A Heavy Burden

"This must have been weighing heavily on you," Owain added. How could he have forgotten? Jocelynn was such a tender girl, barely an adult. Her cleverness made it too easy for him to forget that at her core, she was just a soft hearted maiden.

The warm firelight cast flickering shadows across the delicate features of her face and highlighted the graceful curves of her body as she pressed against him. Her eyes were moist with tears she must have been forcing herself to hold in even as her voice trembled when she asked about her sister's death. 

She was perfect. Her features were achingly beautiful and her body tempted him even now to ravish her in the most sinful of ways. But the pain and uncertainty in her eyes evoked a much stronger, more primal urge to be a man who could protect her from the world's cruelty and hurts.