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netherworld of curious absurdities?"
Lori paused, then said, "me."
Noble glowered at this angel of destruction, obviously sent to make him pay for the past sins he wasn't in the least bit sorry for.
"Tell you what, why don't I make a fire?" She smiled uncertainly then turned in the direction of a fireplace. Trusting her intent no more than he did his surroundings, Noble grabbed her back, pulled her against him.
He studied her wide-eyed, unblinking gaze. He lowered his own to the swell of her breasts, which heaved up and down against his chest in time to her strident panting. And then he brought his attention to her mouth. Open. Her lips veritably quivered.
She was frightened. Of him. Could it be that she was... human?
Demons could lie, but a human response could not.
Bent on finding out the truth of her humanity or lack of it, he bit carefully into her quivering bottom lip, poised to pull away should a forked tongue lick out at him.
When she whimpered softly rather than hissed, he tested the softness of her lips, inside and out.
For a certainty, they possessed a luscious, giving texture he was beginning to believe he had not imagined before, nor was he imagining now. Just to be sure, he crushed her lips with his, thrust his tongue inside her mouth, explored every nook and cranny within while her own tongue timidly swept over and around his.
It was a search for lies and truths he was after, not words. He was a master at twisting them to cast doubt on what was true and belief in what was not. The answers he gleaned from her response were too needfully raw to be anything but human and unquestionably honest.
From her hesitant then aggressive return of his kiss, to her palms that no longer pushed him away but clenched into his back, she left him with little doubt that this was indeed real. And even what small doubt remained vanished with the feel of her nails biting into his shirt and streaking a path so feverish he would likely bear her marks despite the protection of fabric.
Noble broke away. Horrified, amazed, by the realization that he was not delusional, he was not trapped in a nightmare, nor was he in hell. He was in a pocket of time outside his own, in a place beyond dreams or the wildest of waking imaginings.
"You're real," he whispered as Lori reluctantly released her hold. Glancing about the room, then shutting his eyes against it, he said what had to be true but what he couldn't believe. "All of this, it's real."
"Yes," she answered him unevenly. "It is real, Noble. All of it. You're not dreaming and you're not in hell. You're alive and so am I."
Still fighting disbelief, he stared at her. A woman. But not just any woman. A stunning and very much alive woman who was trying very hard not to cry while she traced her swollen lips with a shaking fingertip.
"I know it's a lot to absorb, but try to understand as much as you can. You were buried alive in an avalanche and the snow piled up for many years before a stretch of unusually warm winters thawed the crevasse enough that I found you under just a few inches of ice. Some friends helped me dig you out and bring you to my home. With incredible luck and certainly God's will, you breathed again with the kiss of life. I gave it to you, Noble. Please don't hold that against me."
How fragile, how strong she was, standing there with her heart in her clear blue eyes, brimming with unshed tears.
"I'd like to forgive you, but I'm not sure that I can. This is not heaven. This is not hell. You have consigned me to purgatory—a place neither here nor there."
"But you are here," she insisted. "Here with me."
Noble let go a disparaging chuckle. As long as he could laugh at his fate, then perhaps he would not disgrace himself by weeping—something he had not done since he was a boy, cowering in a closet while he watched a nightmare unfold, one even worse than this atrocity.
Chapter 6
"Is something wrong with the soup, Noble?"
"Of course not. It's
Lori paused, then said, "me."
Noble glowered at this angel of destruction, obviously sent to make him pay for the past sins he wasn't in the least bit sorry for.
"Tell you what, why don't I make a fire?" She smiled uncertainly then turned in the direction of a fireplace. Trusting her intent no more than he did his surroundings, Noble grabbed her back, pulled her against him.
He studied her wide-eyed, unblinking gaze. He lowered his own to the swell of her breasts, which heaved up and down against his chest in time to her strident panting. And then he brought his attention to her mouth. Open. Her lips veritably quivered.
She was frightened. Of him. Could it be that she was... human?
Demons could lie, but a human response could not.
Bent on finding out the truth of her humanity or lack of it, he bit carefully into her quivering bottom lip, poised to pull away should a forked tongue lick out at him.
When she whimpered softly rather than hissed, he tested the softness of her lips, inside and out.
For a certainty, they possessed a luscious, giving texture he was beginning to believe he had not imagined before, nor was he imagining now. Just to be sure, he crushed her lips with his, thrust his tongue inside her mouth, explored every nook and cranny within while her own tongue timidly swept over and around his.
It was a search for lies and truths he was after, not words. He was a master at twisting them to cast doubt on what was true and belief in what was not. The answers he gleaned from her response were too needfully raw to be anything but human and unquestionably honest.
From her hesitant then aggressive return of his kiss, to her palms that no longer pushed him away but clenched into his back, she left him with little doubt that this was indeed real. And even what small doubt remained vanished with the feel of her nails biting into his shirt and streaking a path so feverish he would likely bear her marks despite the protection of fabric.
Noble broke away. Horrified, amazed, by the realization that he was not delusional, he was not trapped in a nightmare, nor was he in hell. He was in a pocket of time outside his own, in a place beyond dreams or the wildest of waking imaginings.
"You're real," he whispered as Lori reluctantly released her hold. Glancing about the room, then shutting his eyes against it, he said what had to be true but what he couldn't believe. "All of this, it's real."
"Yes," she answered him unevenly. "It is real, Noble. All of it. You're not dreaming and you're not in hell. You're alive and so am I."
Still fighting disbelief, he stared at her. A woman. But not just any woman. A stunning and very much alive woman who was trying very hard not to cry while she traced her swollen lips with a shaking fingertip.
"I know it's a lot to absorb, but try to understand as much as you can. You were buried alive in an avalanche and the snow piled up for many years before a stretch of unusually warm winters thawed the crevasse enough that I found you under just a few inches of ice. Some friends helped me dig you out and bring you to my home. With incredible luck and certainly God's will, you breathed again with the kiss of life. I gave it to you, Noble. Please don't hold that against me."
How fragile, how strong she was, standing there with her heart in her clear blue eyes, brimming with unshed tears.
"I'd like to forgive you, but I'm not sure that I can. This is not heaven. This is not hell. You have consigned me to purgatory—a place neither here nor there."
"But you are here," she insisted. "Here with me."
Noble let go a disparaging chuckle. As long as he could laugh at his fate, then perhaps he would not disgrace himself by weeping—something he had not done since he was a boy, cowering in a closet while he watched a nightmare unfold, one even worse than this atrocity.
Chapter 6
"Is something wrong with the soup, Noble?"
"Of course not. It's
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