page_411 < previous page page_411 next page > Page 411 an inexperienced woman. It seemed to have happened yesterday and at the same time a lifetime ago. Austin turned to face her. She stood a few feet into the room, a woman dressed in black silk, her magnificent hair piled in curls upon her head, her beautiful eyes betraying the accumulated sorrow of a lifetime. That look in her eyes wrapped around him, drawing him to her. "Sarah," he whispered, brushing his fingers across her smooth cheek. "What's happened, love?" "Hold me." She slipped her arms around his waist. "I need to feel your arms around me." Austin slipped his arms around her, absorbing the trembling of her slender body, sensing her feelings as sharply as his own. "I feel as though it's all gone, everything I thought of as home." "I'm here for you, Sarah." A delicate thread of lavender rose with the heat of her skin. "I'll always be with you." "They hate me. Roxanne and Clarissa." Sarah tightened her arms around him as though she were afraid someone would rip him from her arms. "I don't understand what I've done to make them hate me so." "This isn't your fault." Austin cupped her cheeks in his hands and lifted her face so he could look into her eyes. The golden lamplight glittered on the unshed tears pooling in her hazel eyes. "The fault lies within their souls. Jealousy. They have never been able to look beyond their own selfish needs." "And here I am," she said, swiping at a tear that trickled down her cheek, "indulging in my own self-pity." Austin brushed his lips against her damp cheek, absorbing the salt of her tears. "There is nothing selfish about you, my sweet Sarah." Â < previous page page_411 next page >