Gabriel chuckled slightly and eased her to a sitting position. “Looks like you bumped your head.”
She was staring at him as if the sun rose and fell with him.
His gaze swept her face. “Go slow,” he warned. “Just take a moment.”
“I can take all day just to look at you.”
Her profession startled him. He grinned warmly. “You must have bumped your head harder than I thought.”
“No,” she admitted, her gaze soft and focused on him. She pushed her lips against his again. “I don’t think I hit my head at all.”
Gabe’s skin tingled beneath her soft touch, her affection, her kiss. And while every one of his senses, every one of his desires wanted to continue the kiss, deepen it, explore every inch of her amazing body, she was still betrothed to his brother.
He pulled back, holding onto her hand to help her stand.
She weaved for a moment and Gabe steadied her with a firm hand to her arm. She gasped.
For a moment panic set in and Gabe grabbed her arms. “What is it? Are you hurt?”
She looked at the sky, turning her face upward. “It’s snowing!”
Gabe smiled partly in relief, partly because he was enamored of her. She made the simplest things amazing. Snow. He had never found snow so excitingly powerful.
She stepped away from him and spread out her arms as if to catch all the snow before it hit the ground. She closed her eyes and kept her face to the sky.
The tiny flakes of snow fell onto her skin and melted. Likes rays of frozen sunshine. Like kisses from Heaven.
Standing in the middle of the clearing, she looked like a goddess. The small snowflakes falling around her, showering her with white. The flakes stuck to her hair, peppering white throughout.
Gabe could not take his gaze from her. She was… achingly beautiful. So much more than he deserved. Which was good, because she was not his. Still, he could imagine holding her, remember her warm, wet kiss. Oh, he was in trouble.
She opened her eyes and looked at him with a smile that grew into glorious joy. It drew him in and he could not deny his feelings for her. “Eve,” he called, wanting to tell her how much she meant to him, wanting to tell her everything.
She bowed her head and opened her eyes.
But the last thing he wanted to see was disappointment in her eyes. What had he to offer her? A life of waiting for him while he participated in the circuit of tournaments? What did he have to offer her except for his love? Love? Yes. It was love. He was in love with his brother’s betrothed. He sighed softly. “We should get back.”
“I love you, Gabe,” she whispered.
For a moment, Gabe could not move. At first, he thought he had imagined the words whispered on a soft breeze. But when his heart answered with an aching longing, he knew what he had heard. Had he led her to think this? He winced and shook his head. “Eve.”
“I was meant to be yours. I belong to you, not to Michael. I don’t love Michael.” She approached him.
“You are betrothed to my brother,” Gabe said softly, full of anguish.
“That doesn’t matter.” She ducked her head to capture his gaze. “The only thing that matters is our feelings. You do have feelings for me, I know it.”
Gabe wanted desperately to tell her the truth, that she was more beautiful than any woman he had been with. Lovelier than the sun. More tempting than a delicious cream tart. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell her because he had given her up a long time ago and he had no right to her now. “No.”
The crestfallen look that entered her eyes was devasting. “No, our feelings don’t matter?” she asked, still hoping.
Lord, he loved her perseverance. He hated doing this to her. He hated himself. “Eve,” he pleaded. Don’t make me do this to you. “You will make a fine wife for my brother.”
Tears welled in her eyes, pooling with agony, and she turned quickly away. “Yes.” It was the only word she could mutter before her throat was choked off.
“We’ll head back now.” Gabe started for the horse across the clearing near the pond. When he turned back to her, she was already moving through the forest on foot toward the castle.
That evening, Eve watched the snow fall in large flakes from her open chamber window. Small flakes had given way to a full-fledged snow storm. The wind howled, blowing in through her window and encircling her in cold. But she didn’t feel the frosty touch. She was numb with grief. How could she have thought Gabriel cared for her? How could she have fooled herself? Because it is him, a voice in the back of her mind argued. The one with the blue eyes. She banished the voice. She wished… she wished she was young again and saw the angel flying over the pond. She wished she believed in angels. She wished she could trade places with Eden.
