Stalking The Phoenix Part 31

"Understand that you have called off the wedding?" he asked.

I sighed and confessed quietly. "I just couldn't go through with it. I couldn't marry a

man I didn't love. Geoff and I would have had a comfortable enough life together, but it would never have been a great marriage." "I think you have made the right decision," Phil told me. I sighed. "Thanks." He touched my face gently. "I was so scared for you," he confessed. "That makes two of us," I told him, biting my lip to keep it from trembling. He pulled me into his arms. I didn't resist. Instead, I buried my face in his shoulder. The tears fell freely. When I stopped sobbing long minutes later, Phil wiped my face with his handkerchief. "I'm sorry," I said in embarra.s.sment. He smiled at me tenderly. "It's okay. I'm glad that you trust me enough to cry on my shoulder."

"I trust you with my life," I told him.

His eyes darkened slightly. I knew that he was going to kiss me. The kiss started gently, tenderly, and stayed that way for all of a split second. There it was again, that need, that desire, which threatened to swamp me. He broke off the kiss and looked at me.

"Am I going to have to marry you to keep you safe?" Phil teased.

I laughed in spite of myself. "You think that would do it?"

-- THE END --.