BAYOU NOËL Read Online Free PDF Page B

while she stood alone by her tree, was always a painful
duty.
    At last, confident that the majority of the
Pantera were gone, Molly slowly left the dormitory and headed
toward the canal. In one hand she held her candle, and in the other
was the small picture of her parents. They might not physically be
with her, but she knew they would be with her in spirit.
    Lost in memories of happier times, she was
suddenly caught off guard when a shadow detached itself from a
nearby cypress tree and prowled to stand directly in her path.
    “I was beginning to think I was going to have
to come in there and drag you out,” a low male voice teased.
    Molly gave a small gasp, her heart slamming
against her ribs as she ran an avid gaze over Garrick’s painfully
familiar face.
    She’d intended to spend the few minutes it
would take to reach the canal shoring up her defenses before having
to endure an awkward confrontation. Now she felt too raw…too
exposed.
    “Garrick,” she breathed, her tongue peeking
out to dampen her dry lips. His eyes darkened to the color of
melted honey as he allowed his gaze to linger on her mouth.
“Where’s your mother?”
    “She went to the tree with her new Healer,”
he said, his voice distracted as he lifted a hand to gently push a
stray curl off her flushed cheek.
    Her heart squeezed with a wistful regret that
she wouldn’t be with the older female.
    Cutting all contact might be for the best,
but it didn’t make it any easier on this special night.
    “You should be with them.”
    “ No.” He
stepped close enough to wrap her in the heat of his body, and for
the first time she noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual suit.
Instead he was dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a cashmere
sweater that emphasized his dark beauty. God. He was…divine.
“ We should be with
them.”
    We? She frowned.
    “I told you, I’m not returning as your
mother’s Healer.”
    He cupped her chin in his palm, staring at
her with an intensity that made her shiver.
    “How about you return as her daughter?”
    Molly’s mouth fell open, her heart forgetting
to beat. “Garrick—”
    “Wait.” He pressed a finger to her lips.
“Just let me speak.”
    Bossy Diplomat. She sent him a dry glance.
“You do a lot of that.”
    “Point taken,” he wryly conceded, his thumb
absently brushing her bottom lip. “I’m going to show you that I can
do something very, very good that doesn’t take any words at all.
But first…” He grimaced even as Molly trembled in anticipation. She
might be pissed at this male, but that didn’t keep her body from
craving him again and again, and with a vigor that was downright
indecent. “I have a confession.”
    “I’m listening,” she said.
    He studied her upturned face for a long,
tender moment, almost as if he were memorizing how the moonlight
played over her features.
    “I’ve devoted my life to my career, always
convinced that I could never be a good mate or father if I was
thousands of miles away.” Regret was threaded through his voice.
“But the thought of actually losing you has made me look at myself
and admit that I’ve been a coward.”
    Molly felt her cat crouch inside her, warily
curious to discover where this was going. “Coward?”
    His hand slid to circle her neck, holding her
gaze as his thumb pressed against her thundering pulse.
    “I loved my parents, and more than that, I
respected them, but I never truly felt like I had a home,” he
confessed, unknowingly echoing the words his mother had shared
earlier. “When I was small I used to think if I could just be good
enough, or smart enough, or talented enough, my parents would want
to be with me. Then, one day, I just stopped hoping.” He leaned
down, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss that made her knees
weak. “Until you.”
    Her hands grabbed his upper arms, her heart
melting at the thought of the lonely little boy who was afraid to
wish for a true home.
    “Oh.”
    “It terrified the hell out of