An Unexpected Groom
Page 26
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you more.”
“Not possible,” he murmured as his lips touched hers.
She melted into his kiss in the way that made him want to never let her go and, their lips firmly joined and her fingers tangling in his hair, he wheeled them away from the trunks and towards the bed.
Chapter 30
“Don’t let go.”
“I won’t.”
“You’re letting go!”
“I’m not letting go.” Jesse rubbed his hand against Louisa’s back beneath the water. “See? My hand’s right here.”
She nodded a little, just a tiny movement of her head as if she was afraid anything more would send her sinking into the depths.
“It would work better if you relaxed,” he suggested.
“All right.”
He waited for her to relax. She didn’t in the slightest. “You know, I can think of a good way to get you to relax.”
Her lips pressed together, her eyes fixed on the trees overhead crinkling at the corners as she tried not to giggle.
He moved closer so that his bare chest brushed against her hand floating on the surface of the water. “No one ever comes here apart from us. If you’d just get rid of this ridiculous bathing suit...”
She burst into laughter, curling in on herself then squeaking when she began to sink.
He grasped her waist and held her up until her feet were firmly on the bottom of the lake.
She flicked a splash into his chest. “How am I supposed to learn to swim if you’re not concentrating?”
He drifted closer, looping one arm around her waist and pulling her against him. “We have plenty of time.”
Eyes dropping to her lips, he tilted his head and leaned in... and found himself kissing the palm of her hand when she inserted it between them.
“Focus,” she ordered, stepping back. “I want to learn to swim. I can’t even float by myself yet.”
He grabbed her hand and kissed it, while he had the chance. “You can float by yourself, you just don’t have the confidence to do it.”
She heaved a sigh, a movement that caused her body to move at the surface of the water in the most enticing way. He dragged his eyes back to her face. She was right, it wasn’t helping her at all when he was so distracted. But it was nigh on impossible to not get distracted by the most beautiful, wonderful, incredible woman on the face of the earth. Especially now she was all his.
He leaned forward to kiss her forehead then looked into her eyes. “You can do this. You can do anything.”
A smile touched her lips. “I know.”
He laughed and kissed her again. Her newfound self-belief, buoyed by the letter she’d received that morning from her parents telling her they approved of their marriage, filled him with pride. He would have loved her even more for it, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t possible. He already loved her so much he often thought he must be glowing.
“You know, you’d be lighter if you were wearing less,” he said, running his hand down her side over the bathing suit she’d insisted on buying.
He hated the ugly thing. She might as well have been wearing a dress in the water, a hideous black dress with even more hideous voluminous pantaloons beneath, gathered at the ankles. Even the dress she’d been wearing the first time they kissed, in this very spot, would have been better. Whenever he went swimming, he simply stripped off and plunged in. He was determined to one day convince her to do the same.
She splashed him a second time. “Stop it.”
“All right, let’s try it again,” he said. “And this time, try to remember three things. One, the lake is only four feet deep here. Two, you are lighter than the water. Three, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly lay back in the water.
He kept one hand beneath her back supporting her while he steadied himself with the other on the rock beside him. “Can you feel how the water is holding you up?”
“I don’t know.”
“Concentrate on your arms, how they’re floating. I’m not holding them up, the water is. Feel it?”
She was silent for a few moments. “I think so. Yes, I do.”
“Okay, now your legs. Feel the way the water keeps them on the surface. How you’d actually have to push them down if you wanted them to go under.”
To his surprise, she moved one of her legs down a little then let it spring back up.
A tiny smile blossomed on her face. “I did! I had to force it down.”
“That’s real good. Now feel your body, how the water is pushing up beneath you, keeping you on the surface.” As he spoke, he gradually lowered his hand, moving it away from her back. “It doesn’t want to let you sink. Your natural state is to stay on the surface. Can you feel it?”
“I... I think I can.”
He waited for ten seconds then lifted his hand from the water and held it up, waggling his fingers. “Louisa?”
Her eyes swivelled towards him, widening when she saw his hand. “Am I floating? By myself?”
“You sure are.”
Her smile grew. “I’m floating. I’m floating!” She lowered her feet and threw her arms around his neck, laughing. “I did it!”
He hugged her to him, laughing with her. “I’m so proud of you.”
She moved back. “Now teach me to swim.”
He contrived to look hurt. “What, I don’t even get a kiss for helping you to float?”
Smiling, she drifted back to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and gave him a kiss that left him panting for air and barely able to remember his own name.
“I love you,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.
“I love you too.” He’d never imagined such all-consuming, overwhelming love was possible. Until Louisa became his wife.
She gave him another brief kiss then stepped back. “Now teach me how to swim.”
He laughed and pushed away from the rock wall. “Anything you want, Mrs Johnson. For the rest of our lives, anything you want.”
THE END
Book 5 in the Escape to the West series, Jo’s story, is out now! Get The Truth About Love HERE.
Get the prequel novella The Blacksmith’s Heart, the story of how Jesse’s father and stepmother met, for free! To get your free book and never miss a new release, sign up for my newsletter here - http://eepurl.com/b-Gj2T. You will have the option to either receive emails monthly or only when I have a new book out.
The Truth About Love
(Escape to the West book 5)
Men are nothing but trouble. So why is this one so irresistible?
Josephine Carter is done with men. A runaway father, her mother’s lecherous ‘admirers’, the man she thought she’d marry abandoning her and taking all their money with him... none of them are any good.
Trouble is, she’s now alone, penniless, and worst of all, pregnant.
Her only solution is to become a mail order bride, travel across the country to California, and convince her new husband that the baby is his. What could be simpler? Plenty, as it turns out, when she discovers love is more important to her than she thought, and giving herself to a man she doesn’t care for proves downright impossible.
But in the midst of an uncertain future, Jo might just find the hero she’s not looking for. And the salvation she never knew she needed.
Dear Reader
Thank you for reading An Unexpected Groom and I hope you’ve enjoyed Louisa and Jesse’s story. If you have a moment, please consider leaving a review on AMAZON, even just a few words. Reviews are very important for independent authors like me and they really do help others find my books. I will be extremely grateful when you do!
If you haven’t yet read the other books in the Escape to the West series, Amy’s story, No One’s Bride, is HERE, Sara’s story, A Hope Unseen, HERE, and Lizzy’s story, The Wayward Heart, is HERE.
A reminder, all spellings in my books are B
ritish English and are provided free of charge for your enjoyment and delight, and because I honestly can’t spell any other way! If you’d like to contact me about anything, please do get in touch via my FACEBOOK page or WEBSITE or at nerys@nerysleigh.com. I love to hear from readers.
Jesse suffers from Little’s Disease, which was the name at the time for what is now known as spastic diplegia, or diplegic cerebral palsy. This is a condition with a multitude of causes including a difficult birth, as in Jesse’s case, and is characterised by chronically tense muscles and spasms, particularly in the legs. It affects everyone who has it differently and many can walk with it, even though Jesse can’t. During my research for this book, I was shocked by the accounts of how appallingly those with both physical and mental disabilities were treated historically, but even worse is the fact that this inhuman treatment still goes on today. Please join with me in praying that such cruelty and prejudice comes to an end and that those like Jesse are seen as the valuable, worthwhile members of society they are.
An Unexpected Groom is the fourth in the Escape to the West series and I have one more bride waiting to fall in love. Coming next is Jo and she has a rocky road ahead of her. And a devoted man to help! Get The Truth About Love HERE.
God bless you,
Nerys
nerysleigh.com
facebook.com/nerysleigh
Bible Verses
The following are the verses quoted, or referred to, in An Unexpected Groom, this time from the New International Version (NIV) translation.
Chapter 3 – Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12
Chapter 7 - I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:17-18
Chapter 10 - And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19
Chapter 14 - ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.’ Matthew 6:28-29
Chapter 23 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’ Hebrews 13:5-6, a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6 which says, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.