Twelfth Night by Flora Speer Read Free Book Online Page A

began to
move farther into the forest under Adam’s direction, searching for
more pine boughs and more red-berried holly. Aline stood alone,
looking about the area where they had been working.
    “We need mistletoe, too,” she murmured,
glancing upward to see if she could find any. She quickly located a
tree bearing a growth of the parasitic vine, but there were no
branches on the tree that were low enough to offer help in climbing
it. There was a pine growing close to the host tree. “If I climb up
that pine until I’m level with the mistletoe and then pull hard on
it, I’ll bet it would come down.”
    Standing underneath the pine tree she could
see its branches spread out like steps, inviting her to climb them.
It was years since she had climbed a tree, but she worked out at a
health club three times a week and did a lot of brisk walking.
Deciding she was strong enough to do the job, she raised both hands
over her head and grabbed a branch. Swinging her feet onto another
branch, she began to work her way upward.
    It wasn’t a hard tree to climb and soon she
had reached the height of the mistletoe vine. She moved outward
along a pine branch until she could reach over to the other tree
and get a tight hold on the stuff. And then she pulled. The
mistletoe would not come loose. She pulled again.
    “Whoops!” She caught herself just in time to
prevent a nasty fall, but she had the mistletoe, a fair-sized clump
of it, the branches thick with waxy berries.
    “You foolish woman,” came a masculine voice.
“What are you doing?”
    “Hello, Adam,” she called. “I’m up here.”
    “I can see where you are. Get down at
once!”
    “I have the mistletoe. Here, catch.” She
tossed it at him. “Watch the berries, you don’t want to lose any.
Someone ought to carry it home separately, instead of piling it in
with the other greens.”
    “Will you get down before you fall!” It
wasn’t a question; it was an order.
    “No problem. It’s as easy as going down a
ladder.” Aline knew she was showing off. She liked teasing Adam,
and she liked even better knowing he was concerned for her safety.
“I shall now make an elegant descent.”
    Of course, she promptly lost her footing and
nearly fell straight to the ground. She caught herself just in
time, hanging by both hands from a branch until she could find a
place to put her feet. After a pause until her heart stopped
thumping against her ribs, she began to climb down more
carefully.
    “Jump,” Adam called from directly below her.
“Jump before you fall and break your neck.”
    “I do not intend to fall,” she replied, still
moving downward.
    “You almost did. Why must you be so
independent? You should have waited for me to send a man up the
tree to get your confounded mistletoe for you.”
    “I learned a long time ago that if I wait for
a man to do something for me, it will never be done,” she said.
“Independence feels great.”
    “Aline! This is not fitting behavior for a
noblewoman.” He sounded angry, or at least very annoyed. She turned
herself around on the branches so she could look at him. He was
only a couple of feet below her, with one arm stretched out to hold
aside a low branch and thus make a space large enough for him to
stand. His face was turned upward and she thought he looked more
worried than angry. Perhaps it was fear for her she had heard in
his voice.
    “Aline,” he said more quietly.
    “Oh, all right,” she replied and, letting go
of the branches, she launched herself into his arms.
    He wasn’t expecting her. She knocked him down
and together they rolled over and over. First Adam was beneath her,
then on top of her, and their arms were around each other. They lay
there in the snow with Adam’s full weight pressing on her and his
mouth less than an inch from hers.
    “Aline.” With a groan that came from
somewhere deep inside him, he lowered his mouth to hers.
    And Aline responded. With no pretense of
resistance she gave herself up