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this time his mouth was gentle,
teasing, exploring hers with tenderness and lazy hunger that grew to anguished
passion in no time at all.
    She felt the wall at her back, cold and hard,
and Cole's heated body pressing her into it, in an intimacy that she'd never
even dreamed. The contours of his flat stomach had changed quite suddenly; his
mouth was hurting hers.
    Frightened, her hands pressed frantically
against the hair-roughened strength of his chest.
    Cole drew back at once, his own eyes as shocked
as hers at the barriers of decency he'd overstepped in his mindless desire. He
stepped away from her, dark color overlaying his high cheekbones.
    Lacy's swollen lips were parted as she struggled
for breath and composure, staring up at him with embarrassed comprehension. He
shuddered just slightly, and, Lacy's eyes encountered with sudden and startled
starkness the visible evidence of his loss of control. She blushed red and
averted her eyes even as Cole turned away from her.
    She didn't know what to say, what to do. Her
body felt oddly swollen and hot, and there was a tightness in her lower stomach
that she'd never experienced. Her bodice felt far too tight. She tugged at the
lace of her white midi blouse and searched for the right words.
    "I beg your pardon, Lacy," Cole said
in a taut, all-too-formal tone, although he didn't look at her. "I never
meant that to happen."
    "It's all right," she replied huskily.
"I—I should have protested."
    "You did. Too late," he added, with
faint dryness, as he turned toward her, back in command of his senses once
more. His dark hair was disheveled, lying over his broad forehead, and there
was still that faint color on his high cheekbones. His deep brown eyes held a
light that was puzzling as they swept with new boldness over Lacy's slender body
and back up to her own vivid blue eyes.
    "I—I should go," she faltered.
    "Yes, you should," he agreed.
"You'll be compromised if any of the family find us alone like this in my
bedroom." But she didn't move. Neither did he.
    His chest rose and fell deeply. "Come
here," he said softly, and opened his arms.
    She went into them gracefully, and laid her hot
cheek against his cool, damp chest, the thick hair tickling her skin. His
heartbeat was deep and quick, like his breathing, but he held her with utter
decorum, his arms protective rather than passionate.
    "Wait for me," he whispered into her
ear.
    "All my life," she replied brokenly.
    His arms contracted then, and he shivered with
feeling. But after a few seconds, he put her away from him, searching her eyes
with banked-down hunger.
    "I love you," she said unsteadily,
damning pride and self-respect.
    "Yes," he said, his voice deep and
quiet, his face giving nothing away. "Try to help Mother with Katy and Ben
while I'm away. Stay close to the house. Don't go out alone, ever."
"I won't."
    He drew in a slow breath. "The war won't
last forever. And I'm not suicidal. No more tears."
    She managed a shaky smile. "Not until you
leave, at least," she promised.
    His fingers traced her cheek tenderly. "I
thought you were afraid of me, all these years. But it wasn't fear, was
it?" he asked, his jaw tightening as he looked at her. "You've loved
me for a long time, and I never saw it."
    She nodded slowly. "I never meant you to
know."
    "It's just as well that I do, now,"he
replied. He bent and brushed a slow, tender kiss over her lips. "Write to
me,"he whispered. "I'll come home, Lacy."
    "I'll pray every night for you," she
replied. "Oh, Cole... "
    "No more tears,"he said sternly when
her eyes began to sparkle with them. "I can't bear to see you cry."
    "Sorry." She drew back from him, her
heart in her face. "I'd better go, hadn't I?"
    "I'm afraid so." His eyes swept over
her one last time. "We'll say our proper good-byes when I leave."
    "Our proper good-byes," she agreed.
    It had been the last time she'd seen him alone.
He said a very formal good-bye to the family before a neighbor drove him to the
train station.