Brighter Than the Sun

“I had misjudged a certain, er, problem,” Ellie continued. “I still cannot believe I did. Hence I was saying, ‘So I thought,’ because, you see, I held a certain thought, and if I had not held that thought, I would not have been mistaken in my logic.”

Mrs. Foxglove looked so befuddled that Ellie wanted to whoop with delight.

“Well, whatever the case,” the older woman said pointedly, “such bizarre behavior will never land you a husband.”

Ellie stared at him in disbelief. “You are mad.”

“Thoroughly sane, I assure you.” He grimaced. “It is my father who was mad.”

Ellie suddenly had a vision of crazy, cackling babies and lurched backward. They said insanity was in the blood.

“Oh, for the love of God,” Charles muttered. “Not truly mad. He simply left me in a cursed bind.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with me.”

“It has everything to do with you,” he said cryptically.

The knife was a bit dull, and soon Ellie was gritting her teeth as she sawed through his boot. She looked up from her task for a moment. “Just let me know if I—”

“Ow!”

“—poke you,” she finished. “I’m dreadfully sorry.”

“It is astonishing,” he said, his voice liberally laced with irony, “how much sorrow I hear in your voice.”

Ellie caught another giggle in her throat.

“Oh, for the love of God,” he muttered. “Just laugh. Lord knows my life is laughable.”

Ellie suddenly had a vision of crazy, cackling babies and lurched backward. They said insanity was in the blood

“Did you know I dream about your hair?”

Ellie yawned again and settled against him. “Will you stay here tonight? At least until I fall asleep?”

He nodded and kissed her temple.

“Good. It’s warmer with you here.”

Charles blew out the candle and laid back down on top of the covers. Then, once he was sure she was asleep, he touched his heart and whispered, “It’s warmer in here, too.”

Charles lifted his head an inch and looked down at her. Her eyes were unfocused, her lips were soft and parted, and he didn’t know why he had never noticed this before, but she had to be the most beautiful woman in the entire world, and she was right there in his arms, and…

… and he had to kiss her again. Now.

He kissed her, and he kissed her, and then he kissed her some more.

Ellie felt herself tumbling to the bed, then felt his hard body upon hers. He was more than aroused; he was wild for her, and her feminine heart soared with the knowledge and power of it.

He stood on the front steps for several minutes after the carriage disappeared from view, watching as the sun hung on the horizon and painted the sky.

Her hair, he suddenly thought. Eleanor’s hair was the exact color of the sun at his favorite time of day.

His heart filled with unexpected joy, and he smiled.