Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [135]
Love flooded her. She pressed trembling fingers to her mouth to keep from making a big deal out of his declaration. He couldn’t hide sincerity from her, there was no way. He wanted to marry her using his father’s name and it meant the world to her that he would try to find a way even if they lived under another name.
When she looked at him, sometimes she couldn’t breathe with the intensity of her emotions. “You surprised me with the way you pay such close attention to what matters to me.” It was more than paying close attention, he focused so completely on her, observing everything, her smallest expressions, every nuance. She would never be able to hide anything from Stefan.
He reached out to take strands of her long hair between his fingers. She noticed he did that quite often, at the oddest times.
“I’ll always pay attention to what matters to you,” he said, his voice that low, almost velvet tone she’d come to love. “When a man has nothing in his life worth anything and he finds a treasure, he guards her with everything he is. I’m a man of many talents, angel, and keeping you happy will be my first priority.”
She regarded him over the chocolate. His face was back in the shadows. She realized he often sat in the shadows and probably always would. There was something in what he said that made her shiver, a cold chill sliding down her spine, but she wasn’t certain she could put her finger on just what it was.
“Sometimes you’re a little scary, Thomas.” She tested the name. Now that she knew him as Stefan, Thomas didn’t quite suit him, but she’d learn to live with it, just as he would.
“I don’t mind you being a little afraid sometimes, Judith. You’re a woman who could twist a man around your little finger.”
She burst out laughing. “I swear I just was thinking you had me around your little finger.”
He tugged on her hair until she yelped. He brought the strands to his mouth. “I’m very fortunate you enjoy sex. Whenever I see I might have an argument on my hands, I kiss you senseless.”
There was a little too much truth in his quiet statement to be entirely comfortable. He could kiss her senseless. She forgot her own name when he was kissing her. “I’ll have to watch out for that.”
He smiled then and her heart leapt. He didn’t smile often, not a genuine smile that crept into his eyes like now. “You have nothing to worry about, angel. You’re the only woman in the world who is capable of making me lose all control. I think we both have a good shot at distracting each other.”
“Well, you do make the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. What did you put in this?”
“It’s a secret Russian recipe for falling asleep. You’ve had a hot bath, hot chocolate and my promise to let you sleep until morning.”
“What time would you consider morning?” Judith asked mischievously.
He flashed a small grin at her. “Well, I haven’t quite decided that yet. You aren’t getting enough sleep and I have to quit being so selfish.”
Judith took another long swallow of the chocolate and studied the stars overhead. “Actually, I believe it was me waking you this last time. You were sleeping all sexy and I just couldn’t resist temptation, so technically, I suppose it really is your fault after all.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Your logic completely eludes me. When I’m asleep I can’t be responsible for looking sexy.”
Judith laughed again, that low, melodious sound Stefan listened for, like soft, perfectly tuned chimes in the wind. He could listen to that sound forever. Sitting on her balcony with the stars sparkling overhead and her sea of white star flowers below, he found he was perfectly content. He knew Judith worried he would find their life together boring, but for the first time since he was a small boy, he felt he had a home. There was no way to express in words what having a real home meant. Sitting on a balcony with the wind touching his face and mist beginning to creep in from