Somewhere My Love (39 page)

It would be a mere s
hell of existence if she left.
Reluctantly,
he turned on his heels.
 

A
low moan escaped her. 

He swivele
d
to see her toss
drowsily
onto
her back, her lovely face drawn in pain
. 

She crushed the
cover
let
in her fingers
.
“Cole
––
”

The quavering
plea
plumbed
Will
to his depths
and he could bear no more
.
Any remaining jealousy of his illustrious cousin
fled before
all-consuming pity
.
He
could do nothing
for the ill-fated lovers
except to ease Julia’s suffering
.
Perhap
s
,
that was even Cole’s
intention.

Surrendering
his demand that s
he love him only for himself, Will
determined to become the man she yearned after.

“Julia,” he said, lowering himself to sit beside her. 

She rouse
d slightly
.

He
slid h
is arms beneath her, gathering her
against him
.
He pressed his lips to her cheek and drifted
to her ear.
“I love you always.”

She stirred in his tender hold
,
still
not fully awake
.
A sniffle sounded
. 

“
Don’t cry.
I’m here, Jules.”

She lifted her head,
exploring
him tremulously
.
At first she couldn’t even seem to move or speak,
and
then
she
flung
her arms around his neck and nearly cut off his wind.
 

“Dear God
.
I
t
’s really
you.”

Her profound gladness fill
ed Will
with relief and
a tinge of
guilt.
He was playing a part, but a vital one.

She lightened her grasp
,
a hitch in her voice
as she said
,
“
Julia,
I am yours always. Wait for me.
I will find you somewhere my love
.”

A shock wave jolted through Will
.
He pulled back to
stare into her brimming eyes.
“You read the
note?”

She nodded
.
“Then th
e world collapsed
.
It
’s about to collapse again
.
”

“We won’t let it.”

“The worm is in the lily,” she warned. 

“We’ll squash the worm, Jules,” he promised, coverin
g her upturned mouth with his.
Sweetness beyond anything he’d yet tasted flowed
from
her
into him
.

“No one except Cole
has
ever called me that
,
”
she whispered against his lips.

How
had Will come by the pet name?
Maybe
Cole
put it in
to his
mind.
H
e didn’t know,
didn’t care.
Still possessing her
honeyed mouth
, he drew
her down onto the bed, ready
to do what Cole had l
onged to and Will hadn’t dared.

Cole
––
or was it Will
––
slowly
rolled with Julia over and over on the bed, kissing her lips, swollen against his in irrepressible
desire
.
She
’d
loved him for so long and never had
even this much of his sacred
touch...their time together so short, yet
steeped with
endless
wanting
.

The mist parted and
the
centuries faded.
At last, they were coming together
,
though all the forces of H
ell had prevailed against them.
Miraculously, H
eave
n
won out, at least for now,
rapturous now.

The faint spice of Cole,
Will’s
,
cologne
mixed with his unique
scent
and
drew her in a lovers’
bond
.
She would have known him in utter darkness before he
’d
even
brushed her with
a single
caress
.
Forgoing his uncertain n
ame, she let
deepest sighs speak
for her
as he
pressed his lips ov
er her face.
She
quivered
as his mouth
traced
her
neck in
sensuous
circles...t
he feel of him
tasting
her bare skin
,
unspeakably divine
.
S
avoring
each
second
,
she drank
him in
as if
to hold
onto thi
s moment forever.

S
he prayed she wasn’t dreaming, or if she were that G
od wouldn’t ever let her awake
.
A loving Creator couldn’t
––
wouldn’t
––
be
so cruel
.
All she’
d
ever
wanted
, time out of mind,
was this man
in holy
union
. 

“Cole, Will,
” she whispered, running her fingers through
his luxuriantly thick hair
.
Was she making love to
them both
or were they truly one? 

“Yo
u are
beautiful, Jules
.
So beautiful.
”

His
words slipped
around Julia
in
silken
softness
as Cole
...Will...
slid
her
robe dow
n over her nakedness.
Pale l
ight shone over her, giving
her a marbled
look like a Grecian statue.
They could have been in Greece for all she knew
,
or cared.

“
Ummmm
, jasmine,” he b
reathed in
.
“You smell as luscious as you look.”

“I found
the perfume among Nora’s
things
,
” Julia managed
breathlessly
.

“She never smelled like you.
Trust me, I’d know.
”

Julia
giggled, glorying
in his fervent admiration and
in his lips
as they followed the descending cloth
, pressing
her incredibly
responsive skin
.  H
is
strong hands stroked
her shoulders, her arms,
g
liding down her smooth sides as if
every
curve were
carved for him
.
Surely
,
s
he had been
. 

Tingles
rippled
through her
and
she
trembled as
he spread
his
cupped
palms
over her breasts.
No longer a
painfully
thin, flat-chested girl, s
he filled his hands perfectly
, even spilling out the sides
with a little
left over
.
Her nipples
firmed
like
sun-ripened
buds
under his
light
caress
, and she gasped
as
he closed warm lips over one,
then the other.
He tugged lightly on her breasts,
sliding back and forth,
su
ckling
each nipple. 

P
owerful s
ensations rippled through her.
She
thrilled to every wondrous wave
, wanting
only
more.
   

Cole and Will seemed to meld together,
not only in her mind, but in spirit,
so that she couldn’t tell where one began and the oth
er ended.
Ebbing a
nd flowing together
in
a
heart-poun
ding tide
.

Will
still wore his shirt
, b
ut n
ot for long.
Their
short pant
s sounded in
the st
ill room as she pulled the blue polo
up and he slipped it off over his head. 

He tossed the shirt to the blackened floor,
and
drew her against h
is bare chest.
She sucked in
her breath
at the
feel
of skin against skin,
and the seductive tickle of his dark hair on her breasts
.
There was
nothing boyish about him.
T
he
masculine energy he exuded surr
ounded her in a lofty swell, carrying
her
above the raw pain
in her soul
.

Please, God, l
et her remain
in this blissful place. 

She pressed her questing mouth ove
r his firm neck and shoulders.
S
o muscular, and yet smooth beneath
her lips.
She caught his hand, the hand she loved to hold,
and brought it to
her lips.
“Stay with me always
.”

He answered by cupping her face
in his palms
and
covering her mouth
again and again
with his
,
pressing her lips
harder and harder until she
was winded, wanton,
and
wonderful
,
like a foaming, frothy,
sea of desire
.
S
he almost tore his jeans off.

He chuckled.
“Innocent v
irgi
ns aren’t to know what follows.
At least, not strictly brought up nineteenth century ones.”

“Pure i
nstinct.”
Her
heart drummed
in her ears.

He undid the
zipper a
nd his pants went the way of his
shirt.
His b
riefs swiftly followed and she saw the shadowed silhouette
of his hardened organ
for the very first time.

She stifled a gasp
––
almost
.

“
I heard that,” he whispered, burying
his lips in
her tingly neck.
“Still
certain you
want me?”  

“Certain.”
She circled her arms around his
shoulders and drew him down on
her.
His solid body pressed hers
.