AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tara wished that she could find the witch who had cast the curse and have her remove it, but she had disappeared that day so many years ago never to be seen again. She often wondered what had happened to her. She remembered screaming when her father had her torn away, and though Stone had never spoken a word, she had thought she heard him say, “Go, all will be well.”
At the time, the curse meant nothing to her; her only thought had been for Stone’s safety. It hadn’t been until much later that she had learned the power of the witch’s words. Tara wondered if it was possible to find a more powerful witch than her. Bliss had said that a more powerful witch could remove the curse. But where would she find one?
She felt as if she ran in circles, round and round, again and again getting nowhere. She felt completely helpless, and she had felt that way far too long. There had to be something she could do to stop the madness.
A yawn warned that sleep was approaching, but she paid it no heed. She had thinking to do, solutions to reach before they were reached for her. Never again did she want decisions made for her. Choices from now on belonged to her; she would have it no other way. How she would see to that, she didn’t know. But she was determined, and that was half the battle.
She yawned again, and her eyes drifted closed. She would rest for a moment and then think again on finding feasible solutions to her dilemma. One more yawn, and sleep laid claim to her.
Reeve woke and rolled over in search of Tara. When his hands found empty space, his eyes shot open, and he cast an anxious glance around the cottage. Relief poured over him when he saw her in the chair by the fireplace.
He leapt out of bed and padded over to her, ignoring the cold air that rushed to nip at his bare feet. He was about to playfully scold her for deserting him when he saw that she was sound asleep.
She wore her worry even in sleep, and he surmised that it was her concerns that had brought her to sit in front of the hearth. He wished she understood that he had no intentions of ever letting her go. They belonged to each other and always would. He had no doubt that his family would find a feasible solution to the matter. He worried the bigger problem might be getting Tara to wed him.
He leaned over and lifted her gently into his arms. He smiled, for she was toasty warm, and, at the moment, his body felt chilled. He held her close, sharing her body’s heat, and once he placed her on the bed, he hurried under the covers and cuddled her close.
He tenderly tried to stroke away the worry lines from her brow, and, surprisingly, in only moments, his gentle persuasion worked. Her brow relaxed, and he thought he detected a slight smile. If only he could chase away their problems so easily.
He watched her sleep with one thought constant in his head. He loved her; beyond all reason, he loved her. And he wanted desperately to tell her so. Speak the words loud and clear so that she would hear the conviction in his voice.
He continued watching her, and, when finally he heard a slight snore, he smiled. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek and whispered as he had done before while she slept, “I love you. I will always love you.”
Chapter 29
Tara struggled with the two buckets of snow. How she would love a good soak in tempered water. She’d been washing with the melted snow for the last few days, and while it served the purpose well enough, she longed for a soak.
She plunked the buckets down in front of the door, the snow gobbling them up to the bottom rim reminding her that several inches had fallen since their arrival. And though the snow had stopped yesterday, she couldn’t say she was pleased. It meant that departure was imminent, at least for one of them.
The door suddenly swung open, and Reeve greeted her completely naked.
“You left me to wake alone,” he said with feigned sadness.
Tara looked him up and down and smiled. “And you woke in your usual state, the cold not shriveling you a bit.”
“It’s you who keeps him at attention,” he teased, and swiped the two buckets up before retreating completely inside.
Tara followed, admiring his taut backside and rock-solid legs. She smiled, closing the door behind her. Before she could turn, Reeve cozied up behind her, his arms wrapping her snugly against him.
“We should go back to bed,” he said, nibbling at her ear.
“You’re tired?”
“And you’re funny,” he said, turning her around in his arms.
He went to kiss her, and she stopped him. “I need to wash though I would much prefer a good soak.”
“If I provide a good soak for you, will you spend the rest of the day in bed with me?”
She knew he teased by his grin though she also knew that a good portion of the day would be spent in bed enjoying each other in so many ways. Whether it was touching, kissing, coupling, laughing, talking, they enjoyed every minute of each other.
“I most certainly will,” she said, though wondering how he would ever accomplish such an unlikely feat.
He gave her a quick kiss. “Give me a minute to get dressed.”
“What are you up to?” she asked skeptically.
“You’ll see.” And as soon as he was done, he took hold of her hand and out the door they went.
