Tried for Love (TSATD)

Chapter 35

Leah

  The first day away from the city always had its charm. Traveling was tiring, true, but something about West Lane was somehow soothing for me.. Or at least it had been, once, before my entire life had been snatched away from me.

  During that period, when I had become Leah Rowe, when Nicholas controlled my life and Paul led me through it, I seemed to had lived in a world of nothing but darkness and fear. Always seeking comfort. Always seeking protection. And never succeeding in finding it.

  After life tested me once again and my life was turned upside down once more, for whatever reason, I agreed on becoming a Valentine. It was then that everything changed.. Or if not everything, just enough to soothe my soul.

  Beside me, I had the man that was the reason for that. How he had earned my trust and sired a connection so powerful, I feared it might never break, I hadn't a clue. But, Gabriel Valentine, the man I was calling my husband, was giving me the kind of serenity no one had ever succeeded providing before.

  Perhaps something gave me away, because those intense greens were on me, as if he was reading my thoughts.. Scanning me as if he had me all figured out. He did, I suppose, in ways, because just that previous evening he had held me in his arms and calmed that tearless breakdown that nearly meant a havoc for me.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. "What are you thinking?" I smiled at his question, continuing to walk down the path towards the stables.

  Even as I looked ahead of myself, I felt his gaze on me as I responded. "Why does it matter what I'm thinking?"

  "It matters." His tone was low, as if speaking the obvious. "It fascinates me how your mind works. One day you're ready to follow ancient rules.. The next, you not only break them, but make ones yourself."

  I couldn't help but laugh at that. On some parts, he was right. I caught his eye for a second, that particular amusement behind those greens.. So, I scowled at him, just for the fun of it, despite the grin that threatened to stretch my lips.

  "Hey, I'm only trying to survive here." To my declaration, he frowned at me.

  Stopping in front of the stables, he fixed me with a serious look. "You know you needn't worry about that. Not when with me."

  "I do feel safe near you." I said matter-of-factly. A sigh rose in my chest. "So safe, it seems that I let you see me in ways no one ever has before."

  There was knowledge there, behind his eyes.. Knowledge of me, of how my mind worked and what thoughts crossed it, even then, as he tried to read me. Because I had allowed it. I allowed this man to know me, like no other..

  "I'm glad you do." His deep voice nearly undid me. So serious. So promising. "But you're still a mystery to me Leah St. Clair."

  Those words he mumbled as we walked in the stables made my heart leap to my throat as a result. Instinctively, I slapped him across his arm, seeing the sly side-smile curling his lips.

  "Shh, keep your voice down. Someone might hear you." And I was serious in my words despite his chuckling grin.

  "I only hire people that I trust, darling. You shouldn't worry. I like to know who works for me and those people Paul had set up as staff weren't exactly aware who the Valentines were. Naturally, I changed them till the very last one."

  It wasn't certain whether it was his words, or his natural self that held my focus, but once again, I found myself unable to look away from him.

  My God. I must've been losing my mind, because all I could think of was the way his touch had felt the previous evening, when he took me out of that bathtub and held me in his arms, where I was safe and protected.. All I could think of was his lips, over my own, quick and soothing, leaving those marks everywhere they touched.