dress. A shame to cover a body like that. She 'd like to go for days or weeks, never leaving the king 's apartments, never covering that beautiful body, so hard, so different from her own. But soon he was most proper again.

Wordlessly, they made up the great bed as best they could. He swung her cloak around her shoulders and they slipped out into the broad hallway, down the grand stairs, through the salons to the portico over looking the gardens.

The coach waited in the gray light. It was almost sunrise. Francoise looked around, an insistent itching in her brain. There was something she had forgotten. What was it? The feeling was so strong it was almost physical.

She looked around at the immense palace, standing so dark and severe, her mind casting about frantically.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.