Dahlia turned onto her side and ran her hand along the curve of Charles' back, spreading her fingers over his relaxed muscles. He groaned in his sleep, a sound she'd heard many times before. She pressed her lips to the narrow line between his shoulder blades and smiled against his skin. She wanted to hear his sleepy sighs again; she longed to hear them forever. With him in her bed this night, the possibility remained.
Charles stirred, rolling onto his back, stretching his arms wide. She took advantage and pressed her body to him, draping her arm over his chest and nuzzling into his side. His arm folded around her, stroking her skin with his calloused fingers, sending shivers through her body.
"I love you," Dahlia whispered and pressed tiny kisses down his chest.
Charles' body jerked, waking fully and taking in his surroundings. He glanced down at Dahlia tucked under his arm. His eyes softened and the corners of his lips tipped down. "I have to go," he said, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed to don his pants.
Dahlia tucked the quilt around her, feeling the night air's bite for the first time without Charles' warmth beside her. But the air wasn't the only reason for the chill. She now had his final answer.
He was leaving.
"Please," she begged softly. "If it's about your father, we can flee. We can go together to the north, or out west."
"And you'd leave your mother alone to care for my family?" Charles asked, buttoning his pants while he peered out the open window. The moon's fragile light glinted over the strands of his dark black hair. She noticed its growth and remembered the last time she'd cut if for him.
"She'll call upon my aunt so she won't be alone for long. She loves your family," Dahlia replied, wrapping the quilt around her body as she stood behind him.
Charles' gaze moved around the property. No one was awake yet to tend the gardens or work the fields. All was quiet─maybe quiet enough for him to forget. Dahlia watched his eyes look to the well, recalling last year when he'd returned to her after the war. She'd helped him set the very stones now shadowed by the night. She ran her hand up his shoulder, thinking back to that time when his promise was for forever.
Charles' shoulders fell with a sigh as he shifted his view to the new mansion his father had built as a wedding gift. He turned back to the bed and grabbed his shirt. "You know I can't do this, Lia. I'm to wed Sarah tomorrow. It's expected of me." Charles pulled his shirt on and stepped into his boots.
"Stop," Dahlia said as Charles moved to the door. She tightened the quilt around her body, aching to go back an hour before when her body was covered only by him. Careful not to make a noise that would wake her mother down the hall, she moved closer and tugged his shirt. "You love me. Not her."
Charles slid out of her grasp and removed the lantern from its peg then traveled down the stairs.
Dahlia followed, the quilt dragging at her feet as she stepped onto the dirt floor of the cellar. "You can't do this, Charles. I love you. I want to be with you."
"We can't be together, Lia." His eyes darted back to her, narrowed with pain and fear. He slid a long lock of her wavy brown hair off her shoulder and mumbled, "I shouldn't have come tonight. I was mistaken and I'm sorry." He pushed the wooden door open, holding the lantern toward the tunnel that led to the main house─Stockton House. "We can never do this again. I love her. Not you," he said. His green eyes went cold then, like they'd never told the truth before, like they'd never see the truth again.
Dahlia freed one hand from the quilt and slapped it hard against his cheek. The sting echoed up her arm, returning all the pain to her heart. "You're lying. I know you love me!" she cried and stepped closer to him.
The Line That Binds (TLTB #1) Prologue - Chapter 4
Start from the beginning
