Earlier he’d found a bottle of wine in the cupboard, so he opened it, poured two glasses, and brought them to the couch.
“A little something to help relieve the stress of today.” He handed Linda a glass.
She reached for it. “I could definitely use it,” She’d pulled the ivory chenille throw from the back of the couch and tucked it around her legs.
Falk sat beside her and pulled the edge of the blanket over his own legs as well. He’d found a pair of flannel pants and a T-shirt in the closet and had thrown both of their clothes in the washing machine.
Slouching down in the plush leather, Falk took a sip from his glass then leaned his head back on the couch and let out a sigh.
“Me, too,” Linda murmured.
For a few minutes, they sat and stared at the flames as they danced and crackled.
“Do you think they’ll find us here?” Linda played with the stem of her wineglass.
“Not a chance,” Falk said. “Mr. Swenden was secretive about this place. He made me promise not to tell anyone.”
“I wish there was a store or a gas station nearby, somewhere that might have a phone.”
Falk reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’ll get there. Tomorrow, the hike should only take a couple hours. Two of the towns are less than ten miles away. We can leave as soon as we wake up.”
“Okay.”
Linda snuggled into his side, and he put his arm around her, lowering his head to give her a soft kiss on the lips. The waves were coming back to life in her still damp hair. Her skin smelled clean and held the barest scent of strawberries.
“You smell good.”
She smiled. “I think it’s the soap. Did you see the pink bar in the shower?”
“I did.” He took another whiff, right by her ear this time, making her giggle. “Makes me want to eat you up.”
She touched the damp strands of his hair then ran her fingers down his cheek.
He covered her hand with his. “Careful you don’t lose one on the sandpaper there.” He had a full day’s worth of stubble on his jaw.
She shook her head. “It’s kind of soft. I like it.” Suddenly, she gave a big yawn and moved her hand to cover her mouth. “Oh, man, the pasta is giving me food coma.”
Falk plucked the wineglass from her hand and set it along with his own on the side table next to the couch. Then he leaned back on the couch and pushed her head onto his chest.
“You can settle in right here and sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”
Linda scooted herself down into a comfortable position against him and wrapped an arm around his waist. Together in the warmth and comfort, their breathing slowed and matched each other’s in a steady rhythm. Within seconds, she drifted off into dreamland.
This time when Linda fell asleep, her dreams were not the fast-paced, scary snippets from before. This time, it felt like coming to her senses, waking up, within the dream. She was in a forest looking up at the clouds passing by in the blue sky and the green treetops as they waved in the breeze.
Realizing she lay on her back, she sat up and noticed she wasn’t alone. In front of her, a campfire with a small black pot of something boiling hung over the flames. And there, on the other side of the pot sat the girl from her dreams. Herself. She looked much tidier than the last time Linda had seen her. No twigs or leaves in her hair. The dark strands at the crown of her head had been plaited and tied at the back. The gray eyes Linda knew so well glowed at her from a creamy young complexion.
The little girl grinned at her, and Linda found herself returning it.
“I’m so glad you made it here.” Her young high-pitched voice sounded relieved.
“Where am I?” Linda asked. “And…who are you?” She had to ask, had to know for sure.
The girl giggled. “You know I’m you! But here in my time, I am called Grace.”
“Are we in your time right now?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. This is just an enchantment. I’ve opened a portal so we could talk. It was really difficult to do.” She tossed some herbs into the pot. “My grandmother taught me how. We don’t have a lot of time.”
“Okay.” Doubt infused Linda’s tone. Did everyone talk to people in their dreams?
“You have to break the cycle this time. You can’t die. Either of you.” The stern tone of Grace’s voice surprised Linda.
“What cycle?”
“The one where we keep getting killed.”
“What are you talking about?” Confusion filled Linda.
Grace frowned at her. “Do your people know of reincarnation where you come from?”
“Of course.”
“Well that’s what’s happening. You and he—in my time his name is Thomas—keep getting reborn. But not just you two. Others. Those who are against you. And you all come together to replay the same scenario again and again. One where you both die.” Grace’s face fell.
“Thomas…he’s dead?” Linda hated herself for asking, but she had to know.
A deep sorrow crossed Grace’s face, and she nodded.
“I’m sorry.” Linda could feel Grace’s sorrow within her own soul. She knew how she would feel if something ever happened to Falk. Living without him would be a dark, dank misery overshadowing her being until the end of her days. Her compassion flared for the little girl. Had she been sitting closer, she would have hugged her.
But Grace didn’t pause long to reflect on the matter. Instead, she continued on, “My grandmother is gifted with the sight, and she is well versed in the ancient pagan arts. It was she who detected the resonance of our life forces and delved into the past to see what we were to each other before, what happened to us. She kept seeing the same thing over and over but with different versions of us. It wasn’t difficult for her to figure it out.”
“I’ve been seeing it, too,” Linda blurted.
“Really?” Grace’s face perked up. “Maybe you have the sight as well.”
A shiver ran through her despite the bright sun shining down on them both. The need for answers seized her. “But why? Who’s doing it?” This new information boggled her mind. Could she and Falk’s current predicament be something much larger than a simple murder? A karmic cycle, repeating over and over for decades?
“They want control of the inheritance,” Grace said. “All of them. You know who they are.”
“But it doesn’t make sense. Jensen and Andrew are servants, not relatives. There’s no way the money would be passed to them no matter what.”
Grace shook her head slowly back and forth. “Someone else leads them. Someone you know well and trust. A woman.”
The air around them changed as the edges of their setting unraveled. The sunlight grew brighter, shining through the trees and Grace in a white light. Grace spoke, but again Linda couldn’t hear her. Stupid visions! The light grew so bright she couldn’t see anything. She jerked awake.
Her face rested against Falk’s chest. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest beneath her fingers. How long had they been asleep? The logs in the fire had burned down to a bright glow, but she didn’t know if it meant hours or minutes had passed.
Her mind played over again the last thing Grace had told her, the two clues she had been given. The villain behind everything was a woman, fact one, and someone she knew well, fact two. She frowned. A handful of women fit that description. Her father’s bookkeeper and lawyer were both female and so was one of his most trusted foremen at one of the mills, and Sarah.
Worry lanced through her at the thought of Sarah waiting in the passageways all this time. She had to be cold and hungry. She wasn’t young anymore. What if she became ill from hiding there? Linda’s mind turned over and over, but she couldn’t think of anything more they could have done for her.
She focused back on evaluating their possible killers.
Of the women in the household, Linda guessed the lawyer and bookkeeper would be the two with the
brains and know-how to get control of her dad’s money. Like many of the other employees, both had worked for him for many years. Was one of them orchestrating everything behind the scenes? Or maybe they were working together to siphon money from the company? What if the bookkeeper had set up fake records to hide her embezzlement over several years? Maybe the irregularities in the numbers had gotten so big she was now forced to kill anyone who would care before they noticed. Maybe Linda’s father’s impending death had been the catalyst for the attacks. That would explain why it was happening. Or perhaps the lawyer had been setting everything up over time so she would get the money in the end. If anything, Linda’s father had trusted his employees too much. How many documents had he signed for without reading them through?
Falk shifted against her with a moan and tightened his arms around her.
How good it felt to lay with him. She’d imagined this scenario so many times it felt like a dream come true. Tears welled in her eyes, the precariousness of their situation making her appreciation spike to an emotional level. What if they died tomorrow on the trail? What if the men hunted them down like vermin and left them to rot in the woods? Would this be their last moment alone?
Grace said the cycle kept repeating. It was one where they died each time. What if it happened to her and Falk? Tightness formed inside her at the thought of them never having all she’d imagined they would…to have their lives seized from them before they could have any experiences together as adults. The thought of it filled her with anger.
She would not allow Jensen and Andrew to take that away from them.
Resolve blossomed in her chest; heat strengthened her as she took control of her destiny. Falk was not going to be ripped away from her before they could share the intimacy she’d been dreaming of. No. It would not happen. She would make sure of it tonight.
She slipped from Falk’s arms, rose, and put more wood on the dying fire. She untied the robe and considered letting it fall from her shoulders. But as the blush of embarrassment filled her cheeks, she decided to leave the garment hanging on her form. She went to wake Falk. But then had to pause as she gathered her courage. He was the picture of peace sprawled on the couch, his golden hair spread out in a sort of halo around his head. Torso rising and falling in an even rhythm. She almost chickened out.
He loves you; you know that. She took a deep breath and, steeling herself, reached out to tap his arm and wake him.
“Falk,” she whispered. “Wake up.”
His eyelashes fluttered for a moment, and then he opened his eyes. “What time is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why are you standing there, come back here next to me….” And then the sleepy look on his face turned to one much sharper as his brain registered her exposed parts.
He paused for a moment, frozen, and Linda hastened to fill the gap. The silence made her uneasy. It was now or never. May as well start with the truth.
She sat next to him on the couch and lifted one of his hands to her breast. “Touch me, Falk. I want to feel your hands on my body.”
Her voice was quiet, but the tone much steadier than she thought she’d be able to pull off. Wait a minute, who cared how her voice sounded? It didn’t matter.
The sharpening of his blue gaze confirmed her thought.
Chapter Thirteen
At first, Falk thought he was dreaming. He’d had many of the same kind before, erotic ones about Linda, but never this good. She stood in front of him, pretty much naked, her body framed by the dim glow of the fire. Through her open robe he could see the dark-brown patch of hair covering her mound, the flat of her belly, and the swell of her breasts. She’d grown up more than he’d ever imagined.
She opened the robe more, letting it drop from her shoulders to her elbows, and he sucked in a breath.
Her hair cascaded over her collarbones, the ends of the strands just brushing her nipples which stood taut and pink against her creamy skin. Her lush, perky breasts made him ache to cup his hands around them. Lower, her torso tapered inward to a graceful waist before curving back out again to hips he wanted to grab on to and never let go. Farther down were legs sculpted from years of running—he wanted to kiss every inch.
“Wh-what did you say?” he stumbled, trying to catch his breath.
But she sat next to him and pulled his hand to her breast. He couldn’t resist. Didn’t even try to fight. As his fingers made contact, the smooth skin absorbed his attention, and he couldn’t help molding the shape of the mound with his hand and feeling its weight in his palm. He brushed his thumb over her nipple, fascinated with the erotic crest of it. Linda blew out a ragged breath in response. How right this was between them. So perfect. Magical. Every particle of air imbued with meaning as they connected, and he knew he would remember this moment forever.
Just the feel of her had him hard within two seconds. Lust surged through every nerve ending, and he did what he could to regain the control slipping from his grasp. A question formed in his mind, but when he tried to get it out through his lips, it shorted and fizzled out somewhere on its way to his mouth.
“Keep touching me, Falk. I want you to.”
God how hot those words sounded coming from her lips. From his own sweet, shy Linda. They were like a trumpet calling him home. But his reason surfaced from the tumult of his emotions as their gazes met. He’d always imagined their union to be special and momentous, an occasion he’d planned out to ensure her every comfort. And this wasn’t that.
He pulled back. “Linda, we shouldn’t. I mean, I want to. God I want to. But….”
She cocked her head at him. “But what?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, we’ve been running for our lives all day and we need to rest. We’re going to be at it again in a few hours.” What sounded logical in his mind seemed lame as he spoke it aloud. He grimaced.
“Exactly.”
He glanced up at her. “Huh?”
“We may never have this chance again. Don’t you see?” Her expression was serious. Set with an intensity he’d seen many times before.
Oh crap, she has her mind made up. Falk knew it would take a lot to change it. For all her surface shyness and reserve, she had the same core of steel as her father. Once set in motion, it could not be turned. But did he really want to change it? Maybe. The thought of Dad had Falk thinking again of how much he owed him and Linda. She deserved more than he had to give right at this moment.
“But…don’t you want your first time to be perfect? I want to do so much more for you. This doesn’t feel right.”
“It does to me. All I need is you for everything to be perfect. Plus, this is a beautiful place.” She swept her arm around at their setting, making her breasts swing in response.
His gaze glued onto their movement, and he cursed himself for getting distracted. He jerked his eyes back up to her face then grabbed the edges of her robe and tried to pull them back together. “No. We should wait. This isn’t the right time. Let’s get more sleep and then, once this is all over….” He stopped speaking as he noticed Linda’s face fall.
She tugged the fabric away from him and wrapped it around herself as she drew away.
Were those tears forming in her eyes? Shit. He’d made her cry. He sat up, swung his legs off the couch then pulled her against him, closing the gap she had formed between them. “Hey, you know I want to.” Pulling her chin so she faced him, he leaned his forehead against hers, feeling her sweet breath against his cheeks. “I do….”
“Then don’t stop,” she pleaded. Her words came out as a quavering whisper that revealed her hurt feelings.
Falk then realized what it had cost Linda to make such and overture to him. She had been vulnerable, giving him everything as she had before, and he’d said no again. What an ass he was! He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.
“Falk, do you realize tonight might be our only chance? Tomorrow, they might catch us and we�
�ll be dead. Then what? Will you feel better knowing we didn’t do anything?”
Her voice strengthened, and when he looked into her face, the fire was back. The one that had always been deep inside her. Since the moment he’d met her, he’d been trying to coax it out. And here it was, giving him a hint of the sexy woman she’d grown into. He could feel the truth of her words. She was right; he’d felt as though they had all the time in the world. But now, as he considered the last several hours, he knew they didn’t. Each and every second was precious. Knew it but hadn’t processed it.
He decided to give her a truthful answer to her question. “No.”
Her face lightened with his one word, but she didn’t move. She sucked in a breath and watched him, waiting for what he would do next.
God, she was so young. He owed her more than this, much more. She deserved it. She should have a night of romance and a bed full of rose petals. Shit, he didn’t know, musicians serenading her from behind a privacy screen maybe. But as he thought about it, all he could see was how ridiculous it was. None of that mattered. Just the two of them.
In that instant, it seemed time slowed so much he could count the milliseconds. The shades of color on Linda’s face suddenly stood out as if he’d discovered a great work of art. He reached up to cup her face with his hands and run his thumbs over her cheekbones and the freckles there. They were as beautiful as constellation of stars, and he knew their pattern would be burned into his memory until the end of time.
He met her gaze once again, unafraid now to reveal to her the full extent of his carnal feelings to her. She was ready, as he had been for a while. Her lips parted. There was no guardedness about her, just a welcoming. She wanted to merge with him as much as he wanted to merge with her.
He let go of the last of his hesitations. Closing the last few centimeters of distance between them, he drew his lips to hers.
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