Free Almost an Angel by Katherine Greyle Page B

carefully wiped his hands on a handkerchief. "I would think you might be more worried about whether I'm about to die from the poison."
    She looked at him in surprise. "You're not serious, are you?  You're not really poisoned." The idea of that made Carolly ill.
    "No, I am hagridden by a woman determined to take me back to Bedlam with her."
    She decided to ignore his rude comment, even though it hurt. He was surely just frustrated by her whimsical nature. But he needed to be loosened up. "Maybe you should go wash your hands just to be sure."
    He sighed and looked back up at her. "I shall be there in a moment. Do not under any circumstance move from that location."
    She smiled at his softened tone. "Take all the time you need."
    He paused, mid-step. "I am quite serious, Carolly. Not an inch."
    "I'm a stone statue."
    "If only that were true. Then I could put you out in the garden with the toads and be done with it." Then he disappeared. A moment later, she heard him enter the house.
    Carolly smiled and leaned back against the window pane behind her. She felt totally at ease now that she wouldn't have to cross the ivy back to her bedroom, not to mention sweetly reassured at the thought of James coming for her. Despite his gruff words, she knew he would do whatever he could to get her safely inside.
    She sighed happily and let her eyes travel over the scenery. There was something ethereal about an English garden bathed in moonlight. She took a deep breath, drawing it all in: the smells, the sights, even the taste of the breeze. Then she closed her eyes and imagined herself with a lover, a handsome man with dark tousled hair who stole kisses from her beneath a silver-tipped bough.
    It was enough to set even a dead woman's heart fluttering.
    Then James was there, behind her, softly rapping on the glass to get her attention.
    She turned and smiled. For a moment she believed her fantasy. For a desperate second, she looked at James with all the longing and secret passion she'd thought she'd buried long ago. What would it be like to love?

    ***

    Inside, James stood transfixed. Never in his life had he seen anything so beautiful as the woman poised just outside the window. Her hair was a golden brown, but in the moonlight it became a halo of liquid honey and light. Her gown was gray, but the wind molded it to her curves, outlining her delicate frame, her sweet breasts.
    Looking at her face, he gasped. Why had he not noticed her eyes before? They were a very dark blue with tiny gold flecks like fine grains of sand stirred up from the bottom of a deep pool.
    He touched the thin pane separating them, and she mirrored his movement. Their fingers were separated by the cool glass, but a part of him knew he touched her, just as a part of her touched him.
    "Hold tight," he warned, his voice thick with desire. "I shall open the window."
    He waited until she had grabbed two fistfuls of ivy to anchor herself, then carefully, slowly, he pushed open the window. She arched backward to let it swing wide, and he forgot to breathe as he watched her hang out over the stone below.
    "Give me your hand." Much to his surprise, she obeyed immediately, flattening up to the window as she peered through.
    The sill came to just below her breasts, and, as she leaned in, the fabric pulled taut over her body. Her nipples were puckered from the cold, and he could feel his body respond to the sight.
    "You'll have to help me," she breathed. "I'm afraid I'll slip if I try to jump on this ivy." She looked up at him, and his whole body throbbed with protective instinct.
    "At least you have some sense," he commented. Making a swift decision, he stepped forward and grasped her ribcage just below her arms. Then he braced himself as best he could and pulled her in.
    She felt so soft in his hands, so delicate. But there were muscles beneath her curves, muscles that held him while together they maneuvered her inside. She pressed against him, her breasts flush with his chest. He