He reached her and slid his hands carefully around her waist, slowly drawing her body to his and wrapping her in his arms.
“It’s all right, you had a nightmare,” he told her and she shook her head, tossing her mane of hair. “Sibyl, it’s all right,” he assured her firmly.
She pulled back slightly and gazed at him. He could not see her eyes in the moonlight but he could feel their intensity.
Then she did the strangest thing, something that moved him at the same time it sent a sense of fear searing straight into his soul.
Lifting a trembling hand, she touched his throat in a feather-light caress and his body completely stilled. The light touch was somehow fervent, even reverent. Then she leaned forward, pressed her lips against his throat and kissed him there.
At her kiss, his still body froze.
Except for when she’d laid her hands on his chest in apology and, after, on his shoulders when he held her, she’d not touched him, and definitely not kissed him, unless he’d commanded it or they were having sex.
But he knew, instinctively, this was not a game, this was not an act, this was something else entirely.
“Sibyl, what’s happened?” he asked.
“It’s just a nightmare,” she whispered in a way that sounded like she was trying to convince herself of the truth of her words. She tucked her head under his chin and wrapped her arms around him so tightly that it almost felt as if she wanted him to absorb her into his body.
It went without saying that she’d also never hugged him and this embrace was not simply an embrace, it was profound and it was desperate.
Automatically, his arms tightened around her.
“It’s all right,” he repeated, not knowing what else to say, completely at a loss of what to make of this latest, spectacular event.
She nodded her head against him, causing her hair to slide against his chest and, even though he would not have thought it possible, her arms tightened further around him. He reciprocated, pulling her even deeper into his body and resting his chin on her head.
Colin opened his mouth to speak, to ask her questions about her nightmare but he felt a tremor go through her and decided against it. It was not for tonight, when it was dark and whatever dream she had was fresh. He would ask her in the morning. Now, he needed to take the fear away.
And therefore Colin Morgan and Sibyl Godwin stood by the open window, their na**d bodies bathed in moonlight, holding each other.
* * * * *
The dark soul stood hidden in the trees and watched the cottage. The soul saw the flash of movement as the body came flying to the window, a woman’s body, a woman with unforgettable hair.
Then a man come to her to hold her, gently, carefully, as if the na**d woman was an exquisite, fragile piece of priceless crystal.
At this sight, the dark soul seethed.
Chapter Ten
Perfect Fit
Marian was not cheerful when she entered her house after Colin brought her home.
Marian was frightened.
What she witnessed outside the restaurant was no accident; it was not an impatient driver.
It was something else.
She’d followed Colin and Sibyl there and she’d been watching the restaurant (in between bouts of doing her grocery list and writing a letter to a friend) for over an hour. She saw the car drive up, she noticed that it didn’t park or turn off its motor but she didn’t know it was waiting to run down her precious charges.
She did know it was a black BMW although she had not seen the driver (who never exited the car), if it was a man or a woman and she did not note the number plate.
She’d let down the side.
Marian should have been watching carefully, she should have had her eyes peeled for anything, however, she had no idea that dark soul would make a move so soon.