Southern Beauty - By Julie Lucia Page 0,13

seductively invited him to her.

David grinned taking a closer step. He lifted his hand to her cheek and pulled away her wet hair that hid her emerald eyes. What was it about her that made him feel so alive? He felt anger and passion at once. She was a child but everything about her was a woman.

“Do you really hate me?” David asked her with a slight grin.

“No, I do not,” she admitted and then held her breath. Her gaze locked on his. She wanted desperately to remove herself from his powerful presence. He had an undeniable power over her that made her want more of him. She hated him for it. It was hard for her to swallow. His handsome face gazing upon hers made Johanna tremble. The look on his face made it even harder for her to turn away. He looked at her with wonder as if he had never seen her before.

“Do you treat all your prisoners like this, Lieutenant?” asked Johanna, trying desperately to break their intense moment.

“Only the ones who are defiant,” said David. “Of course, until they are broken.”

Johanna stared him down. “Are you saying that I am a horse or child?” she asked.

“Does it matter?” he asked.

Johanna was so furious with David she could actually feel her blood pressure boil, and her face burn with anger, but she could not make any words form. She stared at him. Watching him laugh at her was painful. She had let down her guard for some odd reason. Why she did continued to perplex her.

Johanna turned in anger and tried to step away from him to head back to the cottage. Before she took another step, David grabbed her arm and turned her toward him with a jerk.

They were now face to face again, staring in each other’s eyes, inches from each other. Another crack of thunder and a flash of lightening outlined their circumstance. A small stream began to form nearby that had been created by the downpour of rain.

Johanna tried to push him away although he was too strong for her. His fists wrapped around her wrists, she tried to struggle, but her heart wanted to give in. David whispered her name calming her. “Johanna,” he whispered.

Her face felt hot again but it wasn’t because of anger. She froze and looked up into his handsome face.

He whispered her name again, “Johanna.”

She was entranced, it was as if the whole world had stopped, became motionless, as if there was no rain, no war, and no cares. Time had held on and wouldn’t tick to the next second.

David’s mind couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. Even wet with the rain pouring over her, Johanna was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He whispered her name as if it was a heavenly secret he unveiled.

“Johanna,” he said once again. She wanted him even though she struggled, he knew. He could see it in her eyes. He felt it he was consumed by it, by her. She was intoxicating. He had lost. He could not pretend anymore. He had to have her. He would never be the same again. It was then, in that moment, that space in time that the revelation came. Lieutenant David McPherson knew that he loved her.

David’s eyes traced Johanna’s lips, he wanted to taste them, feel their warmth, their tenderness. His hands shook as they began to touch her silken face. He feared if he touched her, she’d disappear into the night as if in a dream. He could not wait any longer he had to kiss her, and with a powerful embrace, his lips collided with hers.

Chapter 6

fter that day Johanna couldn’t remember much about the incident with David. The moment they had shared together was a blur. It seemed more like a dream. She could hardly remember when Private Graystone whisked her away from David. They were interrupted by unexpected arrival of Malcolm. He had knocked David out with his revolver with one swift blow. David had no idea what hit him until it was too late.

David and Johanna didn’t hear Malcolm approach them from behind with the downpour of rain and the crashing thunder. As David fell to the ground it was there in that instant, Malcolm took her. He grabbed her, covered her mouth, and before she could scream, he whispered in her ear.

“Colonel Lee has sent me,” said Malcolm. “I am here to save you. Please don’t scream or there will be blood spilled this