Midnight Eyes. Sarah Brophy

no longer mattered to Robert whether she slept or woke; her pain was all too shockingly real either way. He gathered her fragile body to his and rocked her back and forth, running his hands up and down her back to soothe her pain. He found himself babbling words of comfort that even he didn’t fully understand.

      Imogen woke in the sheltered warmth of his fierce embrace.

      For the first time in longer than she cared to remember, she didn’t shed her night tears forlornly into her pillow. No, they were being absorbed into the blood-warm skin of Robert’s chest and matted into the hair there. It was Robert’s muscular arms that held her gently tight, the rumble of his deep voice seeping into her bones, dulling her lingering fear.

      Robert waited patiently for her to cry herself out but still he couldn’t let her go when calm descended.

      Now he was holding her for his own comfort and reassurance.

      He needed her close, needed to know that she wouldn’t break in two if he let her go. The sound of her gut-wrenching sobs had torn into him, leaving him helpless in the face of her raw, open grief. Many moments passed before he dared to move her slightly away from him so that he could look into her face and reassure himself that her demons had indeed fled. Her face was red and her eyes a glassy pink, but the fact that she tried to smile up at him made her the most beautiful being he had ever seen.

      He wiped away her last tears with the pad of his thumb. He stared at the droplet of saltwater that beaded on his skin briefly before rubbing them in thoughtfully. He tried to find words of comfort and reassurance, but they eluded him.

      He mightn’t know how to be softly caring, he thought with a silent sigh, but years of training boys to be men had taught him to be practical in the face of others’ raw emotions.

      “Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked quietly.

      She sucked on her bottom lip and shook her head.

      He took a deep, fortifying breath. “Sometimes these things don’t seem so bad if you talk about them. They shrink a little if you bring them into the real world.”

      “No, they don’t,” she said, her voice roughened with her tears. “Sometimes you talk about them forever, yet they are still big enough to destroy you.”

      Robert hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t push her. Perhaps with time, she would share her scarred soul with him, would give him the chance to kiss her wounds as she had kissed his. Until then, he would have to be patient.

      He ran his palms down her arms till he was holding her hands. “Would you like me to stay with you?” he asked in a carefully neutral voice, afraid to show just how much hope he attached to her answer.

      For a moment Imogen couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t even realized that she wanted him to stay until she heard him say the words, and a part of her shrank from the whole idea of letting a man into her bed, especially with the dark nightmare still chilling her skin. That fear was drowned out by her far-greater need right now for the cleansing comfort he offered. Hesitantly she reached her hand up to the middle of his chest. “Yes. Stay. Please stay.”

      Robert didn’t hesitate in case she changed her mind. He wrapped his arms around her back and gently leaned forward till they were both lying on the bed with him outside the covers. It wasn’t the way he wanted to share her bed, but he could sense the nervousness underlying her boldness and he didn’t trust himself enough to crawl in beside her. When she immediately curled her body into his as though she belonged there, he knew that he was doing the right thing.

      He closed his eyes and savored the perfection of their simple embrace. It didn’t matter that his body was chilling down rapidly in the cool chamber, not when the warmth of her trust was enough to heat him. It also didn’t matter that only an absolute terror had driven her to accept him in her bed. The fact that he was there was a thing he hadn’t dared hope for yet. It didn’t matter that the closeness of her body was swiftly re-igniting his unfulfilled desires, causing an ache in his body that was as much pain as pleasure. There would be time enough for him to indulge those desires, soon.

      All that mattered was that Imogen was curled up trustingly in his embrace and was sleeping peacefully there.

      Home.

      He was finally home.