Read Online For a Roman's Heart by Denise A. Agnew - Free Book Online Page A

self-conscious. She didn’t like her scraggly locks, but what could she do? Now her hair didn’t even come to her shoulders. “If it wasn’t for my clothing, I’d be mistaken for a boy.”
    Pella’s eyes flashed. “Your parents told you to return the cloak, didn’t they?”
    Adrenia started walking. “They told me yesterday. I’ve pleaded illness the last couple of days.”
    “You were sick.”
    “And the centurion’s cloak kept me extra warm.”
    Pella’s warm eyes filled with mischief. “What is his name again?”
    Adrenia caressed the wool cloak looped over her forearm. She’d folded it neatly, not wanting it to drag in the dirt. “Terentius.”
    Pella smiled as they looked both ways before using the stepping stones to cross at an intersection. “I can’t wait to see the man that’s inspired this much passion in you.”
    “Passion?” The word came from between Adrenia’s lips like a sigh. “What I feel for him…it’s dangerous. I agree with my parents that I should return the cloak. Then maybe I’ll forget him.”
    “I sincerely doubt that.”
    Soldiers watched from the two rectangular towers flanking the main gate of the fort. Adrenia wondered once more, as they came to a halt in front of two soldiers standing at the massive entrance, if she’d lost her senses. She hadn’t lied to Pella. Her parents had insisted she return the cloak. She knew she must return the garment. She’d only pine for her centurion if she didn’t.
    My centurion.
    Still, she ached, not wanting to return it any more than she wanted to see him again. Seeing him would mean feeling that way…the way she shouldn’t feel and keep her sanity intact.
    She’d dreamt about him every night. He stood in a field near the Haunted Woods, his body tall enough to show from the waist up in the high green grasses. He wore his mail armor, a transverse crest of white and black on his helmet. Over and over the dream preoccupied her until she woke each morning, her loins aching and burning with a disturbing and powerful need. After each dream, she longed to reach between her legs and tease the aching flesh into blessed release. So she kept these dreams deep within her, like a secret chamber or treasure box. No one could take away her dreams if she kept them sacred.
    “You’re sure you want to do this?” Pella stared at the soldiers. The men remained impassive, features stony as they guarded the fort with their lives.
    “I’m certain,” Adrenia said. “Will your husband be very angry if he finds out what you’re doing?”
    “Pontius is extraordinary. You know that. He’s the best man I know.”
    “Stop reminding me.” Adrenia’s envy came clear in her voice.
    Pella laughed. “Someday you’ll have a husband and feel the same way about him.”
    Without a pause, Adrenia answered, “No. I don’t think so. There are few men like your Pontius. And they usually want younger women to marry.”
    Pella went silent, her gaze thoughtful and concerned. “You’re twenty.”
    “You’ve been married since you were sixteen.”
    Pella sighed. “And now I’m twenty and without children. So you see, we all have burdens to bear.”
    Adrenia took her friend’s hand and squeezed before releasing. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to whine.”
    “Don’t worry. I understand. But believe me, someday you’ll find a man as wonderful as my Pontius and have many babies.”
    Adrenia enjoyed a fantasy vision of the centurion, his powerful arms tightening around her as she rode his horse just as she had the first day she’d met him. The thought of being pregnant with his child sent a crazy, dancing arousal pinwheeling through her. Her thoughts swirled with the magic, the indescribably wonderful sensations she experienced at the simple thought of him.
    “We’re here to see Centurion Terentius Marius Atellus,” Pella said to one of the soldiers at the gate before Adrenia could demand the same.
    “Who asks for him?” the soldier nearest them