Somewhere My Love by Beth Trissel Page A

s she had countless times before .
    “Jules.”
    Her heart swelled with the flooding hope that her most ardent wish wouldn’t float back to her empty . “Cole . ” Hi s name escaped her in a breath less sigh .
    “I’m here.”
    “Where?” she pleaded , lost in misted suspension .
    “Seek me, ” he prompted in his velvet voice .
    The haze cleared and Julia found herself back in the moonlit garden where she’d las t seen Cole, the sweetness of lilies wafting on the mild night air. She searched eagerly for him through silvered shadows like a phantom.
    “Above you, my darling.”
    She looked up to find Cole gazing down at her from the back of a splendid horse, the thorou ghbred in the portrait of him. Tall, majestic, with chocolate-brown eyes and dark mane, the stallion mirrored his master.
    “Dearest Jules .” Cole bent in the saddle reaching out white gloved fingers . 
    Julia clasped his hand , and i n one swift motion he pulled her up to sit in front of him , her legs to one side of the horse . H e held the reins in one hand, circling the other ar ound her waist. The gown she still wore sp illed blue muslin over them both . She felt supremely happy, cradled between the stallion’s vibrant strength and Cole’s.
    “ Manney . His name is Manney , from the mandrake root , ” she said slowly , remembering th e long lost title. “ Fast and deadly, t he swiftest horse in the county.”
    “In the state ,” Cole said . “Let’s ride.”
    H e nudged Ma nney in the side and they bounded away as if on wings .  The thoroughbred’s long legs flew in a blur through the garden.
    “Hold on,” Cole said with a chuckle , and drew her tightly against him.
    Reining Manny off the pebbled paths, he urged him over boxwood hedges , soaring into the scented night. Circular herb beds fell away beneath his hooves. J ulia inhaled the pungent tang of dill and sage. She loosed a squeal in anticipation –– laughing as they sprang over the gate in t he sinuous brick wall. 
    Manney touched down on the springy turf and pound ed away through the field of new mown hay. The quintessential fragrance of summer filled her nose w hile breezes whipped her hair. She was with Cole, like bef ore, on a wild midn ight ride, w onderful, exhilarating.  Let it go on and on gilded with rapture ...
    “Jules, this is stolen time,” he said, as if reading her mind . 
    His husky words cut through her like blackness blotting out the glittery stars. “No. Don’t stop !”
    “I must. We went no further than these fields. ”
    She strove to remember . 
    He r eined in Manney and was still. They bre athed together, man, woman, and the rising, falling flanks of the horse.  
    “We’ve done this before, haven’t we? ” she whispered.
    “Yes.” Cole’s vo ice was thick with knowledge. “ Our time is taken from what was, like shards of glass pieced toge ther to form a part of the whole . ”  
    Sinking heavily against him, she strained every sense to understand.  “I can’t stay, can I?”
    “Only for a while .”
    Refusal shouted within her and she choked out her plea , “ Please –– l et me remain with you . If I must perish first , then slay me now . Your sword hangs at your side.”
    “N ever for you , sweetheart .” Cole closed his arms around her, not to impr ison, but to uphold her, and buried his face in her hair. “It is not your life that is forfeit. Mine is already spent , for you.”   
    Raw dread knifed t hrough her . “Don’t say that .”  
    She turned and lifted her hand to his cheek, smooth , yet masculine beneath her fingers, his handsom eness excruciating and so throbbingly familiar.  “ I would die for you. If you cannot do the deed, I will take my own life. ”
    Tears glistened in his eyes. “Nay. Y ou must live.”
    “I don’t know how without you.”
    “I a m as near as your next bre ath. Reach deep inside and remembe r our pact...t ogether always , o ur heart s as one . ”
    “ T ogether always