Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny Read online

  “Come on, you’re buying,” Andrew pulled the door wide as Robyn sat confused. His smile became dazzling as he added, “Fish and chip supper on you.”

  “Err,” was all she could say. Looking at the little white van and its cheap open air dining area, Robyn was less than impressed.

  “They have just won an award for the best chips in the county. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.”

  Surprised and somewhat unconvinced, Robyn got out of the car.

  They joined a small queue, and Robyn could see that, sure enough, the proprietor, Sue, had a certificate proudly on display stating that hers was the best takeaway this year. Robyn ordered, paid and was swiftly led back to the car with a very well wrapped package.

  Andrew clearly had plans to eat their meal elsewhere.

  Sticking to the coast road they travelled further south before turning onto a very narrow lane. Before long the lane became little more than a track that headed uphill. Andrew drove the car slowly over the bumpy ground. The suspension, low and solid on this model, was not built for comfort, and every bump rocked and jostled the three occupants. After a while the track disappeared as they entered a field. The grass slope got steeper and steeper, until driving no longer seemed prudent and Andrew parked.

  “We walk from here,” he said and got out.

  After grabbing the bag of food and letting Max out, Andrew grabbed a bag from the boot.

  “Where are we?” They’d come a long way from the main road and were surrounded by nature on all sides.

  “Nearly there.” Andrew answered and proceeded to walk further up the hill.

  The grass was short, despite it being very rural, and the weather had been dry, so Robyn had little trouble keeping up with Andrew as they climbed the hill. Max ran around both of them with giddy excitement, jumping up and running off before running back and circling once more. Robyn got the distinct impression that the dog had been here before.

  Robyn could see the crest of the hill ahead as she buttoned up her coat. The wind was getting stronger the more they ascended. By the time she got to the very top of the incline her calves and quads were burning, but the view was so resplendent that all her pain was miraculously ignored.

  They were stood on the top of a hill surrounded by the sea. Ships floated far off in the distance, traversing some unseen shipping lane and they looked miniscule. The sky held but a few wisps of cloud and the sun hung low, suspended over the ocean. The light glinted off of the waves, a magical dusting of powder and the ships stood black against the twinkling background. It was a great shining, shimmering carpet laid out before them.

  Andrew turned to her. “Well?”

  “It’s amazing.” She was still taking it all in; the sights, the smells, the rush of the wind.

  From the bag that he had taken out of the boot, Andrew removed a thick blanket and laid it out so that they could both sit. He handed Robyn her drink and meal first before opening his own, but Robyn wasn’t interested in the food, not with the majesty of their surroundings. She sat facing the sea, the wind blowing off of the ocean and whipping her hair into a frenzied dance. She breathed in the crisp sea air and felt mesmerised.

  “Go on, try them” Andrew gestured to the food in her lap.

  Blinking, she picked up a chip with one hand and tried to eat it between gusts of wind but her hair kept blowing into her face. Using her free hand, she grabbed her hair and held it back as she struggled to take a mouthful.

  The food was indeed lovely, and Robyn immediately knew why Sue had won her accolade. She looked at Andrew, smiling as she chewed. Her second mouthful was as wonderful as the first, but again her hair caused problems. If only she had tied it up after all.

  Robyn knew Andrew was watching her. She was very aware of his presence just inches away, but she kept her eyes on the view until she saw him move. He put his food down on the blanket before lifting himself up onto his knees with a kind of grace that pointed to some serious abdominal muscles. She turned to him as he stalked closer. Her breath caught in her throat. As Andrew crossed the distance between them, all Robyn could think about was Tuesday morning outside the staff room.

  Slowly, without saying a word, Andrew raised his arms and placed both of his hands on Robyn’s face. Leaning forwards, his body now close enough that she could smell the seductive scent of him despite the sea air and the food; he began to trace the contours of her face with his fingers. Deep muscles tightened within Robyn at the feel of Andrew’s touch and that all too familiar warmth pulsed through her skin. She felt drowsy, enticed. She wanted to close her eyes and just feel, to cut out all the other senses apart from touch but she was once again locked into his gaze.

  Robyn felt Andrew’s thumbs slide across her jaw and journey around her neck. She wanted to gasp in pleasure but realised he was catching her windswept hair and sweeping it back from her face. Where his skin had brushed hers he left a trail of tingling fire. She was paralysed, wondering what he was going to do. With her locks caught soundly in one hand, Andrew gently pushed Robyn’s coat collar away from her neck, his breath now slid down her exposed skin making her want to sigh in pleasure. He took the clump of hair he had gathered and tucked it down into the back of Robyn’s coat and underneath her thin jumper; his palm running gently down her neck and between her shoulder blades as he slid the errant strands into place.

  “There,” he said in a whisper at her ear, “Now you can eat.”

  Robyn laughed. It was a somewhat nervous reaction to the sensations that swept through her when he was near. Andrew seemed to be completely oblivious to the tingling all over her body.

  They ate the rest of their meal in silence, except for the roar of the wind and occasional bark from the dog. Stolen glances, curious glimpses, passed between them, but nothing was said.

  When Robyn felt full, she laid her wrapped leftovers on the grass and stretched out her legs. Andrew watched her carefully and added his wrapper to the pile.

  “How did you know about my meeting with the Head yesterday?” She kept it light but could still feel the echo of his touch upon the skin of her neck and back.

  “The secretaries like to gossip.” He looked at her directly. No hint of a lie on his face.

  “Exactly what did you say to the Head to get him to change his mind?” Robyn didn’t think that David Rowe was easy to persuade. He hadn’t gotten to his position by being a pushover.

  “Ah” Andrew looked away, facing the breeze in the darkening sky as the sun hung lower, suspended ominously over the water. “You really want to know that?”

  “Yes”

  Andrew turned slowly and Robyn watched the sunlight dance across his face, framing his chiselled features. Her swallow was involuntary, as was the flutter within.

  “I might have stressed that you were concerned about your friend, had not meant to cause distress and that you felt the police could give you answers. I might have told him that when the police found nothing untoward you would settle again.” His words were tight, concise and spoken deeply. She could almost feel the tenor of them.

  “That’s all you said?” It took a breath to speak, a breath and a swallow. She reached for her drink.

  His eyes flicked over her face before he answered. “I may also have told him that you were one hell of a teacher and that I wouldn’t want to work in a school where the Head was foolish enough to dismiss such staff on a whim.”

  “You said what?” Shocked, she stared at him open mouthed.

  Andrew shifted, slowly. Unfurling, he came to her, crawling, hunting even. Long muscular limbs stalked smoothly over the blanket. The air thickened, she could feel it clotting in her lungs as he moved in and placed his hands either side of her outstretched legs.

  “I didn’t want you to disappear too.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “I like having you around.”

  “I thought you hated me?” It came as little more than a croak.

  There was a moment of silence as the sun ducked behind a cloud, a silenc
e that Robyn wanted to fill because it was almost painful, but there was nothing she could say. She had taken the conversation here. She had needed to know. Now she couldn’t take it back.

  Robyn knew that she could lose herself here, and that was a bad idea, but right at that moment she could only feel want, need.

  “Not hate, no, never hate. You bring out strong emotions in me, Robyn Darrow, things I haven’t felt in a long time, but never hate, even when you are at your most infuriating.”

  Her heart fluttered as something shifted inside, moved and warmed.

  The sun ducked out from its hiding place and shone into her face, the last light of the fading day shining its brilliance into her eyes. She watched Andrew’s eyebrows furrow in puzzlement.

  “What?” she whispered into the small gap between them.

  “Your eyes,” he paused as he studied her face. “They’re green. They’re green around the edges. I thought they were brown, but the brown is only in the middle. They’re beautiful.”

  He lifted his hands from the blanket and held them to her face. Warm palms graced her cheeks whilst long fingers slid into her hair. Immediately she felt the warmth. She didn’t understand it, oozing into her skin, spreading into her body, flowing from his touch, but she craved it.

  “I wouldn’t know. If they’ve changed, I couldn’t tell.” It was probably caused by the same incident that had taken her colour from her.

  Puzzled, Andrew pulled back.

  “What do you mean you wouldn’t know?”

  “I can’t see colours. I haven’t been able to for about two years.” She then answered the question that she knew would be on his lips. “Car crash, I don’t talk about it.”

  Robyn braced herself for the inevitable. Most people either suffocated her with sympathy once they became aware of her impairment or they made their excuses and walked away thinking she was a freak. Andrew did neither, nor did he question her about her affliction.

  “I brought you here to show you the view.”

  “It’s spectacular.” She was still trapped in his gaze. It didn’t help that his simple acceptance of her difference drew her to him more strongly.

  “It can’t be the same without the colours. They’re so bright Robyn, the grass so green, the sea so blue with rivers of red and gold glinting off of it from the sun.”

  Andrew’s gaze was intense with renewed wonder. He pulled her closer, clasping her face gently in his hands and slowly, so slowly, closed the gap between them. Robyn didn’t dare breathe.

  “Let me show you how spectacular it is.”

  Her heart was in her throat, her stomach in knots but she managed to whisper, “I shouldn’t.” She tried to pull back but his hold was firm. She finished her reasoning with only one word, “Kat”.

  Andrew stopped, frozen millimetres from Robyn’s lips as her heart thudded audibly.

  “Even if she were here, I never wanted Kat.” His rich tone stroked Robyn’s skin, enlivening individual blood vessels and warming her further.

  She shouldn’t want this, not just because of Kat, but because she wasn’t ready for emotional attachment, may never be, but Andrew’s touch took away her resolve. She felt only need and God, she needed this.

  Andrew’s eyes swept one final time over the contours of her face before he finally closed his mouth over hers.

  Warmth entered her body. Slow at first, it was a flutter that shook her senses, but it soon changed. She felt it building and boiling within her. The heat opened places inside of her that she had closed off years ago, had forgotten existed. With explosive power, all Robyn’s supressed emotions were at once freed from their prison and the gasp that left her mouth was followed by a surge in sensation.

  Overwhelmed, she locked her hands in Andrew’s hair, letting her fingers run through the thick, black mane that was surprisingly soft to the touch. Yielding entirely to her desires, she pulled him closer to her, desperate and greedy for more, as heat swept through her nerve endings and lit her up from within.

  She was like lightening in his arms; a spark that would burn if he held her, but he was drawn to it nonetheless. He hadn’t planned this closeness, hell; he’d tried to keep the woman a safe distance from him ever since he’d first laid eyes on her, but she’d got to him. He could admit his failure. When he’d heard rumour of her imminent dismissal, he should have been relieved, he had, after all, been struggling against this latent attraction; but instead he’d been panicked. He didn’t want this woman gone. For once in his life, he wanted to get to know someone and he’d used his influence to assure her position and give him the opportunity.

  The impromptu picnic was meant to relax her. Robyn was always so tense, on guard, when she was around him, but the vulnerability in her had drawn him in. Now, as his lips moulded to hers he found himself surrounded by molten woman.

  She grappled him closer, her need so fierce it strengthened her tiny frame. Her desire threatened to overwhelm his rigid control and he found himself grabbing her, more forcefully than he should have, and lifting her up to mould her to his frame. She fit; her body snug against his chest, as he splayed his fingers over her back and held her tight while he plundered her mouth, devouring all she had to offer. He was the hurricane that met her cyclone, two storms colliding, building and crashing against one another. The tumultuous result produced a force stronger than either of them could resist.

  Robyn felt her body crumple against Andrew as he crushed his lips to hers. She could no more resist his draw than she could stop breathing. In that moment he was everything. She could think of nothing else, feel nothing else: his breath, his lips, his tongue, as he tasted and devoured. Her head spun in ecstasy. This was passion devoid of doubt, heat devoid of flame. She had no control when he touched her like this and she didn’t want any. She would give all to him.

  The urge to push her down onto the blanket was so strong he nearly succumbed. He knew she would have no objection. At that moment, he knew he could have all, but he wanted more. If he was going to lose himself like this, after all this time, it would not be for but one stolen moment. With more strength than he knew he had, Andrew pulled back, leaving a shocked and breathless Robyn kneeling inches from him.

  For a moment neither could speak.

  “Wha . . . what just happened?” Andrew said between breaths.

  “I don’t know,” Robyn shook her head. Her heart still hammered and her body felt languid and hot. She had never had any such reaction to a kiss.

  “I’m sorry I . . I shouldn’t have . .” Andrew backed away, his expression one of shock and confusion.

  Robyn smiled.

  “What?” His terse reply only had her smile more.

  “Oh, nothing much, just seeing you unsettled and struggling with words.” Robyn felt utterly joyous. It was such an incredible delight to see cracks in Andrew’s perfect façade.

  The look Robyn received told her Andrew wasn’t upset with her, but he didn’t like being unsettled either. Good.

  They pulled up to Robyn’s cottage after dark, having watched the sun set over the ocean from the cliff top. It had been one of the most beautiful sites Robyn had ever seen but its impact had been lessened by the pang of sorrow she felt for the loss of her colours. Most days, Robyn didn’t think about what she had lost, it was only the extraordinary days, like today, that pressed at her memory, her loss.

  The cottage was dark, illuminated only by the headlights of Andrew’s car. The crooked, white windows glowed in the beams and the crystals in the stonework shimmered in welcome as they got out. Andrew walked Robyn to the door.

  “So, could you tell me one thing?” Robyn spoke casually as she walked up the little path at the front of the cottage.

  “That depends on what you‘re going to ask.” He walked beside her.

  “How have you managed to become a ‘well-liked and respected’ teacher in such a short time?” she finger quoted and stopped on the path to face him. “I’d like to know so that perhaps I can manage to impress the
Head too.” She smiled innocently, but it had been bugging her. He’d been at the school mere months.

  “I have my secrets,” Andrew smiled and reached for her hand. His palm was warm in hers as he lifted her hand. “Perhaps you will one day earn the right to know.” He kissed the back of her hand, a light brushing of his lips across her skin that she felt deep within. Then he let her hand go and beamed at her.

  Robyn shook her head and turned to the door.

  “Oh,” Robyn’s surprise was apparent as she noticed a curious object wound around the door knocker.

  “What is it?” Andrew stepped closer.

  It was a necklace, a pendant of some kind. Robyn unhooked it and laid the pendant in her palm before turning to face Andrew and show him.

  Andrew and Robyn peered at the jewellery glinting in the lights from the car. It was a delicate silver pendant on a fine link chain. Intricate and filigree in design, it was made up of four interwoven leaves that were then fixed inside a circle. Robyn liked it immediately.

  Andrew lifted the chain and watched the pendant twirl on the end.

  “I might have some competition.” His mouth drew into a crooked, knowing smile.

  “Competition?”

  Andrew leaned into Robyn. She thought he was going to kiss her again and stopped breathing. Instead he whispered words that drove through her with the force of a sonic blast.

  “Yes, Robyn. In case you haven’t noticed, especially after this evening, I am intrigued by you and would like to get to know you better.”

  Dumbstruck, Robyn could only blink as the warmth of Andrew’s breath washed over her. He was close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. She wanted him to close the distance between them, she wanted that very much.

  “I won’t kiss you now because I don’t know if I could walk away,” he whispered, as if he knew her thoughts, “but I will have my mouth on you again, Robyn Darrow.”

  Her legs weakened, she could feel a tremor shaking through them and reached back to hold onto the door for stability. Andrew was right, of course. If he kissed her now, here in the dark, it would lead to places that Robyn wasn’t ready to go.