Page 54 of In Want of a Wife
No, no more kissing.
He crept out of the house and descended the stone pathway to the ledge overlooking the beach down below. He glanced over his shoulder one more time to be sure he was alone, then climbed the stairs down the ledge until he sank his feet into the soft, white sand of the beach.
The full moon shone overhead, spilling silver light over the water and reflecting back onto the white cliffs.
Farther down the beach sat the boathouse. It appeared untouched after all these years. But the beach was empty otherwise. He stripped down to his smalls and ran into the ocean before diving in. The cool water washed over him, the undercurrent pulling him along, and it was as if he were truly home.
He broke through the surface and gasped, desperate for air after feeling as if he couldn’t breathe all afternoon.
What a monster he was.
He had run, and Mari had lived.
He had hidden and had barely lived at all.
When he turned, Lily stood on the beach with her arms crossed and the wind lightly tossing her dark curls around her shoulders.
He could try living for her.
He wanted to.
But would she care?
The more timeLily spent around Rafe, the less she worried about what Henry would think of her, and even more about what it would be like to say goodbye to Rafe when she finally met Henry.
Which was a problem.
A very big problem.
Certainly not one she had anticipated when shehad replied to the marriage advertisement in the first place. Love, it seems, no matter what, had its complications.
And she was beginning to suspect she was attracted to Rafe.
He rose out of the ocean under the moonlight, looking about as near perfection as anything she had ever seen, and she had discovered a very rare comet cutting across the sky last summer. She crossed her arms, still furious with how he had bounced around, paying attention to everything all afternoon as she smiled and did her best to remain polite when all she wished to do was hide away in a room.
In the morning, she suspected the entire village would know that she would be Henry’s wife. That she had answered an ad.
And Rafe had returned home, with her.
Everyone loved Rafe.
The woman all clucked and fussed over him as he sang and helped his mother bake in the kitchen. He danced with his sister, Mari, around the small sitting room and played cards with his mother and her friends after dinner.
And Lily sat in the corner, watching.
Seething at how he seemed to not notice her.
No, but that wasn’t it entirely. He noticed her but refused to acknowledge her, as if she were a secret. As if he were a coward.
Which he was.
He froze in the ocean. The waves bobbed his body up and down as their eyes finally met. She was so angry and yet couldn’t find the right words to say, so she thought it best to remain still.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Rafe ran his hands up through his hair, slicking it back. Thank goodness for the full moon and the way the argent light washed over his body. Strong arms and stronger forearms. A wide chest that whittled down to a trim waist.
Perhaps she had hit her head and fallen in love with a mermaid.
Because sure as the sun, he floated there in the ocean, and she knew without a doubt, there was nowhere else he belonged.
