Free Rumplestiltskin by Jenni James Page B

reached up and held his arms. “What have I said to bring such a look upon your face?”
    He shook his head slightly to chase the silliness away. “’Tis nothing.”
    She tugged on his sleeves, her eyes searching his. “Falsehoods do not become you, my dear. Have I said or done something that has triggered such an awful memory to show itself upon your features? Rumplestiltskin, I promise, whatever it is—whatever I have said—I did not mean to harm you further than you have obviously been harmed. You, you of all the people in the world do not deserve such treatment from me; especially after all you have done—”
    “Hush.” He placed a finger upon her soft lips to silence her. “You have done nothing wrong. It is life that has intruded upon my thoughts, nothing more.” His thumb gently brushed against her bottom lip.
    “Kiss me,” she said against his hand.
    He chuckled. “You are intent on surprising me at every turn, are you not?” His fingers spayed across her jaw as his thumb continued to caress her mouth.
    “Rumplestiltskin, kiss me now, you fool.”
    His serious eyes met hers. “I am a fool. I am fool for wanting to be here the longer I am with you. I imagine soon, I shall never want to leave you.”
    “What?” Confusion marred her sweet features. “Will you leave me soon? Please do not leave me. What would I do without you?”
    “Shh…” He brought his mouth down to capture hers, kissing her tenderly. “I would never leave you. Can you not see I am completely bound to you? Just as this magic has woven and transformed straw into gold, so has your heart woven and transformed mine to forever be changed and bound to yours.”
    She inhaled swiftly and pulled back, her lips forming a perfect O of astonishment. “No one has ever said words such as this to me.”
    “No?”
    “No. No one has ever thought to do so.”
    “Well, that is a shame.”
    “Rumple why would you say them?”
    He glanced over her features again and smiled ruefully. “Because they are true.”
    Her breathing began to come in great gasps as she tried to process all he was telling to her. “But they cannot be. Not wholly.”
    “And why is that?”
    “Because, because…” She looked down at her dirty dress and held it out to him. “Well, look at me! I am just a girl who lives in the village. And you are a servant of the castle !”
    Rumple laughed and glanced down at himself. “Have you not noticed that I am not much to look at, my dear?” he asked, amazed she seemed to disregard his stilted body altogether.
    “Why? What do you mean?” She seemed genuinely confused.
    “Aubrynn, sweetheart, I am a crippled man who has been cursed to remain this way forever. No beautiful young woman in her right mind would wish to come within three feet of me.”
    “Yet, you cannot keep me away.” She grinned and stepped toward him.
    He foolishly wrapped an arm around her. “And why is that?” His own heart pausing to hear her response.
    “Because I do not see what you see. I cannot. Your true self has shone too brightly despite your crippled casing. You are simply too marvelous, too good to be considered anything that resembles a curse.” She cuddled up closer to his chest and wrapped her arms around his bowed back.
    Rumple let out a long-awaited sigh at her answer, a great feeling of warmth settled over his heart, kissing it and then slowly winding its way through his limbs all the way to the tip of his hair. His whole being filled with the glorious enchantment of her words. Never had he believed a woman such as she would enter into his life—never did he even dream it would be possible. He tried desperately to make her see reason—to make them both see reason, though he was too delightfully warm to say much more than, “But, it will not last. This goodness you feel that I am.”
    “Of course it will,” she mumbled into his shirt.
    He tried again. “But what occurs when this is all over. What happens when all the straw is