Lost For Words

style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Lost For Words.

Summary:
Geoff Chaucer reflects on the woman in his life, how he came to win her heart
and how someone will pay for what has been done to her.

1.

This was
unheard of – it had never happened before. Not to him. Lost for words …
certainly not a state with which he was familiar.

A writer by
trade and with a particular gift for poetry no less, yet all his talents were
rendered useless by one glance at this woman – nay, this vision. No matter how he tried, he could never do her justice with
mere words. Of course, he could come up with something pretty, but that just wasn’t enough. She deserved a tribute
befitting her beauty, her intelligence, that inner light which lent such
radiance to her and everyone whose path she crossed … Yet nothing could quite
serve to capture her true essence – nothing that he had skill enough to find
anyway. How could one person hold such power over him, Geoff Chaucer, the one
and only self-proclaimed writer extraordinaire?
>

Geoff
shifted slightly as he lay back in bed, one hand running through his tousled
blonde hair before tucking itself beneath his head; his mind active in spite of
his laid-back appearance. His gaze rested on the young woman still slumbering
peacefully by his side, her head pillowed on his chest. She was imprinted on
his mind and yet, he could not get enough of her – every glance revealed a new
aspect of her beauty to him. Familiar as he was with it, he drank in the sight
of her and smiled indulgently - her mane of lustrous dark red hair fell in soft
waves around her as a fiery halo and long lashes closed over eyes he knew to be
of stunning darkest emerald green. Entranced as he was, his free hand smoothed
gently over creamy, silky soft skin and his smile slowly faded to be replaced
by a grimmer look which he could not hide.

She was
beautiful and nothing would ever change that for him, but it pained him to see
her otherwise perfect skin marred in such a way. For, as the blankets rode low
across his hips and her bare back, they revealed to him the vicious welts of a
whip imprinted on her flesh.

“Never
again …” he whispered, his words a fervent promise. “I swear, by my life -
never again.”

The redhead
stirred slightly in his arms even as she slept and he paused to see if she
would awaken. She murmured incoherently, a faint tinge of fear crossing her
features, and he frowned to see it. She appeared to be dreaming and it was
evident that the events of recent times still, understandably, weighed heavily
on her mind. He held her to him,
stroking her hair soothingly and whispering to her, hoping to reassure her as
she woke.

With a
start, her eyes flew open and she tried to get up, struggling for breath as her
heart and mind raced – full of the images of what she had been forced to
endure.

“Easy, love
…” Geoff said, quickly wrapping her in the blankets and taking her in his arms
to hold her tightly. “You’re safe here; I’ve got you and you’re safe – he can’t
lay a finger on you now.”

“Geoff!”
she gasped, clutching at him as tears welled up in her eyes and she buried her
face against his shoulder. “I thought … I mean, it seemed so real … I dreamt he
came back and this time, he wasn’t going to give up …”

“Ellena, I
promise you, he has no choice but to give up for I shall never let him darken
your door again. As long as I live, I’ll be the one by your side and you need
not fear him or anyone else. Words fail me when it comes to declaring how dear
you are to me …” the poet began, but she interrupted him with a soft touch to
his lips.

“Then there
are only three words I need to hear from you …” she said, wiping away tears and
looking up at him with a shadow of her usual smile.

“But …”

“I know you
don’t usually like to use them sparingly, but humour lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>me.lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>” she teased, growing more confident
as the memory of her d was was dissolved by the sunlight at the window and,
more importantly, his protective presence.

Realising
what she meant, he grinned and lay back comfortably, drawing her with him. He
looked down at her and reached out to gently tuck an errant strand of hair
behind her ear; momentarily distracted by a blackening bruise by her temple
which he paused to kiss tenderly.

“I love
you.” he said simply, clear blue eyes trained on her to gauge her response.

“From you
that means more than any poem.” she whispered, “I love you too, Geoff.”

She reached
up to slip her arms around his neck and felt his around her waist, reassuring
her enough to let her close her eyes again and relax. She didn’t want to cause
him further worry than she already had, but she couldn’t help wincing as she
tried to get comfortable – something made difficult by her injuries. She hoped
that he hadn’t noticed, but such a detail was unlikely to escape his sharp
gaze. Nevertheless, he wanted to let her rest and so did not draw attention to
the source of her pain – he merely swore to himself that the inflictor of her
terrible wounds would not escape unpunished. No, this had gone too far to just
be brushed aside lightly …

*****

TBC …