He lurched forward and grabbed her shoulders, yanked her away from the tree, and immediately pressed her against his chest. Solid. Real.Freezing cold.
His heart was going to explode. She could have died getting here! Could still die if he did not get her to shelter. The cliff edge was too close, the wind too vicious, and she was so small against the fury of it. Why had she come?
“Are you hurt?” He had to shout it directly into her ear. His hands moved over her arms, her back, searching for blood, for cuts, for anything wrong. “What the devil were you thinking? You could have been killed!”
She was shaking too hard. Her lips had gone blue. Her small hands came to grip the lapels of his coat, which was wholly unsuited for this weather. “I could ask you the same question!”
He shook his head, pulling her back under the dubious shelter of the tree. “I misjudged the weather and decided to wait the storm out. But Aurelia, why didyoucome back?”
“Because you left for the lighthouse, and no matter how angry I am at you, I can’t bear the thought of history repeating itself.” Her voice cracked, and he felt his own heart break at the sound of it. “I was going to drag you from the edge no matter what it took!”
“Aurelia.” He stroked her salt-sodden hair, pushing the wet strands back from her eyes. “You are half my size, little mouse. And you know I would never have jumped.”
“I don’t know what. If I had—” She shook her head, tears mixing with the rain on her face. “I can’t lose you, Sebastian.”
“I know, my shepherdess.” He crushed her to him, rocking her tight as the storm howled all around them. Out here, they were vulnerable. When he had been alone, being vulnerable was preferable to returning to the house—but not when it involved risking Aurelia’s life.
She was too precious.
In a moment, he would lead her back to the house, and everything would be as it was. But for now—for now, all he wanted to do was hold her. His hand cradled the back of her head. Her arms locked around his ribs. The tree gave almost no shelter. Thunder crunched overhead, close enough to rattle his bones. The storm was nearly on top of them.
He dragged in a salt-chilled breath that hurt. Then pulled back just enough to see her pale face. Looking up at him like he was worth dying for.
The words ripped out of him.
“I love you!” Her eyes went wide. He said it again, louder, fierce. “I love you, Aurelia. In a way I have never loved another woman. I cannot imagine my life without you. Now or forever.”
She shook her head, water dripping from the end of her nose. “Not here!”
He grimaced. Perhaps declaring his love for her in the middle of a storm hellbent on killing them both was not the best way of going about things. She had made him lose his mind. At least she was wearing a coat, although it was already soaked through.
“Let’s go home!”
For a second, it looked as though she might object, perhaps even fight him about where they were to go—as though there was anywhere else for them to go. Right now, his house was closer. They could save anything else for after the storm passed.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on,” he yelled against her ear. “Let’s go.”
The entire walk back to the house, bent almost double against the wind, Aurelia kept replaying Sebastian’s declaration in her head.
I love you.
In a way I have never loved another woman.
The way he’d said it—the words had nearly burst from him as he looked at her, as though he could not have looked at her for any longer andnotsaid them.
So why hadn’t he told her that when he told her he no longer wanted her to leave? If she had known he loved her, she might not have been so angry and left with such haste.
Or perhaps she would have done so anyway.
All her emotions stung her insides as thoroughly as the rain stung her skin. Sebastian did his best to shield her from it, but even he could not stop the weather.
Eventually, however, the house came into view, and Aurelia wanted to sigh in relief at the sight.Home. Somehow, despite all the odds, it had become her home.
And Sebastian was her husband.
Could she really run from that?
Fellows met them at the door with a towel, opening it wide and ushering them in. Aurelia shivered in the hallway, dripping onto the wooden floor, feeling like a fool—all her clothes were with Mary Ann. She had certainly not intended to rush back to find him and convince him to return home.
