Keeper of the Spirit

An Excerpt From: KEEPER OF THE SPIRIT

Emma awoke to the sounds of someone fumbling with her bedroom door. She sat up slowly, her mind still groggy with sleep, until a shadowy figure entered her room. Throwing back the covers with a soundless squeal of fright, she poised herself with one knee on the bed and the other foot touching the floor. Her breath caught in her throat when a male voice mumbled curses—a voice that was not her father’s.

A match flared. The hurricane lamp cast its glow across the floor.

“Tyler!” she exclaimed over the beat of her pounding heart. “What are you doing in my room?”

“Emma?” he slurred as he took a few unsteady steps toward her. He squinted into the shadowed far corner of the bedchamber where the huge canopied bed loomed in the semi-darkness. “I…I don’t know. I must have entered the wrong room.”

Son of a bitch, he chastised himself and caught himself as he stumbled over a shoe.

“Well, that’s easy enough to believe when you drank enough to drown a horse,” she threw at him.

“Madam, I think you may be right.” A crooked smile reached his eyes. He leaned forward, then swayed slightly with his effort to peer more closely at her. A vision in sheer chiffon with auburn tresses draped over barely concealed, creamy white breasts met his blurred gaze. He shook his head, but the apparition didn’t go away.

Her green eyes sparked as she glared back at him, angry because he had the power to make her heart beat wildly. “I think you’d better leave.”

He stood frozen to the spot. His appreciative gaze boldly scanned her sumptuous form. “Emma?” He wavered again. “Do you know what a fetching sight you are in that nightgown?”

“You’d better go before somebody hears you.” Her voice came out in a raspy whisper.

He moved another step closer and gazed down into her wide, questioning, incredibly beautiful eyes. To hell with it, his mind screamed. To hell with everything… His features softened and responded with an equally hoarse voice.

“Ask me to stay. Please, Emma. I want you in my arms. I want to kiss you and never let you go.”

Emma scrambled backward across the bed, ignoring the unsettling thrill that raced down her spine. “You have to get out of here—now!” She said it, but it was the last thing she wanted.

He stood at the edge of the bed, his face a constant plane of changes as he stared down.

“I said get out of here, Tyler!”

He closed his eyes, pursed his lips and stood quietly before her. When he looked at her again a moment later, he released a heartfelt sigh of defeat. “Such a beautiful face,” he whispered. “Dear, sweet Emma. I’d love to stay, but know I must leave.”

He turned on unsteady legs and crossed the room. Don’t look back, just look forward.

Emma watched his retreating form as it neared the door. Her heart splintered into a thousand pieces. Isn’t this what I wanted earlier? Didn’t I want him to kiss me, to hold me? The thoughts raced through her mind. No! He wants more! He wants…

She clamped her eyes shut against the conflicting emotions that constricted her chest. It didn’t matter! He wanted her, even if it was only for this one night… She couldn’t let him leave without at least once feeling his arms around her and his kiss upon her lips.

“Tyler!” His name exploded in the quiet room before she had a chance to pull it back.

He swayed with his hand on the doorknob and didn’t dare look back.

He would not, could not ask again, only to be turned away. His eyes closed, his head swirled in a fog—and he waited. An eternity passed before her voice whispered from directly behind him.

“Don’t go. I want you to stay.”

He kept his eyes closed for a moment longer, willing the effects of the alcohol to leave his brain.

“Please, turn around, Tyler. Stay with me. I need you…”

He swung slowly to face her. His eyes locked with hers. His heart pounded madly. “Are you sure? Once I’ve got you in my arms, Emma, I won’t let you go.”

She stepped closer and stared up into his burning gaze. Slowly, her arms encircled his neck. She guided his mouth close to hers. Going on instinct alone now, she raised on tiptoe to fit her body intimately against his. Her answer whispered across his lips. “Stay…”