into her future. Here there were so many strange things, like moving paths, baths, showers and water-filled commodes. Even the house they were in had a strangeness to it that was hard to take in. It was becoming all too much.
She whimpered a little as his fingers began to brush back her hair. Then she felt it. The ever so soft brush of his lips over hers. Startled, her eyelids flew open. She found herself staring up into his almond shaped blue eyes. Eyes that were sending her messages that made her blush. But she didn’t move. Without clearly understanding what she was doing, she licked her dry lips, and with a groan he dropped his head, and claimed her mouth again. This time it was no mere brush of lips. He kissed her in a way that was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Certainly she had known kisses. She may be a thirty year old spinster, but she had known her share of suitors, in her younger years. And many of them had sought to kiss her. Those kisses were nothing like this. This sent her heart racing. This was an invasion of the most intimate kind, and it made her feel wicked and needy and frightened, all at the same time. This made her yearn for more.
After a moment, Rene dragged himself away, and sat up. He straightened his cravat and cough. ‘I am sorry, Liv. I took advantage of you in a weak moment. Maybe I should ask Cara to find someone else to stay with you. It appears I cannot be trusted.’ He spoke stiffly, and she could see that his dark skin had a reddish hue.
Absently, the thought passed through her head that they call people of his race Red Indians. But Rene’s skin was not red, it was brown, unless he was blushing, as he was at that moment.
‘Rene, please look at me,’ she said. Then she stayed quiet while she waited for him to do as she requested. When his eyes met hers, she could see the passion burning there, and it aroused more yearning inside her.
‘I would not be able to withstand this challenge if you were not at my side. I am overwhelmed, I cannot deny it. But you make me feel safe. Kissing you was the most intimate and wonderful experience of my life, and I do not regret it. I do not want you to regret it, either. All I ask is that you are honest with me. Do you feel for me what I feel for you?’
His eyes did not deviate while she spoke, and when she came to the end, he let a quiet pause fill the room. Then he dropped his head again, and claimed her lips once more, gently this time, with aching tenderness. When he lifted his head, he met her gaze once more.
‘Liv, Jane tells me that what I have been experiencing, over the last months since I met you, is “love at first sight”. I didn’t know. I have never fallen in love before. But what I do know is that I cannot control my emotions when I am around you. You are like an addiction. Your wellbeing is all that matters to me. I cannot go an hour without thinking of you, even when my life’s work is finally coming to fruition. I want – no – I need to be with you, to touch you, to claim you in the most basic of ways. If that is what you feel for me, then yes, I feel it for you.’
His eyes never left hers during the length of his speech. But when it was finished, they closed, and he leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. ‘You have become my heart…’ he whispered.
Liv couldn’t have received a more compelling declaration. It meant more to her than any eloquent poetry that rhapsodized about her appearance, or declared lifelong adoration. This was real. And, though he was exceedingly young, and young love, so she had been told, was fickle and changeable, his sentiments seemed genuine in the moment.
How did she feel about him? Was it love at first sight for her too? Did she have trouble controlling her emotions? Did she think of him constantly, and want his touch, in the most basic of ways? Yes. But it was too soon to know if this feeling had permanence. They did not know each other yet. All she truly knew about this youth