Vella Munn - The Return of Cord Navarro

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Vella Munn - The Return of Cord Navarro» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Жанр: Современные любовные романы, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

The Return of Cord Navarro: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «The Return of Cord Navarro»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

A family reunited SHE'D HAD IT ALL Cord Navarro had been her first love-her only love. He had taken Shannon from girlhood to womanhood, and taught her the ways of his Ute ancestors. SHE'D LOST EVERYTHING It had been seven years since she had lain in her husband's arms-seven empty, lonely years. And now she stood to lose their son, too: ten-year-old Matt had disappeared. SHE HAD ONE CHANCE TO GET IT BACK Suddenly Cord and Shannon were reunited in a desperate struggle to rescue their son, and they discovered a love that had never really died. Would it be strong enough to bring their family back together again?

The Return of Cord Navarro — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «The Return of Cord Navarro», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

She became aware of the way her heart was beating. It seemed to work in fits and starts, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, always making its presence known. Hurting and yet singing at the same time. She’d gone beyond tears simply because Cord had said more to her tonight than he ever had before. “He never told you he loved you, did he?”

“No.”

Cord’s simple word seemed to echo in the now-solid night. Mindless of the danger, she took his hand and once again held it to her middle. She felt him looking at her. What did it matter? She no longer cared that she’d begun to strip herself naked to him. “It hurt, didn’t it?”

“Hurt?”

“Surely you wanted to hear words of affection from him. You had a right, the right of every child.”

“I knew. It was in the way he treated me, the things he taught me. What we shared.”

Tonight it sounded precious. “What did you share?”

“Things. So many things. Listening together. Sitting in the mountains, melting into them, watching nature go about its life. We did that together.”

Shivering, she fought for words. “But a child needs to hear certain words from the people in his life. You tell Matt you love him. You know what he needs.”

“I learned from you.”

She went hot; ice touched fire again. Tears raged inside her but she fought them.

He leaned forward slightly and increased the pressure of knee against knee. “It came so naturally to you. Nursing Matt. Holding and rocking him in that comfortable old rocking chair you bought. Singing to him. Showing him that it was wonderful to smile. I’d watch the two of you, the way he studied your face as if it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. Then he’d smile and you’d show him how to make it bigger.”

She shivered, fought a sob. “What about love, Cord?” Silent? Cord Navarro? Not tonight, not for these few precious seconds . “What did I do that guided you?”

He hesitated, as if leery of entrusting her with too much of himself, but she held on with hand and heat and heart, desperate to keep the suddenly precious channel between them open.

“What you said to him. And to me. Actions as much as words.” He took a deep breath and she could tell that he was looking around at his surroundings. Then he stared at her again and she was glad it was only the two of them.

“There was no way you could stop yourself from expressing what was in your heart,” he said. “That love boiled up inside you and spilled over to engulf Matt. And, for a while, me.”

A sob again slashed through her. She fought it, only barely aware of her fingers boring into his flesh. “Cord?” The word came out a whimper. When she tried again, it sounded the same. “Cord? Why didn’t you say this to me before?”

She felt his forefinger rubbing against the back of her hand, a strong, yet gentle gesture. “Maybe what I felt was caught too deep.”

Someone else might have laughed at his hesitant explanation, but she understood. It went back to Gray Cloud and before that a mother overwhelmed by the responsibility of a child. In her mind and heart she saw the little boy he once was, a boy desperate for love and clinging as best he could to what was given him. Or maybe he’d been born self-contained, self-confident. It didn’t matter, did it? “Why is it different tonight?”

By way of answer, he looked upward. The moon had just begun its journey over the tips of the shadow trees. The cool, distant source of light was a little more than half full with a gentle rounding on one side that gave promise of more to come. It struck her that Cord was like that, much more than a thin sliver of emotion but not yet having reached what he was – she hoped-capable of.

“It still isn’t easy for you, is it?” she whispered. “Talking about emotions.”

He grunted.

“Cord, nature speaks to you. Shares its secrets with you. Sharing with another human being isn’t any different, not deep down. I’m trying to be that person, at least for now, listening in ways I didn’t…wasn’t capable of before.”

He was fighting within himself, at war with something she could only guess at. She wondered if he understood how much she wanted to give him of herself, now. Finally. For long, hungry minutes she waited for him to give her another glimpse of himself so she could do the same in turn and damn the consequences.

Instead, “He should have enough food. Kevin said-”

“Kevin? We’re talking about you, not Kevin.”

“We’re here because of Matt.”

His words, his undeniable words, stripped her of anger as quickly as the emotion had assaulted her. “I know,” she said. “Oh, God, I know.” The sounds eddied and she didn’t bother repeating herself. No longer caring-or maybe caring too much, about everything-she reached out as if to grab her pack with its food supply.

He stopped her. Filled with the strength that had brought him here, he gripped her arms and pulled her close. She should have been prepared for her body’s reaction. Hadn’t she felt the contrast of heat and cold twice already tonight and known of the danger? But when he touched her, she became nothing and everything just the way she had all those years ago when she blindly, naively loved him so much she didn’t know if she could stand it.

“We can’t fight,” he whispered. “We don’t dare.”

She knew that, but with the sound of his heart pulsing through her and his capable hands holding her so near, she was aware of precious little except him.

I need you. Senseless, insane, I need you. She tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her. She ended the battle she hadn’t wanted. “Cord?”

“Shannon? Please, I need to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Is it my fault?”

“Your fault?”

“That Matt’s out here? Never mind. I don’t have to ask. I’m the one responsible for his wanting to prove himself and not having the necessary skills to accomplish that. What I need to know is, how do you feel about it?”

She struggled to make sense of his words. He’d opened himself up to her and was asking for honesty in return. She wanted to give him that and erase a little of the distances that separated them.

But another distance, or rather the lack of one, had made its impact.

He felt far warmer than any summer night she’d ever known. Cooler than the moon that had briefly vied for her attention. There he sat with his incomplete and yet incredibly honest words, his life-hardened body, his mouth so close that its very nearness robbed her of a certain will and made her desperately hungry. She hadn’t exorcised him from her body after all, had she? What had made her think that possible?

He sat there looking as if he didn’t quite believe he’d taken hold of her, his eyes saying he was ready for her to resist him. But night sounds and sights and smells had begun to sweep over her and claim her for their own.

Most of all, there was him.

She leaned into him, asking with her body, shutting off her mind, accepting the truth about herself. He answered by standing and pulling her against him until they were pressed together chest to hips. So long-how long had she wanted this?

He hadn’t moved and his body continued to call to her and there wasn’t a half inch of her that didn’t know what that call of his felt like. She had only one answer in her.

She felt the stretch in her neck as she rose to meet his mouth. He covered her lips with his, a simple, complex, life-giving kiss that raced through her until the message in their embrace touched her heart. She was instantly flooded with memories-memories of that other lifetime when youth and wonder and love and physical hunger had her in their grip.

He’d met her with barely parted lips, but that soon changed. She felt his mouth open, slowly, tantalizingly. To give herself strength, she clamped her arms around his neck and waited. On fire, she waited.

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «The Return of Cord Navarro»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «The Return of Cord Navarro» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «The Return of Cord Navarro»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «The Return of Cord Navarro» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x