Noble smiled. "Yes. We have." He pulled her closer to him and continued speaking. "One Sun day, it was in the spring, and you must have been about a year old at the time." He nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, no more than a year old."
"Go on," she urged.
"Our respective families had arrived to attend services at our different churches. Our mothers, being friends, met halfway in the road. My mother reached out and took you in her arms."
"I don't remember your mother very well. She died not long after my own mother."
"I believe you are right." He spoke softly. "What first drew my attention to you that day was the sight of your red-gold curls. I ambled closer to my mother to get a better look at you." He laughed as if at a private joke. "You were like a cherub, an angel, and I had never seen anyone so beautiful. I wanted to reach out and touch the curl that hung over your forehead but I didn't."
"No?"
"No. I looked into that chubby, perfectly formed face and you gave me the biggest smile. I was captured by your eyes green eyes, like I'd never seen before. Then, to my surprise, you held out your arms and made a dive for me. I had to catch you because you had left my mother's arms and fallen into mine. After my first shock, I realized you had laid your head on my shoulder and one dimpled hand rested on my cheek. At first I was afraid some of my friends would see me holding you and make fun of me, but when you raised your head and pressed your lips to my cheek I was lost. Green Eyes, I called you that day, and you giggled, patting my face with both hands. I won't say that love grew that day, but every time I met you afterward, I would seek your eyes. I'm still fascinated by them. And somehow I felt that they took on a special glow when you looked at me."
"That's because you are so handsome." She smiled provocatively. "So you like my eyes, hmm, Patron?"
An expression of pain flickered across his face. "The first day I saw those eyes look at me with hatred was the worst day of my life."
She wanted to hold him, to wipe away the memory of that day and the many others that followed. She wanted to stand beside him against the whole world if he needed her. "Noble, I'm so sorry about..."
His dark mood faded and his hand drifted across her breast, then circled the silken mound. "Recently I have come to admire other things besides your eyes."
"Such as?"
His mouth lightly touched hers. "This." He ran his fingers through her hair. "Your sweet-smelling hair." He stroked his long, lean fingers down the side of her cheek. "The texture of your skin." He kissed the tip of her nose. "And this." His head moved to her stomach and he softly planted a kiss there. "This." His hand drifted across her thigh and moved her legs apart, and he caressed her un til she moaned. His voice was deep with emotion now. "And this."
"I love all of you." He kissed her deeply, lingeringly, until her eyes were bright and her body softened against him.
"It's time for you to hang up your rifle," he said, half serious, half in jest. "Ill take care of you from now on, Green Eyes."
Texas Proud (Vincente 2) Page 26
