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A breeze blew in that smelled of rain. In the distance, thunder rumbled. Malachi was a dark silhouette against a darker, turbulent sky.
I waited for him to come in; instead he captured my hand and drew me out. "Something's coming. "
I cast him a quick glance. Something? What an odd way to describe a storm.
We stood at the wooden railing and watched the clouds billow over the mountains, then skate across the tops of the trees. Soon the only illumination came from heat lightning.
I'd always been fascinated by it. The way the sky seemed to flash outward, the fissure opening in the black velvet curtain, allowing the electric sizzle to escape.
"When I was a child," I murmured, "I thought that Heaven was spilling out. "
"Perhaps it is. "
He laid his hand over mine where it rested on the railing. Our hips and shoulders brushed. The chill of the storm front stirred our hair.
We watched in companionable silence; I couldn't remember feeling this in tune with anyone except Grace. I'd never been this comfortable with a man, ever. What was it about him that made me trust?
The wind picked up; the lightning broke right overhead. "We should go in," I said.
He turned toward me and touched my cheek. I couldn't see his expression, only the slight glint of his eyes. "I don't have to stay. "
I smiled, reaching up to brush his partially dried hair back from his brow. He kissed the inside of my wrist. My breath caught. "I want you to. "
"Stay?"
"And all that staying implies. "
I linked our fingers and led him into the house. Sanity still lingered, and I paused to shut the sliding glass door, then stick the iron bar between the two panels for good measure.
Malachi watched me with somber eyes. "He willna hurt you again. I swear. "
"You can't be with me every minute. And you'll be leaving soon. "
Something flashed across his face, there and then gone the next instant. I thought it might be regret.
"I don't want him breathing the same air as you. "
He'd said that before; the old-fashioned phrase made something warm and solid shift just below my heart.
"And that other one, the big man, with the hairy hands and the big nose he sticks into business he should not. "
"Balthazar. "
"He will not come near you again, either. "
I sighed. Wouldn't that be nice?
"Balthazar lives and works here," I said. "I have to deal with him. "
"I wouldn't want your job, Claire. "
I remembered how he'd flown over the head of the horse to smack into the trunk of a tree. "I wouldn't want yours, either. "
For an instant I thought how different we were, how odd that our lives had crossed, and what a gift that we'd have these few days together.
"Let's not waste any more time," I said.
"I don't want to frighten you. "
