Free Echoes of Tomorrow by Jenny Lykins Page A

Confusion and fear muddled her thoughts.  Pushing one of the white, gilt-trimmed double doors open to arm's length, she hesitated, then peeked into the enormous, mirrored room. 
    She expected to see Jeffrey.  It was just like him to come into her house again and commandeer it.  Her adrenaline pumping, she was ready for a fight.  Her heartbeat roared in her ears. 
    What she saw made her heart stop.
    At the far end of the room, leaning against a white, marble mantel, a lazy fire glowing behind him, stood Reed.  He was dressed in the clothes he'd arrived in, gazing at her with a nonchalant, sensual smile.
    As she watched, he pushed himself away from the mantel, clicked his heels once and bowed.  In the most seductive voice she'd ever heard he asked huskily, "Would you honor me with this dance?"
    For the first time in her life, she fainted.
     
    *******
     
    Her first awareness was a coolness on her forehead, then a gentle, yet persistent, tapping on her cheeks.  She took a deep breath and forced her eyes open.  The sight she encountered was that of a nearly hysterical Reed.  He frantically patted her cheeks, then rubbed her hands between his.
    "Thank God, Elise!  You're awake!  I thought I'd killed you!  I never meant to scare you.  I'd never..."
    Elise threw her arms around his neck and cut off any further apologies.  She hugged him so hard he coughed.  When she loosened her grip slightly, his arms encompassed her and returned her hug with an urgency of his own.
    She buried her face in his neck and chanted, "Thank you, God!  Thank you, God!  Thank you, God!"   She laughed and cried at the same time.
    His fingers splayed across the base of her skull, massaging and kneading as he rubbed his cheek across the top of her head.
    "My sentiments exactly," he whispered hoarsely.  He gave her a final squeeze, then drew away.
    "I'm sorry, little one," he moaned as his thumb wiped away a tear from her cheek.  "I've spoiled everything.  I remembered you saying one of your dreams was to dance around the room to a waltz, and I only wanted to fulfill that dream.  I didn't answer you when you came in because I was having trouble working this damnable music machine I'd moved in here.  I didn't want you to find me out until I had the stage set, so to speak.  I never imagined I'd frighten you into a faint."
    Elise could only stare at Reed.  Never, ever, in all her experience with men, had a man ever done anything so sweet, so thoughtful, as to try to fulfill even her smallest dream.  According to them, all her wildest fantasies would be fulfilled if she'd only fall into bed with them.  She'd opted not to fulfill those fantasies in all but two cases.  And those two times when she had given in had been major disappointments.
    She continued to stare, and when all of Reed's words sank in, her aching heart transformed into a glowing smile.
    "Wait right there," she ordered.  "Don't move!"
    She uncurled her arms from around his neck, then flew down the hallway and thundered up the stairs.
     
    He was worried.  He'd made Elise swoon, and when he'd explained himself she'd looked at him as if he'd sprouted horns.  Granted, she had smiled at him before she'd run away, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd done something wrong. 
    It seemed an eternity passed before Reed heard her footsteps in the hallway.  As he stopped pacing he experienced a sense of dread.  Her steps were slow and deliberate, not the usual quick-stepped clatter she was wont to create.
    A shadow fell across the floor in front of him.  He raised his head slowly, expecting the worst.
    His gaze, however, did not encounter Elise.  At least not the Elise he knew.  The person he stared at was an ethereal creature, bathed in a golden light from the fire, and garbed in an exquisite gown of delicate peach silk.  The skirt still rippled around her calves from her sudden stop in the doorway.  A multitude of dangling beads on the bodice shimmered with each