Dark Angel (Casteel 2)

abruptly, hoping to find you, and feel such

disappointment because I'm alone. So please, start

coming again."

So I went back to Troy's cottage with him, and

ate dinner with him there. But I was tired of always

being cooped up in that cottage with him. I felt the

wind of my emotions pushing out so strongly that I

needed to be outside, lest I make a fool of myself. But

before I left, I was determined to make sure I saw him

the next day. For he was softening toward me, I could

feel it. And he couldn't fight his feelings for me if we spent entire days together. I could bring sunshine and life into his melancholy life, and I was determined

now to force him to accept my love.

"Troy, can't we do something outside in the

fresh air for a change? In the stables are beautiful

Arabian horses that only the grooms exercise when

Jillian and Tony are away. Teach me how to ride a

horse. Or swim with me in the pool. Share a picnic in

the woods with me, but let's not stay shut up in your

cottage when the weather is so beautiful. Jillian and

Tony will come home soon, and we'll be forbidden

each other. Let's do now what we can't do then." Our eyes met and held. A flush of color rose

from his chest to flood his face, forcing him to half

turn and break the bind of our eyes. "If that's what

you'd rather do. Tomorrow at ten we'll meet at the

stables. You can learn on the most gentle mare there." Almost as if I'd swallowed a powerful drug, I

fell under the spell of something beyond my control.

The next morning shortly before ten, I met Troy at the

stables. Troy was waiting for me, wearing casual

riding clothes. The wind had tousled his hair, and

already the sun had put healthy color in his cheeks,