He moaned against her lips but then pulled away, just as her eyes were starting to go hazy."This isn't right. What you're saying. You know I don't feel that way about you. From the moment I saw you, I wanted you to be my wife."
Rachel considered the bitter truth: maybe he wanted to go to Leah, after all. Why else would he reject her, when she had so desperately offered herself to him?
But he didn't move."You are mine forever, as I am yours,"he said, brushing her curls aside, and placing her hands atop his chest. She couldn't look in his eyes, focusing instead on the small trail of hair leading from his chest to the line of his hips. She wanted to follow it to where she knew his pleasure would come from.
"But I won't steal your virtue from you ...or let you throw it away like this. Let me try to make this right."
She shook her head."Father won't listen to you, Jacob. You heard what he said!"
"I didn't mean with Laban."He kissed her, not with the same heat as before, but tenderly, as though he could do it forever and never be quenched of his thirst.
"With you, Leah, and me."
Rachel sat back and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if you can."
Her urgent yearning that swept over her moments ago began to dissipate, but the ache of longing remained. Jacob was right. As long as he was married to Leah, there would be a barrier between them that could not be breached.
He kissed the small inlet between her neck and collarbone. "You're beautiful,"he said. It sounded like the wedding music that should have been theirs. "So beautiful I have to walk away. Or I wouldn't be able to stop."
Nodding, Rachel let him go. His robe was wrinkled and slightly stained with the wine from her own. She couldn't watch him as he put it back on to leave her. She heard him stand and walk to the doorway, pausing by the flap. "I love you, and I plan on loving you as your husband. As I promised you I would."
"Don't forget the wine,"she said, pointing toward the flasks of wine. "Or someone will question why you were gone."
He took one, and she felt the air mourn him when he departed. She grieved as well. His scent, smoky and earthen, surrounded her like a cocoon. Now that he was gone, it felt more like a grave.
She cried, then. If all she had left of him was this memory, she might as well bury herself in it.
***
Looks like all is lost for Rachel and Jacob! How is Leah feeling, knowing her lover is gone and she is forced to spend the rest of her life with a man who loves her sister?
Pre-order SIN AND HONEY's 2nd novella THE TOUCH OF BETRAYAL (a retelling of Samson and Delilah) now!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Touch-Betrayal-SIN-HONEY-novella-ebook/dp/B00ZB2P7VY/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435150894&sr=1-2
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-touch-of-betrayal/id1004008868?mt=11
Join my newsletter for info on contests, giveaways and exclusive VIP content: http://www.tarynscarlett.com/newsletter
Follow me on Twitter: TarynScarlett
YOU ARE READING
SIN and HONEY: Seven Years of Longing
RomanceSo Jacob served seven years, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. —Gen.29.20 Rachel was destined to love at first sight. Leah's only crime was falling for the wrong man. In Taryn Scarlett's richly lyrical novell...
