Love Lasts Forever Read Online Free Page A

cloak.
    “Excuse me?” Willow fought desperately to rein in her confusing reaction to him.
    “Did you hurt yourself? Maybe I should look at your ankle. You might have twisted it or something.”
    “My ankle is fine, sir.” His concern for her well-being was another pleasing aspect to the baffling man. Mr. Anders would have never offered to look at her ankle, and she would not have wanted him to if he had. Even if their blood was the same, the two men were distinctly different; nothing alike at all.
    “My name is Thor.” His dark blue gaze bored into her and his warm smile returned. “Please, don’t call me sir. It reminds me of my father.”
    His response baffled her. Even Reverend Brown, the white man who took her in after her parents died, never spoke with such boldness. Calling a white man by his birth name was unheard of. No matter his age or station in life, she knew that such familiarity was unacceptable. Her brows knitted together, and she said nothing more.
    “Let me hear you say it.” His enthusiasm reminded her of a playful pup. He tilted his head down as he looked at her in a breathtakingly charming manner. “Say it, Willow…Thor.”
    Her name on his lips caused her steps to falter. She righted herself before she could embarrass herself further and shook her head in refusal. The spark of attraction burned brightly between them. Was it all sport for him? She dared not take that risk.
    “You’ll call me Sir, but not by my name. Why not?”
    “You know why not,” she responded in a choked whisper. “It is not seemly for me to do so.”
    He came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the trail. A confused frown furrowed his brow. “What? Not seemly? What are you talking about? Of course you can call me by my first name. These are modern times, you know.”
    “These times are indeed modern, but not quite that simple as you well know, sir.” Swallowing hard, she glanced at the surrounding thicket. The cabin stood only a few yards away. Her reprieve from her chores had ended. She beckoned for the pails. “If you please, I must carry these now.”
    “No.” A muscle flicked angrily in his jaw. “I said I’d carry them, and I will. Besides, they’re too heavy for you. Now what’s this about the times not being simple? They’re simple enough for me to call you Willow, isn’t that right?”
    “Well, of course,” she muttered as her irritation grew. He knew darn well that it was fine for him to be less familiar with her. Why must he persist in teasing her?
    “Well, if I can call you Willow, and by your own admission, I can… Well, by my own admission, you are to call me Thor.”
    “I cannot, sir.”
    His gaze darkened and his mouth thinned with displeasure. “Then I’m not moving an inch.”
    “As you wish, sir,” she countered, holding out her hands again. “The water, please.”
    “No.” He shook his head like a spoiled child. “I said I’m not moving. I’ll have to move to give you the buckets, and I’m not gonna do it. Not unless you call me by my name.”
    “This is nonsense,” she muttered underneath her breath.
    His eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Indeed it is. Finally, we agree on something.”
    “Sir—”
    “No, we can stand here all day if you want. I have nothing to do but enjoy the breathtaking view.”
    She glanced around. Only tall oaks and rigid maples surrounded them. Long branches hid the beauty of the cloudless blue sky and the beaming golden sun. Brown and red leaves replaced the lush green variety. Fall was comely indeed, but not quite breathtaking.
    “I wasn’t talking about the woods, Willow.” His voice deepened suggestively as his gaze pierced her.
    She swallowed hard. With desire burning bright in his eyes, she had no doubt as to his meaning. Her pulse quickened in spite of her earlier warnings to be cautious. He invoked a response in her like one she had never felt in all her twenty-one years. Miss Eva often said that a look from Mr. Anders left her