He followed her along the dirt pathway. She had her hands clasped behind her back when she walked, and Alec thought she walked with grace after what the man had done to her.
When she turned the corner, Alec reached for her hand and slipped the bracelet he’d made onto her dainty wrist. He squeezed her fingers and whispered, “My Circe,” into her ear.
The sound of Alec’s voice made Circe’s heart stumble as if it were to trip from between the bones of her ribcage and roll right out of her chest. But she also did her best to remain unaffected so that no one would notice. Oh, how it was hardest to stand in his presence and not melt.
When the two turned the corner, she scanned her surroundings in one sweep to find they were alone. Then she grabbed Alec’s hand, pulled him between the apothecary and market, where only the sun could see them, and spun into his arms.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, examining Alec’s face as he plucked a stray hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
Alec took her hand, interlaced his fingers with hers, and pinned their togetherness to his chest. “I had to see you.”
Circe couldn’t speak, and her breathing turned shallow, so Alec spun a black pearl from the string wrapped around her wrist. “Each pearl was a day spent thinking of you while without you.” He sighed. “Circe, I am going mad. Please don’t force me to make a necklace next.”
“You found these yourself?” Tears formed and clung to the corners of her eyes. No man had ever made something for her. When she shook her head, one of her tears fell and splashed upon her heaving breasts. “Alec, I—”
“Who was that man? Is he the one bruising your body?”
Circe’s jaw snapped shut. She cast her eyes downward and he watched as she took a full breath. “My husband.”
Alec raised his brows.
His stomach twisted into knots.
“You’re married to him,” he said. “How could you be married to him?”
Circe shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Alec looked away.
“Alec, look at me,” she said, grabbing his face until his eyes set on hers. “Even if you could understand, it does not matter. I’m strong, Alec. And I may spend my nights with him, but you are my only thought in those dark hours. I swear to you, I only think of you.” She pulled him to her until her spine met brick, and he melted into her. “I’m yours,” she whispered against his lips. “I’m eternally yours.”
It seemed as though the world was falling away around them. It was only Circe and Alec under the sun, the only thing that had witnessed their love story, quivering and wrought in lust while harmonies from violins stroked the delicate things inside their chests.
Alec cupped her face and slipped his tongue into her mouth.
Circe’s legs weakened from the jolting sensation, and Alec fisted her skirt. “Leave him,” he pleaded. “We can sail away and never look back.”
Circe didn’t need a moment to think. For all she knew, punishment would always be awaiting each time she returned to a life she loathed. She desperately wanted to leave Weeping Hollow, escape the madman she called her husband, and be with Alec.
“Missus Cantini!” gasped Lacie.
In an instant, Circe and Alec parted from each other.
“Lacie,” Circe acknowledged, fixing her skirt. She laid a palm against her chest and gripped her sapphire to hide her panicked breath. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people. It isn’t polite.”
Lacie glanced at the strange man she found kissing Missus Cantini seconds before. She could only imagine what could have transpired between the two if she hadn’t stopped it. “I was worried about you. Please introduce me to your ... friend?”
“There’s no time,” Circe replied. “He was just on his way.”
Circe turned to Alec and whispered, “There’s something I must do first. Do you remember where we first met?”
Alec’s gaze sailed to Lacie, who was strumming her fingers along her crossed arms, then she twitched her nose up at him. “I remember,” he said through a tense jaw.
“Tonight, meet me at the witching hour.”
Alec’s gaze slammed into Circe. “Not a moment later, or I will come for you.”
“I will be there. I promise.”
