Embrace the Night

Page 87



"Why?"

"No questions, Sara." "But…"

"I mean what I say."

"Will you dine with me tomorrow night then?"
He hesitated a moment, his eyes shadowed with doubt. "I'm quite a good cook," she said, hoping to reassure him. "I'm sure you are."

"You'll come to dinner then?" "If you wish."

She gazed up at him, her blue eyes shining with happiness and love. "Won't you kiss me now?"

Slowly, gently, he lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his own. As always, holding her, touching her, filled him with light, driving away the darkness in which he had lived for so long.

Carrying her into the bedroom, he made love to her with exquisite tenderness, telling her with each heartfelt kiss, each stroke of his hands, each word that whispered past his lips, how much he adored her.

Her love enveloped him, surrounding him with the purity of her heart, the generosity of her spirit. She offered him her love, nothing held back, and he grabbed it with both hands, clinging to her goodness, telling himself that he couldn't be a monster, not when Sara could love him so completely.

He held her in his arms while she slept, his gaze never leaving her face. Her lashes lay like dark fans upon her cheeks. Her lips were full and pink, faintly swollen from his kisses. Her hair fell over the pillow and across his chest like streaks of sunlight. He lifted a lock of her hair and brushed it across his face, inhaling the scent, delighting in the touch of each silken strand.

"So beautiful, so innocent," he murmured, his voice thick with anguish. "Will you ever forgive me for what I've done?"

Her eyelids fluttered open and she gazed up at him, a soft smile curving her lips, her eyes aglow with the love in her heart.

"What have you done, Gabriel, that I should forgive you?"

"I've stolen your innocence," he whispered. "Taken that which I had no right to take." Her hand reached up to caress the unyielding curve of his jaw. "You didn't steal it. I gave it to you."
"Ah, cara, you have no idea what you've done."