Impulse by Candace Camp Page B

chased her. And that she could not convey without talking aboutDunstan. And Dunstan was something she refused to talk about.
    â€œThat’s fine.” He stroked his hand down her hair soothingly. “You know, I remember having nightmares when I was a child. In one of them I took a step off these really high stairs, and then I was falling and falling. I would always wake up before I hit the ground.”
    â€œWhen I was little, I used to have bad dreams about the Gypsies that came every spring. Do you remember them?”
    â€œOf course. They came for the shearing, and they would camp on the edge of town. And Mother would always say, ‘Stay away from the Gypsies. They will steal you away.’”
    â€œThat’s what Nurse always said, too. She said they took little children and sold them.” It was pleasant talking to him; it took her mind away from the nightmare. And his hand on her hair was soothing. “Do you think they actually did? Would there be a market for children?”
    â€œI have no idea. With all the children in the work- houses and orphanages, I cannot imagine why one would have to steal a child from his family in order to acquire one.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair, noticing the faint scent of roses. Her hair was soft, and the scent and texture of it stirred his senses. This was something he had dreamed of, he remembered, when he fell in love with Angela so many years ago: being married to her and able to sit like this of an evening, Angela snuggled up on his lap, lazily discussing their day or whatever took their fancy.
    â€œI can’t, either. But the thought of it used to terrify me. For weeks afterward, I would have nightmares about it.”
    â€œI would steal away with some of the other lads, Iremember, and go down and spy on their camp. They would play instruments around the fires, and sometimes they would dance. They looked so exotic to me, and at the time I thought how wonderful it must be to travel as they did. To see the whole country, to be free of constraints. I didn’t consider the hungry stomachs they must often have had, or the towns they were chased out of, or the lack of a home.”
    He had been rubbing her back as he talked, his hand casually moving up and down in the same soothing manner, and as he did so, the sensuality of their position crept into his mind. His skin warmed, and his hand turned lighter and more caressing. As Angela’s fear left her and her trembling ended, he became more and more aware of the soft warmth of her body, of her bottom pressing against that most intimate part of him, of her silken skin beneath the light cotton nightgown. She was fully covered, but his imagination provided well enough the image of what she would look like beneath the gown, and he could not help but think of how thin was the material that separated her skin from his. His breath shuddered up through him. He bent again and pressed his lips against her hair, burying his face in the thick, silken tresses. He slid his cheek across her hair and kissed the tender skin of her temple.
    â€œAngela…” Her name was a sigh in his mouth. His hand slid down her back and curved over her hips.
    Angela stiffened and sat up, pulling her torso away from his chest. Suddenly the comfort of his lap was no longer safe or pleasant. “What—what are you doing?”
    â€œShh. ’Tis all right.” He ran a caressing finger under her chin. “We will be married soon. There is no harm in it.”
    Her breath caught in her throat, and she was offhis lap in an instant, leaving him startled and bereft. “Angela…what is the matter?”
    â€œNo. You told me. You promised.”
    â€œPromised what?”
    â€œYou said that if I did not wish it, it would be all right. You said you would not demand that I—would not demand your marital rights.” She was looking at him with wide eyes, and her chest rose and fell in harsh