Lily's Leap by Tea Cooper

I’ll help you take the horses to Sydney. It’s the least I can do.”
    “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
    What else could he do? What else did he want to do?
    The thought of losing her filled him with dread. In one short week she had become so much a part of him he couldn’t contemplate his life without her. “We’ll have to leave as soon as possible tomorrow. I’ll go and tell Jem to ride back to the Common and fetch Bonnie and Will and the horses. If they cut across country they can meet us at the Hawkesbury River before we cross to Windsor.”
    He dragged back on the boots he had so carelessly pulled off less than an hour ago and wearing only his shirt and breeches hurried out the door. “Stay here. I can’t lock the door.” He pulled the key from his pocket and tossed it with a careless flick onto the table. “Put the chair against it when I leave and don’t open it to anyone except me. I’ll be back soon.”
    ****
    Lily listened as the door shut behind him and moved the chair under the broken handle. It slipped and fell and she pushed it aside impatiently. The warmth of Tom’s embrace cloaked her with a feeling of safety and security. His promise to help her get the horses to Sydney lifted the burden she had carried for so long. A mood of invincibility buoyed her and everything suddenly seemed easy and achievable.
    Running her hand over the raised swelling on her cheek, she pushed aside the thought of her father and raised her hand to her forehead in exasperation. She had forgotten. She hadn’t asked Tom about the papers George searched for and took. Oh, it could wait; wait until he returned.
    Returned to her arms. A wave of anticipation surged through her and she clasped her hands around her arms and hugged herself tightly, sinking down onto the bed, the mixture of satisfaction and excitement coiling in her breast. Everything she had hoped for would come to pass.
    ****
    She slept like a child with her hand bunched under her chin, her hair a spectacular cascade across the pillow. Minimizing his movements Tom stretched out on the bed beside her, the sleepy warmth of her body filling him with a mixture of longing and despair. The gentle patter of the rain on the roof lent an air of comfort and security and his eyelids closed. It seemed as if events were overtaking him. After a few hours sleep, he would be able to think more clearly and he was going to have to decide exactly how he’d get his title deeds back from Dungarven.
    In the interval between the predawn darkness and daylight, the laugh of a kookaburra broke the persistent drumming of the rain and Tom woke to the delightful weight of Lily’s arm across his chest and the scent of her warm body cocooned against him.
    “Lily,” he murmured, relishing the whispered sound of her name on his lips. She stirred against him and moved closer, and her eyes drifted opened, full of tenderness and promise. Arousal stretched and rose in his body. He ran his hand down the length of her thigh and forced his desire down. “Lily, wake up we have to make a move. It started raining last night and it’s much heavier now. We have to meet Bonnie and Will at the river.”
    She stirred against him and pushed herself up onto her elbow. “Can’t we stay here a little longer?” She stretched like a cat. “I’m so comfortable, and so warm.”
    “We must leave, before the coaches, before everyone is stirring.” He swung his legs off the bed and pulled on his boots and coat. “Come on, Lily.” He held her boots out to her. “You’ll need this as well.” He shook out her long black cloak and hung it across her shoulders hoping to trap some of the warmth from the bed around her body as she sat up.
    “Tom?” Her hair hung down over her face as she struggled with the long leather boots. “You didn’t talk last night about the papers George took. Why did he want them? Why were they so important?” Her second boot encased her leg and her violet gaze pinned him.
    His