by Noelle Adams
She dropped the pen and collapsed back onto the bed, her eyes hot and swollen, her breath coming out in uneven pants.
A completed list would seem like a symbol that she could die, which was a horrible thought, but she was terrified of dying before she’d completed it.
“Almost done,” Paul murmured, picking up the list and moving it to the dresser against the opposite wall.
“I still need to read Hamlet. I haven’t even started it yet.”
“That's all right. You have plenty of time to read it still.”
Emily writhed under the covers, hot and pained and horrified by the thought of one of Shakespeare’s plays unread. “I need to get started.”
Paul’s mouth twisted slightly, but he said, “I can bring you the book, if you really want to read it now.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t think I can read.”
“You can read it when you feel better.” He was trying to sound soothing, but his voice was thick with emotion he couldn’t quite suppress.
A swell of aching grief rose up, threatening to drown her. “I’m not going to feel better than this,” she gasped. “I can’t read anymore.”
For some reason, the words might have been the worst thing she’d ever said—some sort of unassailable proof that her life was really over. She shook with the grief of it, tears streaming down her hot face.
Paul was still standing over her bed, and his head suddenly jerked to the side the way it had in the car. She saw his features contort briefly, as if he were struggling to control himself.
He didn’t say anything. Just turned away from her and walked away.
She didn’t mind. She understood. There wasn’t anything he could do anyway.
She was too hot so she pushed down the covers, keeping just the sheet on top of her. Then she pulled her left hand out from under the covers and looked at the engagement ring and wedding band on her finger. She brought her hand up and kissed the rings in a foolish gesture of affection.
She dropped her hand quickly at a noise from the doorway, but she thought maybe Paul had still seen her, since he walked back into the room just then.
He was carrying his Riverside Shakespeare.
Without explanation, he pulled a chair up to the side of her bed and sat down, opening the book and flipping the pages until he’d found the place he wanted.
Emily stared at him through bleary eyes.
“The first act begins outside of Elsinore Castle in Denmark,” Paul began. “Bernardo comes to relieve Francisco, who’s on guard outside the castle. It's dark. Bernardo says, ‘Who’s there?’”
Acknowledgements
The quotation on Arion, the immortal horse, that Paul says in Chapter 13 is from Book 23 of the Iliad, translated by A.T. Murray (Homer. Iliad. Trans. A.T. Murray. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1924).
Publishing Schedule
Listed is completed and will be published in six volumes on the following schedule. Each volume is roughly 28,000-35,000 words (around 90-120 pages). Beginning in Volume III, it will include adult sex scenes.
Volume I: February 8, 2013 (with free promotion days)
Volume II: February 15, 2013 (with free promotion days)
Volume III: February 22, 2013 (with free promotion days)
Volume IV: March 1, 2013
Volume V: March 8, 2013
Volume VI: March 15, 2013
About the Author
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com
About the Author
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out her website: noelle-adams.com
Table of Contents
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Publishing Schedule
