He tipped his head in uncertainty. In the light from the doorway, a frown crossed his features. She was forgetting herself and being too abrasive. She had to set aside her resentment and make him think she liked him.
Remembering his peace offering, she asked, "Why did you think to bring flower seeds back with you?"
He shrugged. "I discovered those flowers one day, and they seemed so out of place, with all the killing and burning and ugliness going on. I thought they should be growing somewhere peaceful. Somewhere far from all that. Silly, probably."
"No," she said. "Not at all." She understood. She was like those flowers herself. She'd run from all the ugliness in her past, and planted herself here in this quiet place. "Do you like lilacs?" She stood and moved to the corner of the porch. "Come smell them."
He placed his cup on the floor and stepped beside her.
She ran a finger over a broad, pointed leaf and pulled a branch toward her face. She inhaled and closed her eyes to enjoy the heady fragrance. When she opened her eyes, he was watching her in the darkness. She offered him the blooming branch.
He bent toward her to place his nose against the tiny, delicate clusters. She remained where she stood, and his face came within inches of hers. "We had lilacs when I was a boy," he said.
"Sometimes smells give you a memory," she said. "Do you have any of those?"
"Not pleasant ones."
She'd said the wrong thing again. "I'm sorry."
"Do you?" he asked.
Addie tried hard to remember. "Toasted bread makes me remember a woman who was kind to me when I was sick once."
He straightened but didn't move back. "Burnt bacon reminds me of my sister," he said with a half-smile. "She was a terrible cook when we were kids, but she kept trying. One rainy night down south, that smell drifted to me in my sleeping bag, and I thought of Chessy cooking for me when she was only about nine or ten, and... and... I missed her."
His voice had grown thick.
Addie smiled. "Did her cooking get any better?"
"Much, thank goodness." His dark gaze moved to the blossoms in her hand and back. "What does the smell of lilacs remind you of?"
She inhaled. "Just here. Home."
He leaned forward again. "Well, I'll never be able to smell them again without thinking of you."
That was the suave line she'd expected. He didn't mean it. Addie's heart knocked against her breast like a woodpecker on a clear morning. He had to hear it! Her survival instincts screamed at her to back away. Something else—she told herself it was her logical mind that had planned for this—kept her rooted to the spot, her every nerve aiding alert, anticipating what would happen next.
Did she really move forward, or was that just the feeling of vertigo she'd developed at his nearness? His head lowered. Hesitantly, she raised her face and met his lips with her own.
Her blood surged through her veins and pounded in her ears, at her throat, in her fingertips. The amazing feel of his soft lips overwhelmed her. She couldn't think, couldn't rationalize the situation. The details of how they'd arrived at this heart-stopping moment escaped her, and she registered only the warmth and tenderness with which he met her.
She must have taken a step forward, must have released the lilac branch, must have lost all self-respect and reason, because the first thing she knew, she had placed her hands on his shoulders and stepped into his embrace.
~ * ~
Meet the Author
Cheryl has always loved the exciting and diverse worlds available between the covers of books. As a child Cheryl wrote stories and drew covers, then stapled them into little books. She cut all the tiny book images from the book club advertisements in the Sunday newspaper and glued them to bits of cardboard so Barbie® had a full library.
Cheryl is the author of more than fifty books, both historical and contemporary. Her stories have earned numerous RITA nominations, Romantic Times awards and are published in over a dozen languages. One thing all reviewers and readers agree on regarding Cheryl’s work is the degree of emotion and believability. Words like ‘heart-warming, emotional depth, touches your soul, tugs your heart, endearing characters and on my keeper shelf’ are commonly used to describe her work.
With a 4.9 star rating on amazon, Cheryl’s bestselling non-fiction book, Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict by Writers Digest Books is available in print and digital.
Cheryl loves hearing from readers.
Send email to SaintJohn@aol.com
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MORE OF CHERYL’S BOOKS ON KINDLE
The Harvey Girls
The Lawman’s Bride
The Preacher’s Daughter
Super Librarian’s Harvey Girls Blogger Bundle | 3 books
More Bundles
Love American Style | 3 books
Tangled | 4 books (free with Kindle Unlimited)
Copper Creek Brides
Sweet Annie
Almost a Bride Novella | Wed Under Western Skies
Historical
Joe’s Wife
Badlands Bride
The Tenderfoot Bride
His Secondhand Wife
Prairie Wife
Her Wyoming Man
Her Montana Man
Her Colorado Man
Sequins and Spurs
Love Inspired Historical
The Preacher’s Wife
Marrying The Preacher’s Daughter
Winter of Dreams | Colorado Courtship
Mountain Rose Novella | To Be a Mother
The Wedding Journey
Want Ad Wedding
Cowboy Creek Christmas
Christmas Novellas
A Baby Blue Christmas | The Magic of Christmas
Christmas in Red Willow | Western Winter Wedding Bells
Christmas Day Family | A Western Winter Wonderland
Colorado Wife | Christmas Gold
A Magical Gift at Christmas | Snowflakes & Stetsons
Montana Mavericks
The Magificent Seven (contemporary)
Marry Me…Again (contemporary)
Million-Dollar Makeover (contemporary)
The Gunslinger’s Bride
The Bounty Hunter
The Truth About Toby
Child of Her Heart (Logan’s Legacy)
For This Week I Thee Wed | Duets
Heartwarming Contemporaries
Stowaway Angel
Hometown Sheriff
From Writers Digest Books
Writing With Emotion, Tension, and Conflict:
Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel
Today's highly competitive fiction market requires writers to imbue their novels with that special something - an element that captures readers' hearts and minds. In Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict, writers will learn vital techniques for writing emotion into their characters, plots and dialogue in order to instill that special something into every page.
“I have read many writing craft books over the years and this is among the best! Even after having published more than thirty novels, I still learned new things from reading it.”
~ amazon customer review
ORDER FROM AMAZON
ALL ABOUT THE BUNDT!
After years of being asked for recipes, Cheryl St.John spent a summer writing down ingredients and baking times, baking and asking for beta testers in order to put together this collection of mouthwatering recipes for Bundt cakes. Many of the recipes are labeled NO SKILL REQUIRED, indicating exceptional ease of prepar
ation. If you don’t consider yourself a baker or if you’re an accomplished baker and simply want a quick recipe, you will find these cakes using box mixes are convenient and delicious. You don’t have to tell anyone you started with a mix—the cakes are so good that no one will guess preparation didn’t take hours. Bake with ease and enjoy serving a beautiful cake to family and friends.
Cheryl's philosophy: Eat cake! It's someone's birthday somewhere.
ORDER FROM AMAZON:
All About the Bundt!
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