Free Jacob's Return by Annette Blair

continue, than an appeal to stop.
    She rubbed her cheek against his, her parted lips brushing his ear. She combed her fingers through his beard and, God help him, he found that more sexually arousing than anything he ever experienced.
    “They feel nice, your whiskers against my skin.”
    “All whiskers feel the same, Rache.”
    “Never have I felt any, in such a pleasant way, Jacob.”
    Oh Lord, he thought, and what did that mean? Was there no intimacy between her and Simon?
    “Your clothes,” he said. “You should put them—”
    “They smell of him, Jacob. And what happened was so....” She hid her face and her tears fell on his neck, scorching him as they trailed into nothingness. And when the air kissed where they had passed, he discerned their trail and knew he’d been branded.
    After a while, she looked at him. “Simon and I … we … tried for children, but he could not bear to look at me, or hold me. He never kissed me. Not once. The sight of me displeased him. No, it was worse than that, I disgusted him. He found it difficult to … I am too ugly for him to … want me.”
    Jacob was shaken by the fact that Simon had never ‘made love’ to Rachel in the truest sense of the words. “Simon is a fool,” he said, humbled because she trusted him enough to reveal that part of her marriage.
    He rocked her. “You are beautiful, Rachel Zook Sauder. Your hair,” he said as he nuzzled its silken depths, “whatever its length, is the most glorious I have ever beheld. And who could not melt at such a smile as yours, with your tip-tilted nose scrunched up and your maple-syrup eyes twinkling.”
    “I must look very silly when I smile then.”
    “Beautiful, just like the rest of you.”
    “I don’t need compliments, Jacob. I would not believe them, anyway.” She tucked her face back into his neck. “Besides it’s not so much my face that’s the problem.”
    “What then?”
    Slowly she pulled away from him, crossed her arms over her breasts and curled into the same kind of ball the twins tended to adopt in sleep.
    Jacob knew he could not ignore this new plea, not if he wanted her healed. Layers of hurt to peel away. Where to begin?
    He placed his finger beneath her chin and raised her face. “Rachel look at me.”
    After a stubborn moment, she complied.
    “Good,” he said. “Here before me I see a pleasing, womanly form, not plump, but not too thin either. God has graced you with some height, but not too much.” He let go of her chin and ran his hand down one of her legs. “You have shapely legs, as lovely as I have ever imagined them. And I have imagined them often.”
    He was pleased when Rachel’s eyes widened.
    Jacob lifted her foot. “No shoes?”
    “They fell off.”
    He nodded and began to remove her stockings. Warm, silky flesh he skimmed as he slipped them off. He took a breath and returned to his purpose. He lifted her foot, wiggled a toe, and smiled. “Your feet are not bigger than mine, which would be just too big to believe, but they hold you up well and convey you about with ease.”
    He kissed her fingers. “Your fingers are long and shapely, not big-knuckled and rough like Priscilla Gorilla’s.”
    A smile raised one side of her mouth.
    “Ach, finally,” he said. “Your hips flare just right. Perhaps you noticed me testing that theory with my hand a short while ago?”
    “Jacob!”
    “I won’t lie to you Rachel. I never would. I liked doing it. And I like how you look. You are a desirable woman, and perfectly normal, except for perhaps one thing.”
    Rachel crossed her arms more tightly over her breasts and her breathing became ragged. Jacob uncrossed them and placed them at her sides. “Except for your breasts,” he said.
    She closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek.
    “No, love.” He rocked her. “Oh, no. Don’t cry. They’re beautiful breasts. They make me ache with longing just to gaze at them.”
    “No,” she said into his chest. “They’re too