Free Always by Amy Richie Page B

of marriage out of your head,” he snapped.
    “ I…I just…”
    “ You just what, Claudia?” His scowl darkened further.
    “ I didn’t mean anything, Marcus. I was just…” I stopped talking, unable to say anymore.
    He leaned down to get directly in my face, “I will never marry. I cannot marry and I have no intention of ever marrying anyone. It’s not possible.”
    “ Okay,” I tried to make my eyes wide so I wouldn’t cry.
    “ Get your boots back on. It’s time for you to go home.”
    Tears sprang to my eyes as I blindly reached for my discarded boots. He was right, he had told me that he would never marry. I was an idiot for even bringing it up.
    I was too ashamed to look at him with tears streaming down my face. I had assumed too much. I liked him so very well and he was laughing with me; I had dared to hope that maybe…
    I let out a forced breath and pulled on my left boot without even bothering to clean the mud from my toes. I needed to hurry and get my boots on so he wouldn’t have to keep staring down at me.
    What must he be thinking? What a foolish, foolish girl I had shown myself to be. Now he would discard me back home and I may never see him again. Surely now he would hide away in his home until I was safely away in London. I could only hope that he wouldn’t tell David or Sylvia how I had behaved.
    I was confident that no one else would ever know of our night of adventure, but would he tell his family? Would they all laugh together over the hasty words I had spoken?
    I almost groaned at the thought. I pulled on my other boot and pushed myself up off the ground. I was thankful that I was mostly dry and for once in my life, I was glad for being short. At least now I could hide from the disgust in his face.
    “ Are you ready?” he asked a little less harshly.
    “ Yep,” I nodded, still only looking at the ground.
    “ Claudia…”
    “ I’m fine,” I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried to get past him without looking up.
    “ You just don’t understand,” he said softly.
    “ I do,” I sniffed back my sob, “you said you don’t want to marry anyone.” I caught my trembling lip between my teeth. “I should…have never said anything..so foolish.” I wiped away the embarrassing tears.
    “ We should go.”
    “ I’m ready.” I took a deep breath and prepared to follow Marcus, but he didn’t move.
    For long, agonizing seconds, I stood there trying not to breathe too heavily. I didn’t want to look at him, but I needed to know what he was thinking, why he wasn’t moving.
    I raised my eyes slowly, looking past his hard chest that had offered me comfort last night, past his broad shoulders that had been strong enough to carry me after I had fallen, past his tight mouth that had laughed more than anyone I had ever known, and up to his eyes that were staring at me with such conflicting agony in their blue depths.
    “ Claudia,” he began, but then snapped his lips shut again. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips. “I…” He couldn’t seem to get a complete sentence out.
    It wouldn’t have mattered much, I could hardly hear anything over the roaring of my own heartbeats. He reached down ever so painfully slowly to put one of his large hands against my face.
    He leaned in towards me. I froze, not even daring to breath. My mouth fell open slightly. Was he really going to kiss me? I was aware of only Marcus as he leaned toward me, indecision clear on his handsome face.
    “ We have to go,” he spoke in a near whisper. “Do not for one second think it is because I don’t want to kiss you. But I cannot.” His hands began to tremble. “You are going to be married in a few days. I am not prepared to step into Edmund Harris’s shoes.”
    He stopped talking and dropped his hand away from my face. I felt the cold creep into my skin. “I will not compromise your integrity. One day, you will remember this moment and you will be grateful to me, young Claudia,” The intensity in