Heavy blue drapes hung at the window. Candlelight flickered on the walls. And Gabriel rose above her, whispering words of love to her in French and Italian. Only it wasn't her, she thought, confused. And yet, itwas her. She could hear his voice, touch his skin, smell the sweat of their combined bodies. His hair was like a dark cloud, his eyes turbulent, like the sky before a storm.
His eyes... surely it was a trick of the candlelight that caused them to glow like a bloodred flame...
Sarah opened her eyes, frightened by the images playing in her mind. And Gabriel was there, his dark gray eyes blazing, glowing. Surely it was only a trick of the light, she told herself, and then there was no more time for thought. Ecstasy spiraled through her and she cried his name, her nails clawing his back and shoulders as their bodies merged in perfect unison, the one giving pleasure to the other and finding pleasure in the giving.
Gabriel turned his face away, not wanting her to see the blood-lust that was surely glowing in his eyes. It had taken every ounce of his self-control to contain the hunger that seethed within him, to keep from satisfying his lust for blood as he satisfied his lust for her flesh.
And yet it wasn't lust. He had loved this woman in another lifetime. He loved her now. And he would never let her go.
"Gabriel?"
He took a deep breath and then he turned on his side, drawing her with him, his arms wrapped around her, protectively, possessively.
"Cara?"
Cara. That was what he had called the girl in the blue bedroom. The girl whose emotions and desires Sarah had felt as though they were her own.
Gabriel gazed into Sarah's eyes. "Are you all right?"
"I don't know. I..."
"What is it?"
"I don't know how to explain it," she said, frowning. "But when we were making love, I had the strangest feeling that I was someone else. That wewere somewhere else."
Gabriel swore under his breath. For a moment, his mind had gone back in time, and he had imagined it was Sara Jayne in his arms. But how had Sarah known that?
"And you..."
A muscle worked in Gabriel's jaw. "What about me?"
"I don't know. You were different somehow. Your eyes..." She raised up on one elbow and gazed at him intently, then shook her head. "Never mind."
Gently, he brushed a wisp of hair from her brow, then pulled her down beside him once again.
"Gabriel?"
"Hmmmm?"
"I think I'm falling in love with you." She bit down on her lip when he didn't say anything. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No, Sarah, I don't mind."
She waited, hoping he would tell her he loved her, too, or at least say that he cared, but he only gazed at her, his gray eyes dark with desire. But, deeper than the glow of passion, she saw another emotion blazing in his eyes, one she didn't recognize.
She tried to decipher it, but it was quickly gone, and then he was making love to her again, tenderly this time, carrying her away with him to heights she had never scaled, depths she had never plumbed, ecstasies she had never imagined.
And there, in the midst of rapture beyond anything she had ever dreamed of, she glimpsed the true depths of Gabriel's loneliness, his emptiness, his need to be held, to be loved.
Tears burned her eyes as her soul merged with his. With a sob, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding his body close even as she whispered that she loved him, that she would always love him, that he would never be alone again.
And then they came together, hearts and bodies blending together, their tears mingling as they found that one moment of shared perfection that carried them beyond the bounds of time and space.
And for her there was fulfillment and a sense of peace.
And for him there was light and hope and a sense of coming home after a long dark journey.
With a sigh of contentment, she fell asleep in his arms.
He held her throughout the night, his body warmed by her nearness, his fingers threading through the silky softness of her hair, caressing the curve of her shoulder, the side of her breast.
She dreamed of him, and he knew her dreams. They were Sara's dreams, parts of Sara's life. But only the good parts.
He held her until dawn crept over the horizon.
Leaving the bed, he covered her with the quilt, kissed her lips, then gathered up his clothes