Free Divine by Nichole van Page B

answered.
    She blinked, processing his statement.
    “Good . . . I should hope that I did not die . . . either,” was her cryptic reply.
    This had to be the oddest conversation of his life.
    “Why are you here, Sebastian? Did you come to attend my funeral?”
    A beat.
    “No.”
    She nodded. His reply seemed to relieve her. Maybe.
    They stared at each other for a moment, at an impasse.
    “How can you not know—”
    “I am . . . I am quite convinced I am not a ghost,” she interrupted, taking a few more steps toward him.
    They were now only separated by a few feet. He could see the wind ruffling the curls next to her face, the damp seeping through the bottom of her gown.
    “Are you sure?” he asked. “How would you know that you are not a ghost?”
    She stilled again. And then cocked her head.
    “Is this a metaphysical question, Seb? Like if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Because I am most assuredly real.” She took another step.
    Sebastian stood his ground, watching her close the last few feet between them.
    “Proving I am truly physically here is quite simple.”
    She looked real enough. He could see her chest rising, her breath slightly visible in the cool morning air. She looked older. Not the young woman he had last seen nearly five years before. Her eyes more seeing; her body more the curved roundness of true womanhood.
    “Let me show you,” she said as she stopped in front of him.
    Gently, she reached out and took one of his gloved hands in both of hers, firmly pressing it between her palms.
    “There, you see, I am quite solid.”
    Quite. Her hands were more than solid.
    Scalding where they touched him. Searin g, actually.
    She lifted her impossibly blue eyes to his and, for an instant, Sebastian nearly drowned in them.
    Her eyes had always defied description for him. A thousand shades of blue flecked with white, rimmed by a darker blue around the edge of her iris. She was close enough for him to see the few freckles on her nose, the downy hair next to her ears backlit in the sun.
    It was almost too much. More than he had ever dreamed over the last few months. He had fully expected to attend her funeral or, at the very least, find her as a weak invalid.
    But this . . . having her before him whole and healthy and sound . . .
    How was any man to resist?
    He grasped her hand in his and tugged her to him. Convulsively wrapping his arms around her, engulfing her in his embrace.
    It was compulsory. As if his arms were helpless to do anything else.
    Georgiana Knight held all of him in her thrall.
    The sudden sheer solidity of her shocked him.
    He had never held her this close.
    He sighed, pulling her even closer. Bless her. She didn’t stiffen in his embrace but instead slid her arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug, laying her cheek against his chest.
    Hope crashed through him, relentless in its intensity. Wave after wave. Unbearable bliss choking.
    She was alive ! Most definitely solid and real and un-ghostlike. And he was embracing her.
    The rushing sweetness of the moment stole his breath. She was so . . . warm and so . . . soft and so . . . warm .
    It was dreadfully unpoetic. But true nevertheless.
    Unbidden, he dipped his face to her hair, his lips lightly brushing her head. She smelled of roses and sunlight.
    See, she would make a poet in him yet.
    She was the perfect height, just as he had always known she would be, her head tucking neatly under his chin. She felt so right . Like he had been created for just this purpose. To hold Georgiana Knight and keep her safe. Beloved. He closed his eyes, breathing her in.
    It was as if for one brief second, all the stars of heaven aligned.
    Everything in the universe exactly where it belonged. The stars in the heavens, the moon in the sky, and Georgiana in his arms.
    She pulled away and he allowed her to step back from his embrace. But he caught her hands in his. Determined to keep her close.
    She would not be lost again.
    He smiled down