Lord Beast

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

She cried herself to sleep that night.

It was amazing how exhausting a fit of tears could make one for it put her right to sleep despite the aching pressure being applied to her spine. She made a mental note to utilize the method in future when her back kept her up all night.

Surprisingly, she slept most of the next day and Aunt Fiona, bless her sweet soul, didn't disturb her at all except to leave her food, to check on her person, and drop off her mail.

The same occurred the following night and by the morning she was feeling much better. In fact, she was feeling better and more level-headed than she had been in days. Her back didn't seem inclined to bother her at all today, which was a rare occurrence indeed.

She climbed out of bed and stretched, testing the willingness of her spine.

It must be late, judging by the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. She gazed admiringly out across the blue-green water of the ocean, her eyes drifting unwillingly to the forbidding spires of Falmouth. She sighed as her heart gave a painful lurch. Forbidden, she thought sadly, but not forgotten.

She let loose another maudlin sigh before settling before her vanity to brush her hair. The vase of flowers caught her eye and she quickly looked away. Suddenly, everything in her room was reminding her of him and it was suffocating. She lurched to her feet, snatched the vase, and hurled it out the open window. Open?

She never left her window open. The cold tripled the pain in her spine normally, so her room was usually kept as warm as possible. Her eyes riveted to the bright bouquet of roses placed on her bedside table. How the hell had she missed that? It was enormous! They had to be at least fifty of the bright, multi-coloured blooms. Their vase was equally beautiful, crystal probably, and at the base was a cream-coloured envelope sealed with a red wax seal.

She lunged for it like a woman starved and ripped it open, her eyes devouring the broad, elegant script that flowed across the page with swift, strong strokes.

And her heart stopped beating.

Freckles

Forgive me?

Yours,

Rhys.

"Danielle!" her aunt called through the wood of her door. "You have a visitor. Come downstairs, dear. You've slept the morning away, although I daresay you needed the sleep."

Her heart began to beat again and with fury. It right near wanted to explode from her chest. Rhys had come to visit her!

She completed her toilette in about ten minutes, record time if one considered the endless stream of buttons down the back of her black mourning gown. Dani didn't even bother with her hair but she downright burst from her room and practically ran down the stairs and into the sitting room where... Damn. It was only Victoria.

Not that she wasn't excited to see her friend- it was just so

overwhelming... the roses, the note and then the visitor. Oh God, she must be going mad if she had actually thought Rhys would call upon her at her aging aunt and uncle's cottage. Mad.

"Dani!" Victoria jumped to her feet and flung herself into her friend's arms, squeezing tightly. God, a hug felt good. Dani couldn't remember the last time somebody had given her a hug. Lord knew her mother hardly touched her and Fiona, for all the affection she held for Dani, wasn't very exhibitionist when it came to emotions.

The only person who had ever touched her in an affectionate manner had to be Vicky... and Rhys. She was so desperate for a hug she would notch his passionate embrace as one.